This photo is of MetLife stadium last night where New York's Frummest gathered to celebrate the end of the universal 7.5 year (2,711 day) cycle of daily (daf yomi - or daily page) Talmud study.
Here's some fluffy local reporting:
For 7½ years, day in and day out, Jews in New Jersey and around the world have studied a new double-sided page of the Talmud, the biblical commentary that, written over centuries, serves as a guide to spirituality and practical life.Wednesday night, in what was billed as the largest celebration of shared Jewish learning in history, some 90,000 people crowded into MetLife Stadium to read portions of the Talmud’s 2,711th — and final — page.
Being raised in the reform tradition, I have not participated in any Daf Yomi study. We were aware of the Talmud, what it was and when it was compiled. We knew it consisted of many many volumes and that we considered its contents NOT binding (so why study it, right?).
The first time I'd even heard of Daf Yomi was after I'd begun to have contact with the orthodox world. I'd never heard of counting the omer either. Much like Birkhat HaChamah, a quirky practice filled with meaning and significance that my home tradition decided would be too weird to continue doing, Siyum HaShas was not available to me, nor was it a tradition anyone of my elders was personally acquainted with, nor theirs.
I will not, at least not this cycle, be able to study a daf every yom - something about having attainable goals. I will seek out a few resources, though, and I will keep you, my lovely readers, up to speed with what I learn. Maybe at the next Siyum HaShas we'll all be singing and dancing (just promise I don't have to go to Jersey to do it).
