You Can Learn the Whole Talmud—Yes, Even You

"Since the day I completed the Talmud with the 'Dirshu' program at Yad Eliyahu," says Rabbi David Menashe, "I feel like shouting in the streets: 'Dear Jew—you can do this too!'"

He’s not just excited. He’s transformed. And he wants others to know this deep Torah journey isn’t reserved for geniuses or elite scholars—it’s for anyone with a sincere heart and commitment.

"When people hear I completed the entire Talmud and passed exams on it, they assume I must be a genius. But I’m not," he says with a smile. "That’s exactly why I want to scream: This is not about brilliance—it’s about consistency."

More Ordinary Than You Think

The Talmud—known in Hebrew as Shas, short for Shisha Sidrei Mishnah, the Six Orders of the Oral Torah—is made up of 2,711 double-sided pages (called dafim). The Daf Yomi (daily page) study cycle lets people complete it in about 7.5 years. But Dirshu’s Kinyan Shas program took this further: it added tests, regular reviews, and structured learning—so participants not only learn but actually retain the material.

Rabbi Menashe shares, "Out of the many people I’ve met who completed the Talmud, only about 10% have exceptional memory. The rest? Regular folks. Guys like you and me."

He’s passionate about correcting a common misconception: "Most people don’t realize they’re capable of this. They think it’s only for the brilliant. But if you can commit, you can succeed. It’s as simple as that."

What Is Kinyan Shas?

The Kinyan Shas program—organized by Dirshu, an international Torah organization—follows the daily page cycle (Daf Yomi) but adds monthly quizzes (on 30 pages), periodic summary exams (on 120 pages), and larger cumulative exams every six months. By the end, participants have been tested on the entire Talmud, from the first daf of Berachos to the last daf of Niddah.

And it’s not just about the tests. Rabbi Menashe says the program builds momentum and gives structure: "You’re never drifting. There’s always another goal ahead, another opportunity to solidify what you’ve learned."

A Once-in-Seven-Years Opportunity

The next Kinyan Shas cycle begins only when the next Daf Yomi cycle starts—in seven and a half years. Rabbi Menashe urges anyone even thinking about joining to grab this chance: "If you miss it, it’s like missing the boat. And who knows where you could have sailed?"

“You Start Small—and Suddenly, You’ve Covered So Much”

Learning an entire Talmud sounds overwhelming—but the beauty is in the step-by-step approach. Rabbi Menashe shares practical advice:

• Study with long-term memory in mind. “Approach each page like you’ll need to remember it for 20 years. That mindset helps it stick.”

• Review early and often. “Two months after finishing a tractate (section), review it again—it’s much faster the second time. The more you revisit, the more it stays with you.”

• Don’t wait until you feel ready. “At first, I struggled with even a few tractates. Now I’ve completed them all. Just start.”

Rewards That Go Beyond the Spiritual

Dirshu also offers financial support for participants who pass exams, with thousands of dollars in scholarships for those who excel. But Rabbi Menashe insists: “This isn’t about the money. The reward is knowing Hashem’s Torah, holding it in your mind and heart. That’s priceless.”

Still, the grants are a helpful motivator. "In the last exam, those who scored over 75% received about 10,000 shekels (around $2,700). It helps a lot of families and encourages commitment.”

What If I’m Not From a Religious Background?

Many feel intimidated because they didn’t grow up religious or don’t speak fluent Hebrew. Rabbi Menashe is encouraging: “Hashem gave Torah to every Jew. The Torah itself says: ‘It is not in the heavens… it is very close to you.’ You just have to try. Start where you are. Hashem will help you go far.”

Don't Be Afraid to Fail—Be Afraid Not to Try

Rabbi Menashe ends with a heartfelt message: “So many of us didn’t think we could do it at the beginning. I didn’t either. But I took the first step. At worst, you fail a test. But you’ve still gained Torah, and no one can take that away from you.”

"And who knows?” he adds with a hopeful smile, “Maybe you’ll be one of the next to complete Shas. And if not all of it—then maybe half. Isn’t that a treasure worth reaching for?”

