Recalls Dov, “When I was in high school, it bothered me that I didn’t know when the Rishonim, Acharonim, Gaonim, and other periods of history occurred. Just putting everything together led me to learning their chronology and putting historical events into a timeline. (By the way, most yeshiva bochurim cannot place the gedolim into a timeline.) The result is a treasure trove of 50 years of research of Torah sources, from which I gleaned extraordinarily, obscure historical facts and amazing anecdotes.”

The 144 color-coded Rishonim cards, available with or without the Shaar binder, and purchasable online (https://www.shaarcards.com/), include Dov’s interesting facts about these gedolim, the  period and location they lived in, their rebbeim, relatives, and talmidim, the seforim they wrote and the topics they wrote about. They also include maps of where they lived.

Shaar Cards have the haskamos of our generation’s gedolim: HaRav Aharon Feldman; HaRav Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman; HaRav Yaakov Bender; HaRav Shmuel Irons; HaRav Dovid Schustal; HaRav Yisroel Neuman; and HaRav Yerucham Olshin, shlita.

“After Rabbi Goldwasser found me, we made a list of Rishonim who basically wrote seforim that we still have,” explains Dov. “Unfortunately, they wrote so much more that were lost in fires and vanished to the Vatican’s basement, for example…A lot of our history is unfortunately missing, and there are gaps. We don’t know too much about some of our gedolim or even events that happened, but particularly about the Rishonim period, which extends for approximately 470 years – from the year that Rabbeinu Gershom was niftar and Rashi was born, from 1040 to 1510. I really wanted to write about this period because very little is known about these Torah giants that we are always learning their seforim in yeshiva, for example like the Ritva.”
Some of the basic facts learned from the Shaar Cards include obscure ones like the Mahari Kara (whose peirush on Nach is found in the Mikraos Gedolos) was one of the Rishonim; the Ralbag was a grandson of the Ramban; and the Ritva was a talmid of the Rashba, who was a talmid of Rabbeinu Yona and the Ramban.

“We don’t flood the cards with information, but just enough to let people know that we have much more information than we ever thought we had,” Dov notes. “I had to do a lot of digging in my research because there was not enough basic information about them. It is more pleasurable for me to bring any gadol to light, but especially the Rishonim who are very revered Torah giants. When the Rishonim period came to an end, it was said that an Acharon - those who lived after the Rishonim period - cannot argue with a Rishon. You can try to explain his words, but you can’t argue. That is how incomparable these giants were.”

Dov sheds light on the Rishonim. “They lived during a time of tremendous upheaval. There were blood libels, constant pogroms, inquisitions, and exiles from one country to another. Through all these tremendous nisyanons and tzoras, these giants rose and produced such major Torah works that we are still learning, cherishing, and loving today. I think that is what made them so much greater.”

At the Torah Umesorah convention, rebbeim from many schools were  interested in Rabbi Goldwasser's “trading” cards learning the name Shaar Cards for the first time. In fact, rebbes giving out the cards as classroom participation prizes. Initially, 1500 Shaar Card sets were published last week; in a couple weeks, they expect to run out of cards. A much larger second printing is in the works.

It took hundreds and hundreds of hours over approximately 10 months to produce the first set of Shaar cards. “To find the sources for everything proved challenging,” says Dov, who found them mostly in the seforim that line his den’s bookshelves. “It was hard to get all the facts straight. For some of the great works, we don’t know in which time period they were written or by whom. There’s a great controversy, for example, over who wrote Sefer HaChinuch. The hakdamos (introductions) of these great seforim were a wonderful source of information for me. It was very meaningful bringing to light all these greats that people would not even know about. We know a handful of Rishonim, but there were so many more who wrote very important Torah works; for example during the great Ba'alei HaTosfos era – beginning with Rashi’s grandchildren and exttending for approximately another 200 years. It’s all written in the Shaar cards. So many others who contributed to the Tosfos and either their names are not known well or not known at all. Bringing them to the forefront of people’s awareness was important to me – I didn’t want their names to be forgotten. They are definitely revered giants of Torah.”

In the works, says Dov, are Shaar Cards for the Tanaim period, extending for approximately 210 years; from the year 10, through the Churban Bayis, in the year 68, into the period of Reb Yochanon ben Zakai, Rebbi Akiva and all of his great talmidim, including Reb Meir Baal Haneis and R. Shimon Bar Yochai, who were the rebbeim of R. Yehudah Hanasi.

In conclusion, Dov shares, “It was a labor of love; a very fruitful and satisfying experience. My hope is to bring enjoyment to young and old, alike, who will refer or remember something that I wrote, giving them a more enjoyable and exciting learning experience about these great Rishonim…Shaar Cards put a face on many of the unknown mechabrim, whose seforim we learn today.”

Shaar Cards are a unique, inexpensive but valuable gift idea for children and grandchildren -- suitable even for a bar mitzvah bochur (and really for anyone of any age who wants to broaden his knowledge about the Rishonim).

To learn more about Shaar Cards or to place an order, visit: https://www.shaarcards.com/