An Israeli man completed the study of a Talmudic tractate atop Mount Everest, but fell short of setting a world record.
Moshe Frei, 56, from Petach Tikvah, was trekking Mount Everest with three friends when he completed the Menachot tractate on Monday.
“The timing was right, and it was a great place,” Frei told JNS from Nepal on Wednesday.
His friends filmed a nearly four-minute video of him reading from the Jewish law book and posted it on social media.
The attorney said he has been studying a daily page of the Talmud for the last two decades.
He said he checked with the Chabad emissary in Nepal on whether reaching Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,364 meters (17,598 feet) would qualify for a Guinness World Record, but was told that someone else had achieved a similar feat at a higher elevation.
“It’s OK it wasn’t me,” Frei said.
