Siyum HaShas - 12th Siyum

12th Siyum

The MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which has capacity for 82,500 attendees, was the main U.S. venue for the 12th Siyum HaShas on August 1, 2012. An additional 8,500 folding chairs were placed on the playing field, and a dais of approximately 500 seats accommodated Admorim, roshei yeshiva, and distinguished rabbis. An additional section of 1,000 seats was reserved for teachers of Daf Yomi shiurim. All 92,000 seats were sold out. A total of 2,200 plasma screens were set up inside the stadium and four Jumbotron screens were positioned outside the stadium for overflow attendees. Female attendees, who constituted an estimated 20 percent of the crowd, were seated in the upper deck of the stadium behind a 12 feet (3.7 m) high, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long mechitza (curtain divider) that was drawn during prayers. Satellite broadcasts and web feeds were piped to over 100 locations, including those in Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and Lublin, Poland.

For the first time, a Modern Orthodox Siyum HaShas was also held, on 6 August 2012, at Congregation Shearith Israel on Manhattan's Upper West Side. This event featured lectures on various aspects of both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud, and participation by female Torah scholars.

Tens of thousands attended Siyums in Israel. These included the Dirshu World Siyum at the Yad Eliyahu Arena in Tel Aviv, the National Siyum HaShas in Petah Tikva, a Siyum organized by Agudath Israel and Degel HaTorah in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem, and a Siyum organized by the Shas political party at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. There were two English-language Siyums at Jerusalem's International Convention Center, one sponsored by Dirshu on 31 July and one organized by Kollel Iyun Hadaf on 5 August. The various Religious Zionist organizations sponsored a separate siyum at the same Convention Center on August 2, and there was another English language siyum at Jerusalem's Great Synagogue on August 9.