90,000 orthodox men walk into a stadium...

The Siyum HaShas is one of those long-form counting traditions in Judaism that makes me think we are somehow related to cicadas.

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).

Playlist Judaism - Fragmented identities

Shalom readers!

An interesting article in JTA today gives us a glimpse at how the mainstream Jewish community reaches (or doesn't reach) unaffiliated Jews. The article begins with comments from Rabbi Kerri Olitzky, on what he calls Playlist Judaism:

“I no longer have to buy the entire package in order to have the [Jewish] service I want,” says Olitzy, the New York-based Jewish Outreach Institute’s executive director, referring to how iTunes and Napster broke the stranglehold on a music industry that once forced consumers to buy entire albums to hear one preferred song on demand."

Anyone who works in communal outreach, especially with millenials, will recognize this scenerio imediately. Instead of joining groups, individuals now join aspects of group identity to themselves.

How does an ordained Rabbi, affiliated with one movement or another, reach these 'just Jews'? Read the whole article, as they bring in some other voices.

One side-note, R. Olitzky authored a series of 12-step mediation and workbooks through a Jewish lens. If you feel disconnected from yourself and your connection with God, these could be a great resource for you.