From “two study sessions a week” to completing tractate after tractate *— the son who only needed a nighttime driving companion never imagined that the ride would become a spiritual journey that transformed his father’s life from one end to the other.*
For most of us, routine is a safe anchor that is very difficult to shift. That was true for my father as well. He was always someone who set aside time for Torah study, but in very measured doses: “Two chavruta sessions a week—that worked for him, that’s what he managed,” I recall. For years, that was the limit. In the past he had another regular chavruta as well, but it ended after a family tragedy in his learning partner’s life, and since then the status quo remained.
No one could have imagined that a completely ordinary, technical need would be the thing that shattered his spiritual glass ceiling.
It All Started Because of a Failed Driving Test
The turning point came one night, under remarkably mundane circumstances. I had failed two driving tests and desperately needed a licensed driver to accompany me so I could drive at night. It was the last night of my mandatory accompaniment period, and it was very important to me to attend Rabbi Eli Stefansky’s shiur on Saturday night.
My father, in his good-hearted way, volunteered: “Come, I’ll drive you.” When we arrived, something unexpected happened. Instead of dropping me off and continuing on his way, my father spontaneously decided to come inside. “It’s a Daf Yomi shiur—why not? I’ll stay,” he said.
He walked in, recognized a few friends from Beit Shemesh, and enjoyed the lively atmosphere. At that moment, neither of us imagined that this was the beginning of a revolution. But something had been ignited. The first surprise came already the next morning, when my father suddenly turned to me and said, “Wait—you’re going to the Daf Yomi shiur? Hold on, I’m coming with you.”
“Just So You Know—It’s Addictive”
That morning, the pivotal encounter took place that changed everything. Rabbi Stefansky noticed my father, smiled at him, and said a short sentence in English: “You know, very addictive this stuff.”
My father, who knew his own routine well and the boundaries he had set for himself over the years, laughed. He was so confident in himself that he answered the rabbi firmly: “No one has ever managed to get me to learn Daf Yomi, and you won’t succeed either. You have nothing to worry about.”
But it seems that the Torah had other plans.
The Spark That Became a Flame
From that moment on (around the time the community was studying Tractate Ketubot), the unimaginable happened. The walls fell. My father did not simply begin learning—he never stopped. Since then, he has celebrated a festive *siyum* at the completion of every tractate.
The spark that was lit that Saturday night became a great fire of perseverance. Three years have passed, and I still look at him with amazement. The man who once settled for two short study sessions a week has become someone who lives and breathes Torah. He has added new chavruta partnerships, expanded the scope of his learning, and today his daily schedule revolves around the Gemara.
When I look back on this journey, it still feels almost unreal to me: how one simple ride to a shiur, one sentence from a rabbi, and an inner desire that awakened at just the right moment turned an ordinary man into a devoted learner who now inspires his entire family.