"It's true I'm very excited—here's a moment I never believed would be personally relevant to me. But why do I want to shout? It's not because I'm excited.

"A Jew finishing the entire Talmud? That's just in stories. A Jew finishing the Talmud and even getting tested on it?! I always thought it wasn't even stories, maybe unrealistic legends.

"Since that historic moment, people approach me everywhere I go, praising me and other 'Kinyan Shas' honorees, and remark with envy: 'Well, you're geniuses! You have special talents. Fortunate are you who have achieved this,'" quotes Rabbi Menashe.

"That's why I want to shout, or rather scream: dear Jews, you don't understand what's happening here. It's not true! This is a very serious error. Being a 'Kinyan Shas' honoree is not a matter of supernatural genius, it's not something belonging to extraordinary talents. It's simply a matter of investment, and it is achievable for a lot of people.

What is the importance of the daily page study? Rabbi Zamir Cohen explains:

"I have had the privilege to meet dozens of people who know the entire Talmud, 'Kinyan Shas' honorees (who were successfully tested on the entire Talmud). I want to tell you that maybe 10% of them are Jews with exceptional talent. The remaining 90% are young men like you and me. They don't have photographic memory, and not even phenomenal memory.

"I'm not saying they have weak talents, clearly, to reach such a scope of knowledge one must have talent that's perhaps a bit above average, but it's not unreachable, there are thousands and tens of thousands of young men capable of it, but they are unaware of their capabilities. They think 'Kinyan Shas' is meant only for people much more talented than they are," says Rabbi Menashe with emotion.

The learning path in the 'Kinyan Shas' program of 'Dirshu' is revolutionary by any standard: the program is based on the regular daily page tracks, where every member of the program must undergo a monthly test (30 pages), conduct a summary test every four months (120 pages) and additionally, every six months, he takes a test on all the pages learned since the start of the learning cycle in 'Kinyan Shas, until that month, with each time adding about 180 more pages of Talmud. The first test is conducted on about 180 pages of Talmud, the second test on about 360, and so on every six months, another 180 pages are added, until at the end of the tractate Nida, the test is on no less than 2,711 pages, the number of pages in the entire Babylonian Talmud.

"Now is a rare opportunity. Almost once in a lifetime. The next time a young man will have the opportunity to join the 'Kinyan Shas' program will be in another seven and a half years, when the next cycle of the 'daily page' begins.

"Anyone who doesn't join now is missing out! Simply missing out! And it's not just a miss, it's likely to be the biggest miss of their life.

Success on the tests grants immense satisfaction, tremendous momentum

"True, one can learn the Talmud even without joining the 'Kinyan Shas' program, but reality shows that until 'Dirshu' came along with this special program, Jews who knew the entire Talmud and mastered it in depth were relatively rare. Today in every such cycle, there are hundreds of young men tested on the entire Talmud at once, and thousands more join 'Kinyan Shas' holding on until half the Talmud or nearly the end. In other words, there are thousands of people, some tested on the whole Talmud and some 'only' on 1,500 pages at once. They may not have reached the great completion with the entire Talmud in their possession, but they also leave with significant gains.

Rabbi Menashe further explains the merit in the 'Kinyan Shas' program, through which the 'Dirshu' organization conducts tests for young men learning the daily page and being tested on it – where a good grade earns financial scholarships, encouraging continued investment.

"When you take on a big challenge like knowing the Talmud, you need a 'framework', something that puts you in a tight schedule, forcing you to invest in studying and revisiting without taking breaks. Each month a test of 30 pages, then a summary test on 120 pages, and always on the horizon is the semi-annual test compelling you to be ready with clear knowledge of all the pages you've studied from the start of the Talmud until now.

The 'Kinyan Shas' tests are crafted by Torah scholars with extensive experience in the field, then undergo several reviews by a very expert team, which examines the questions again and again, and conducts trials with some examinees, to ensure the questions are clear and that it will be relatively easy to answer for those who know the Talmud.

