Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 2, 2020

Question

There is an ancient custom for Jewishfirstborns to fast on the day before Passover (read why here)until they participate in a siyum(the completion of a tractate of Talmud) or another mitzvah celebration. It iscustomary to arrange a siyum in thesynagogue after morning prayers to allow the firstborns to eat for theremainder of this very busy day.

With most synagogues shuttered and communitiesin lockdown, how is a firstborn to proceed?

StudyTalmud: The best idea would be for every firstborn tostudy a tractate of Talmud, concluding the final lines on the morning of theday before Passover. No minyan isrequired and kaddish need not be said.

On a practical level, Tractate Tamid (whichdeals with the daily routine in the Holy Temple) is quite short and easy tolearn (it is mostly Mishnah, but contains some Gemara as well). If you are notsuper comfortable in Hebrew/Aramaic, you can learn it in English online(including our video classes, which you can watch here(starting at minute 18).

Also note that one may make a siyum afterlearning a portion of Maimonides Mishneh Torah, which can beaccessed in English.

StudyMishnah: If this is beyond your grasp, under thecurrent circumstances we can rely on those who rule completing a tractate ofMishnah warrants a siyum celebration.A familiar tractate is Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), which you can learnonline.

Note that it is not enough just to read thewords. You must actually understand what you are reading, something easilyachievable with the plethora of study aids available these days.

Overthe Phone or Internet: While this is surely not ideal,if you cannot study a tractate (and do not have a household member who can doso for you), our rabbinical advisors have ruled that you may participate in a siyum over the telephone or streamedover the Internet, and then break your fast. [1]

Wishing you a kosher, happy, and healthyPassover!

See the rest here:

Siyum for Firstborns in the Age of Corona - Chabad.org

Category: Talmud
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