RAV DOVID GELLER,
MASHGIACH RUCHANI
OF BEIS MEDRASH
HEICHAL DOVID,
SPEAKING AT HIS
SIYUM ON TALMUD
YERUSHALMI
L-R: RAV ELYA
BRUDNY,
RAV YAAKOV
BENDER, RAV
DOVID GELLER
AND RAV
MOSHE BROWN
RAV GELLER DANCING
WITH RAV SHLOMO
AVIGDOR ALTUSKY. AT LEFT:
RAV MOSHE MANDEL
RAV NAFTOLI JAEGER AND
RAV YAAKOV BENDER
esteem that they ascribe to a Torah accomplishment of such
magnitude.
When Rav Geller delivered his drasha — a tour de force
about the historical and halachic impact of Rav Yochanan
and his talmid/chaver, Reish Lakish — the bachurim caught
a glimpse of the scope, perfection, and interconnectivity of
the Torah. And as he weaved example after example into the
larger tapestry of his presentation — quoting “chapter and
verse” from throughout Yerushalmi without glancing at his
notes — his talmidim saw that Rav Geller’s three-and-a-half
year immersion in Yerushalmi was anything but superficial.
Rechava hi mini yam — Torah is more vast than the sea
— and it is also unfathomably deep. Real learning means
comprehending and retaining what one studies.
But another pivotal lesson came towards the end of his
speech — just before the guest speaker and the subsequent
spirited dancing — when Rav Geller expressed his gratitude
to a long list of people who helped him reach this day. It in-
cluded his wife, whose superhuman dedication enables him
to learn, grow, and influence a new generation of budding
talmidei chachamim; his parents, in-laws, and cousins; his
talmidim, past and present; and the hanhala, including Rav
Bender, who was his own menahel at Yeshiva Darchei Torah
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Rav Altusky, who has
led the Beis Medrash since its inception — when Rav Geller
also first joined the faculty of this illustrious yeshiva gedolah
that has gained global renown.
And then Rav Geller made an acknowledgement that
was unexpected, mentioning someone seated right in front of
him at the head table: Rav Moshe Mandel, a first grade rebbi
in Yeshiva Darchei Torah who was also Rav Geller’s first
grade rebbi there, back in 1978. He thanked Rav Mandel
not only for teaching him his first pesukim of Chumash, but
also for introducing him to the power of chazarah. Because
at the end of first grade, Rav Mandel had his talmidim re-
view and memorize a song about the 13 Ani Ma’amins, the
fundamentals of our emunah — in Yiddish, no less — for a
performance attended by the boys’ parents.
At that moment, the bachurim gleaned a fundamental
lesson: the pivotal importance of hakaras hatov, of recog-
nizing and expressing appreciation for the benefit one has
gained from another.
It was a long way from his first forays in Bereishis to the
incredible phrase, “Hadran alach Shas Yerushalmi.” Yet at
this milestone on his journey, Rav Geller remembered the first
steps of that trek — and the rebbi who helped him take them.
This message of hakoras hatov was also a larger, implicit les-
son about middos, perfecting one’s character, a lifelong mis-
sion that is indispensable to the development and makeup of
a ben Torah — and it was not lost on the bachurim.
Perhaps it was the most profound lesson of all. !
RAV URI DEUTSCH,
GUEST SPEAKER
BEDARCHEI HATORAH
WINTER 5780/2020
21