The 2015 TheJewish JewishHome Home| OCTOBER | JANUARY29, 9, 2020
Filming the Siyum HaShas in 2013
David with Craig Braden and Mitchel Wolf
Speaking with Rabbi Aharon Feldman
David with Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky and Rav Malkiel Kotler
Speaking with Rabbi Sholom Kamenetsky
this year, one of my daughters bought a ticket and attended the siyum, and our two other children, who are learning in Israel, smiled from ear to ear when they saw me sending social media updates of me with my crew at the awe-inspiring siyum. Speaking of awe-inspiring, during one of the interviews, one of the gedolim actually told me there hasn’t been such a gathering since the Beis Hamikdash. Wow! I want to give you one last unforgettable moment of this TV producer’s road to becoming an observant Jew. I’ll never forget walking down Yellowstone Boulevard in Queens with Rabbi Algaze a few weeks into keeping Shabbos and desperately asking for help. “Rabbi, what did I do?” I asked him. “Friday nights used to mean a wonderful traditional Shabbos meal at my parents’ house in New Hyde Park; Saturday mornings a private drive to Queens to hear your speech; and then
Siyum HaShas. I heard of Madison Square Garden – that’s where I went to see Billy Joel in concert, the music I grew up on. I took my former colleagues from CNN to the Garden, and we put our broadcast TV skills to work for Agudas Yisrael. The video we produced with Rabbi Golding started with a resounding voice-over, “The 2,711-page odyssey of Shas” – that’s how I know
until this very day how many pages there are in Shas! Looking back on that Shabbos meal at the Goldings, I remember gasping in admiration at the Goldings’ holy family around the Shabbos table, and praying to Hashem to merit a similar situation. Today, with the chessed of Hashem, our youngest son, a budding talmid chacham at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, was my assistant at MetLife Stadium
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going to the gym in Manhasset Hills on Long Island to teach an aerobics class. Now, I’m here for 25 hours with people I just met. What in the world am I doing?” The rabbi said, “So why are you doing this? Is there something you saw and liked?” “Yes,” I answered. “Benzion and Tamara’s wedding with 50 guys storming the chuppah after the ceremony, and the Shabbos meal at Rabbi Golding’s house with his holy children around the table, which I would like, too” – just the inspiration I needed at the time. It’s been a meaningful and fulfilling journey, although I forgot to mention that DMJ Studios was recently part of a Daytime Emmy award-winning nature show that aired on ABC called “Born to Explore.” Now, when reminiscing about my journey and reading the name of the show…well, maybe that should be the name of this article: “Born to Explore.”