The #101DaysOfCode Challenge

This Dvar Torah was originally published in Torah && Tech, the weekly newsletter I publish together with my good friend Ben Greenberg. To order volume one of Torah && Tech containing the first year’s worth of Divrei Torah or to subscribe to get the weekly issue delivered straight to your inbox click here.

Last week we hit a milestone; Torah && Tech published its 100th newsletter! But as exciting as hitting that milestone was for us, this week with the 101st newsletter, is arguably more important.

A few years ago, when I was in the middle of my career switch to tech, I took part in the #100DaysOfCode challenge (actually, in a variant of it that took Shabbat into account, which I called #86DaysOfCode).

For those unfamiliar with the challenge, the participant commits to spending some time each day for 100 days on code related stuff; either learning, working on projects, going through tutorials, whatever. The challenge usually involves some form of accountability, usually by posting on social media using the #100DaysOfCode hashtag.

Taking part in the challenge was not easy. It involved many late nights and long weekends. Finishing the challenge felt like a huge accomplishment.

But beyond the accomplishment of coding for 100 days straight, the real effect of the challenge became clear to me the next day, day number 101.

On that day, without any tweets and hashtags, when I just sat at the computer coding, that’s when I realized how the challenge changed me. Coding was now a habit; it was something I did without needing any special commitments or challenges.

There’s a fascinating Gemarah regarding the significance of 101:

Bar Hei Hei said to Hillel: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Then you shall again discern between… one who serves G-d and one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18)… Hillel said to him: The one “who serves Him” and the one “who does not serve Him” are both referring to completely righteous people. But the verse is hinting at a distinction between them, as one who reviews his studies one hundred times is not comparable to one who reviews his studies one hundred and one times.

Bar Hei Hei said to [Hillel]: And due to one extra time that he did not review, the verse calls him a person “who does not serve Him”? Hillel said to him: Yes. Go and learn from the market of donkey drivers. One can hire a driver to travel up to ten parasangs for one dinar. However, he will travel eleven parasangs only for two dinars. This shows that any departure beyond the norm is considered a significant difference.

- Chagigah 9b

What is the meaning of the Gemarah?

In those days, books were hard to come by, and most of the transmission of knowledge was done orally, from teacher to student.

After each lesson, students had to commit their studies to memory or risk forgetting it all. The common practice was to review each lesson 100 times.

Hillel was telling Bar Hei Hei that a student who reviewed their studies 100 times still wasn’t worthy of the title “one who serves G-d,” the student was merely doing what was expected of them. But a student who reviewed 101 times? That was a student who went above the norm! They weren’t just reviewing to “tick off a box”; the learning became part of them; they were now ones who “serve Him.”

Sure it’s nice to hit milestones, and seeing that “# 100” in the subject line felt like the culmination of so much hard work! But the # 101 shows that we moved beyond that! We’re in it for the long haul, and we hope you will stick around with us for the journey

Shabbat Shalom,

Yechiel