"Success in these exams provides immense satisfaction, it is a tremendous push forward. Each test you take and get a relatively high grade in gives you the strength and fortitude to move forward. It proves to you that you can and are capable.

Rabbi Menashe notes that there is an occurrence where people fail the initial tests, despite thorough study. "But experience shows that those who persevere and continue taking the tests, grasp within a few months the style of questions, and know how to prepare for the test better, significantly raising their score. It's worth considering," he adds.

Being part of this program has produced hundreds of young men mastering the entire Talmud. Many of them relate that when they joined the program, they struggled to be tested even on one or two tractates, and at the end of the intensive program, they stood up to the test on the entire Talmud.

In line with the enormous effort and investment on the part of examinees, the scholarships provided by 'Dirshu' are also generous, and during the seven years of participation in the program, examinees receive unprecedented scholarships amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, with those who scored between 95 and 100 percent on the final test alone receiving over $4,000.

Study seriously, invest, and review systematically

Rabbi Menashe also touches on the financial grant given, as mentioned, upon passing an exam. "I don't really wish to speak about the financial grant because we are talking about something much more important, the knowledge of the Talmud, which every God-fearing young man aspires to and longs for much more than any amount of financial reward you could offer him. Yet I would note that in the last exam, those who scored above 75 received a grant of about ten thousand shekels. It is very motivating and helps to advance and focus on study and reviewing.

"To succeed in the major tests on tens, hundreds, and thousands of pages at once, you must want, study seriously, and study according to a certain order. You need to know how to review the pages, how to study them initially. These are simple things, but they work excellently, and everyone I know in 'Kinyan Shas' operates in this way more or less.

Rabbi Menashe provides some tips from his experience: "Firstly, when studying a page, you need to study with the sense that you'll remember this page for at least 20 years forward. It is not just learning for now, not even for the coming year. It's for life, or at least for decades. This makes the learner's memory more committed, more open, and etches the material better for the long haul.

"Secondly, when you finish a tractate, wait two months and return to it, if you studied it seriously the first time, two months later you could review an entire tractate, say Berakhot, in seven or eight hours. I'm speaking of a relatively quick and thorough review. But if you wait three months, you'll need to invest several days in this review. Hence, it's important to maintain continuity in reviews, not to neglect the tractates already studied.

Yedidya Meir: I owe my spiritual life to the Talmud and the daily page. Watch:

Rabbi Menashe adds another tip: "It's very beneficial for memory to review the Talmud, specifically after the monthly exam, in addition to the reviews before the exam. When one studies before the exam, their memory limits the retention of material until the test, but the study after the exam is already something else, it remains for a longer period. How long does it take to review 30 pages studied thoroughly? About five or six hours, perhaps less. It's a relatively small investment, but the benefits are immense.

Rabbi Menashe continues and explains that "after a month, you can review again, in a more abridged manner, but still review to keep the pages fresh in memory. Then there is the summary test and the pages are reviewed again, followed by the semi-annual test, and reviewed again. I'm not saying there's no investment involved here, it takes quite a few hours, but in the end, you come to know the entire Talmud. Tell me, isn't it worth the investment?

What about those left behind? A letter to the waiting wife

Rabbi Menashe appeals to young men interested but fearful of failure: "First, almost none of the hundreds of 'Kinyan Shas' honorees initially thought they were capable. I didn't believe I could succeed, but what? I decided to take the plunge. What will happen? At worst, I won't succeed. Nobody will beat me. At worst, I won't receive a grant... that's the worst that could happen.

"If you don't try, you won't succeed. I can also tell him that if he tries, he will surely succeed, maybe not with the entire Talmud, but maybe he will. And even if not, is knowing half of the Talmud not valuable?

"The Torah promised us, it is not too difficult for you or beyond reach. It is not across the sea or in the heavens, for the matter is very near to you. It is in your hands! Just try, start, and you'll see you will go far with Hashem's help," concludes the 'Kinyan Shas' honoree.

Didn't grow up in a Torah home, what will become of me? Rabbi Zamir Cohen in a message not to be missed:

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