This post was written by Sarina. Thank you so much, Sarina!!!

Last week, Rav Moshe Tzvi Weinberg came and spoke in honor of Stern's new campaign to promote working on Middos (yay!). The first Middah that we were focusing on was Anavah, which was the topic of his shiur.
There was one example that he brought in that really struck me.
Rav Weinberg described how it used to be that the first sefer of Chumash that children would learn was Vayikra. This was because it was befitting for the sefer that is all about korbanot and how to enhance one's purity to be learned by children who are naturally pure.
Rav Weinberg then gave over a concept brought down by R' Dovid Tzvi Hoffman.
The basic idea was that just as the first sefer children learn in Chumash is Vayikra, so too, there's an opinion that the first Massechet of Gemara that boys would start learning was Teharot, stemming from the same concept.
The fascinating part is that if you go in order of Massechtot starting with Teharot, it turns out that the very last Massechet that you would end up learning in order to complete all of Shas would be Massechet Avot. The question is, why is that so? Why would Avot be the grand finale Massechet of learning all of Shas?
The answer he gave portrays the importance that the Torah gives to the middah of Anavah. Clearly, finishing all of Shas is an incredible accomplishment and one that could potentially lead to a sense of Ga'avah in a person. However, the message that the gemara leaves you with at the very end are the lessons of ethics and morality that are found in Avot. It serves as a sort of test for that lamdan to ask himself: After all of this learning, have I become a better person? Do I act in line with what is prescribed for us by Massechet Avot?
So maybe I have gone through all of Shas, but has all of Shas gone through me? Has its wise teachings impacted me? Has it affected my lifestyle so that I have become a living Torah?
I think these questions are ones that are important for any person to ask him or herself after an intense period of learning (aka a year in Israel :)). The real test is to see how that learning has impacted our lives at the end of that period, and that is our measure of success.
So never be down and out if you find that at this point in time you're not as involved in learning Torah as you once were -- just remember that the ikar is how your learning has impacted you. In that way, what you have learned is living Torah and never becomes a thing of the past.