Imagine not missing a single day of Daf Yomi since 1961. Meet Rabbi Dr. Joel Rosenshein.
Founder of Ptach and former director of Mishkon, Rabbi Rosenshein discussed his remarkable feat in a video produced last month by Agudath Israel of America in advance of the 13th worldwide siyum HaShas following the establishment of Daf Yomi in 1923.
“The key to learning the blatt,” Rabbi Rosenshein says in the video, “is [doing it] early in the morning. Early to rise is very wise.”
He told The Jewish Press that he learns Daf Yomi at approximately 4:30 a.m. every day. “The first thing I do after Modeh Ani and Berachos is learn. And if you do that every day except for Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av, you know your day is going to be great. If you wait to learn later in the day, something will always interfere.”
Asked if he ever thought of quitting, Rabbi Rosenshein said, “Never. You don’t live without it.”
Rabbi Rosenshein actually learns two blatt every morning. First he learns Daf Yomi on his own and later – also before davening – he attends an in-depth Gemara shiur in Boro Park taught by Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz. He has attended the shiur daily for 40 years, he said.
Rabbi Rosenshein may not be a baki b’Shas, but after finishing all 2,711 pages of Shas approximately eight times, he said there isn’t a topic in Shas that he isn’t at least familiar with.
For younger people considering starting Daf Yomi next year, Rabbi Rosenshein had the following advice: “Make it your lifetime goal that you will always do it every day, and do it early. There were times in my life when I was nebech in the hospital – so I learned in the hospital. It made no difference. My blatt was there. Make it your business that [you] cannot go on without that blatt, and you will always do it.”