The featured speaker for the evening was former solicitor general of the United States Seth P. Waxman. He delivered words of Torah as well as an inspiring moral message. The guests also heard from Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and from the three honorees.
I cannot claim that the evening started the justices or federal judges on the study of Daf Yomi. But the National Institute for Judaic Law has, since that time, initiated a program of study of Jewish Law conducted together with other Washington Jewish organizations. Once a month in our law office, lawyers gather to study a subject in Mishpat Ivri under the guidance of a teacher who is familiar with halacha and American law.
The program, called “Mishpat on Mondays,” has been growing in popularity and attendance. Its discussion leaders have included Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz, Rabbi Barry Freundel, Rabbi Avrom Landesman, Rabbi Benjamin Mintz, and yours truly. The opening session was led by Israeli Supreme Court Justice and former attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein.
Could this have been foreseen by the gadol who initiated Daf Yomi? One might think it was impossible – if not for an insight that Rav Shapiro himself provided in one of his brilliant observations on Torah. He said that when Avraham Avinu was taken outside by HaKadosh Boruch Hu before the bris bayn habesorim and shown the stars in the sky, he was told, “Habet no ha-shamayma u’sefor ha-kochavim, im tuchal lispor osom. Ko yihyeh zar’echa” – Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So will be your descendants (Bereshis 15:5).
Rav Shapiro’s original insight was that “Ko yihyeh zar’echa” did not signify – as is customarily believed – that the Jewish people would be as numerous as the stars. Instead, God was telling Avraham that his descendants would try to count the stars – that is, that they would try to do the impossible. So maybe Rav Shapiro did foresee the seemingly impossible – that Jewish Supreme Court justices in America would, some day, learn Daf Yomi.