Siyum HaShas - 11th Siyum

11th Siyum

An estimated 120,000 people in the U.S. and 300,000 worldwide participated in the 11th Siyum Hashas. The largest celebrations were held on 1 March 2005 in three locations in the New York area: Madison Square Garden, the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey, and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, with a combined 45,000 attendees. Portions of each program were telecast to the other sites and to more than 50 locations countrywide, including the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. The programs were also broadcast to 20 overseas locations. The honor of reciting final portion of the final page at the Continental Arena event was given to Rabbi Chaim Stein, rosh yeshiva of the Telshe yeshiva of Wickliffe, Ohio, who was making his ninth personal Siyum HaShas and had participated in each of the ten preceding events, including the first one held at Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin in 1931.

In Israel, 10,000 tickets prepared for the central Siyum HaShas at Yad Eliyahu Arena in Tel Aviv on 1 March 2005 (20 Adar I, 5765) sold out immediately. The proceedings were viewed by live satellite hookup in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, and Ashdod. Siyums were also held in Jerusalem at the International Convention Center, in the Zikhron Moshe synagogue, in the Pinsk-Karlin beis medrash, in Kiryat Belz, and at the Erlau yeshiva. An English-language Siyum at the Jerusalem Convention Center was attended by the Rebbes of Boyan, Karlin-Stolin, Kaliv, and Pittsburg, as well as by English-speaking roshei yeshiva Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Rabbi Yitzchak Sheiner, and Rabbi Mendel Weinbach. Other Siyums were held in Bnei Brak, Haifa, Ashdod, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Rehovot, Tel Zion, and Kiryat Ata.

The 11th Siyum HaShas was also celebrated by 4,000 people in London, 2,000 people in Manchester, and at events in Antwerp, and Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The scope of celebrations marking the 11th Siyum HaShas was described in one newspaper account as follows:

Among the cities where Siyums were held were Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Des Moines, Denver, Toronto, Houston, Los Angeles, Lakewood, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, St. Louis, Seattle, Cincinnati, Scranton, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Siyums were also held in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Caracas, Venezuela; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lublin, Poland, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Odessa in the Former Soviet Union; Hong Kong, China; and Sydney, Australia.

Coming as it did the day before the yahrzeit of Hasidic master Reb Elimelech of Lizensk, when hundreds traditionally make a pilgrimage to his grave in Leżajsk, Poland, two Siyums were celebrated in Poland, including the first at Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin since 1931 (see below). A large group from Israel traveled to the former beis medrash of the Gerrer Rebbes in Góra Kalwaria. A Siyum HaShas was made in Moscow by the united Jewish communities in Russia under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar.

The 11th Siyum HaShas was also marked by an event for non-Orthodox Jews called Jewish Unity Live 2005. The central venue, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, featured Elie Wiesel, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, and other celebrities; gatherings were also held on college campuses and military bases across the U.S.