At the Siyum HaShas in March 2005, Rabbi Yissochar Frand related a story about a Jewish boxer who was very far removed from Judaism. Although the boxer’s son didn’t even have a bar mitzvah, the boxer became interested in his roots and eventually ended up in a yeshiva, studying with great diligence. When he came home each night, he continued to engage in his studies, reviewing what he had learned that day.
The boxer’s elderly father, who lived with him, spent his evenings glued to the television and couldn’t fathom what could be so stimulating about the ancient texts his son so diligently studied. Eventually, the father’s curiosity overcame him, and he asked his son to teach him some Talmud. The son dismissed the request, explaining to his father that if he didn’t even know Hebrew, he certainly couldn’t understand a page of difficult Aramaic. The father pressed his son to at least teach him one daf (page) of the Talmud. After a great deal of pestering, the son finally relented. They began the long and arduous project of studying one page. Line by line, they continued, explaining, reviewing, forgetting, and plodding forward, until, after a full year, they completed an entire page.
The father was ecstatic and wanted to make a siyum to celebrate their accomplishment. The son explained that in order to make a bona fide siyum, one must complete an entire tractate of Talmud, not just one page. But the father was insistent. The son finally agreed to ask Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt’l if they were permitted to make a siyum. Rabbi Feinstein ruled that under the circumstances, it was permissible to make a siyum.
The siyum was arranged for a few nights later. As they were about to recite the siyum, Rabbi Feinstein himself walked in to participate in the celebration. That night, after the siyum, the father died in his sleep. Eulogizing the man, Rabbi Feinstein quoted the Talmud that states that some people acquire their portion in the World to Come through just one deed. He then added, “This man acquired his portion in the World to Come through just one page.”
RABBI DONIEL STAUM
