Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on July 25, 2012

Los Angeles

July 25, 2012

by Zev Hurwitz

Serious study of the Talmud requires a high level of devotion and consistency. Finishing all 63 volumes of rabbinical discourse in ones lifetime is an admirable feat. Completing the whole series in a little more than seven years is almost unfathomable.

Yet a core group of thousands of Talmud enthusiasts across the globe has done exactly that studying the entire set of Gemara through the Daf Yomi method of learning. Those who take part in learning Daf Yomi, or a page a day, complete study of the entire Babylonian Talmud in about seven and a half years.

The Daf Yomi program is large enough that most participants learn the same page on the same day, regardless of geography. Next month marks the 12th time that Daf Yomi participants will have completed the entire set, also known as shas (an acronym of Shisha Sedarim, which refer to the six orders of the Talmud) since the widespread practice began in Poland in 1923.

On Aug. 1, the anticipated finishing date for the study, Jews across the globe will celebrate completion of their study by participating in a Siyum HaShas, or celebration for completing shas.

Agudath Israel of California is hosting a Siyum HaShas at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 1 at 5:15 p.m. The program at the venue, which has a 3,100-person capacity, will include a live link-up to the Worldwide Agudath Israel movements main siyum in New Jersey, where 90,000 people are expected to fill MetLife Stadium.

The Agudath Israel program will also feature keynote speaker Dayan Aharon Dovid Dunner, a sitting member of the London Beit Din. The event will also honor participants in other learning programs, such as the Its My Siyum Too program, which celebrates those who have completed a section or particular book of learning rather than the entire Talmud.

The concept is that were trying to enhance the study of Torah, said Irving Lebovics, who chairs the presidium of Agudath Israel of California. We just want to get people more involved.

Link:
Celebrations mark end of Talmud cycle

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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