Washington – Bill Dauster has a very impressive day job as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He has written three versions of the U.S. Senate Budget Process Law Annotated and has been on Capitol Hill since 1986. But it is what he does after work that makes Mr. Dauster truly impressive – he is the man behind some 400,000 words and counting on Wikipedia’s entries pertaining to the Torah portions. Mr. Dauster also writes on matters relating to the Talmud, Mishnah, and Haftarahs. The entries contain comprehensive analyses and commentary culled from many years of research.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
In an interview with the Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/UNAkWj), Dauster, who has been writing Torah insights for seven years on Wikipedia, said that he sees slight similarities between his legislative work for the U.S. Senate and his study of Torah which help him perform better at his job. Studying Torah “allows me to study law in a removed environment,” he said. “It allows me to do it in a more recreational way that has less pressure and is intellectually diverting to me. As the Sabbath allows us to sort of recharge our batteries, doing this analysis of the Talmud and the Torah allows me to recharge my way of thinking about how the law works.”
Mr. Dauster began studying Torah in the early 1980s, and today participates in a weekly Congressional Torah study group at the offices of Senator Jim DeMint, led by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Shalom-The National Synagogue. He owns four different translations of the Talmud and says his once small home library has been taken over by various Torah-related tomes.
“It’s like peeling off an onion,” Mr. Dauster said of his Torah learning. “There’s always going to be more out there.”
Kol Hakavod, Bill Dauster. Keep on making a kiddush Hashem!
I daven with Bill and can add without reservation that he is a real mensch with none of the usual gaivah you associate with senior Hill staffers. He is modest, never lets you know he is among the most chashuve members of the Congressional staff (certainly more important than most members) and always is there with a yasher koach for even the most pashutue yid getting an aliyah or having some minor kavod during the davening.
So why would a talmid chacham be helping the obama regime????
Reid the former KKK member has a Talmud Chacham on his team. Interesting!
Kol Hakavod. Wikipedia is an important source for me.
He should fix the entry on the ten commandments. It’s wrong and I wrote to them two years ago about it.