Talmud study
Talmud studyIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Excitement is at its peak in Dirshu Headquarters as it engages in avid preparations in honor of the grand Siyum Hashas English-Speakers’ Event that will take place on Tuesday, 12 Av in the National Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) in Jerusalem. Siyum Hashas marks the end of a 7.5 year cycle of daily Talmud study followed by Jews worldwide since 1923.

Tickets are in high demand, and Dirshu office staff is working overtime to respond to incoming requests that arrive daily from Israel and countries around the world.

Seats in the Main Auditorium, intended to accommodate hundreds of mesaymim—lomdei Torah on the brink of completing Daf Yomi—are rapidly filling. The smaller auditorium, which will host women, has only several spots remaining.

Requests for entrance tickets to Dirshu’s long-awaited Siyum HaShas are flooding the office, as English-speaking avrechim, yeshiva students and members of the Anglo-Saxon community who participate in one of many Daf Yomi programs, make plans to participate in the celebration of Torah.

Administrators of yeshivas catering to English-speakers have reserved large numbers of tickets on behalf of their students. Yeshivas Toras Simchah will send a delegation of over 75 students; and Yeshivos Mikdash Melech in Bayit Vagan and Nesivos HaTorah ordered seats for their entire student body, to name just a few.

The Siyum HaShas will also be attended by American youths attending summer camps in the Land of Israel. Several large camps, including the popular Machane Bein Hazmanim and Camp Emes have reserved seats for the entire camp.

Dirshu has stationed representatives in all neighborhoods, yeshivas and kollels with substantial English-speaking populations to expedite ticket requests. Tickets can be ordered in Yeshivat Mir; Kollel Torah Ohr; Rabbi Yitzchok Berkowitz’s Kollel; various Kollels in Maalot Dafna; Yeshivat Torat Moshe in Givat Shaul; Yeshivat Ner Moshe on Amram Gaon Street, Jerusalem; Yeshivat Shaarei Tvunah; Yeshivat Heichal HaTorah-Pressburg; and Yeshivat Nesivot Aharon in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood, among others.

More recently, messengers were dispatched to the private residences of leading rabbis to extend Dirshu’s personal invitation to grace the English-speaking community with their presence and join this historic event as Guests of Honor. The rabbis, in turn, expressed their heartfelt blessings and endorsed Dirshu’s English Siyum HaShas, which promotes the study of Daf Yomi among the Anglo-Saxon sector.

Delegates from Dirshu’s Torah study programs worldwide will be arriving from across the globe to participate in the English Siyum HaShas.  A delegation of over seventy mesaymim will be arriving especially from Canada, while sixty others will join from Europe.  Dirshu Headquarters is currently endeavoring to arrange for the arrival of a prominent delegation from Chicago, as well as smaller parties from other cities in the United States.

"Finishing touches on the evening’s spectacular program, designed to glorify the Name of Hashem in the world, are now being completed by Dirshu’s administrative faculty," Dirshu added. "The evening will commence with the entrance of our esteemed Gedolei Hador [the generation's greatest rabbis – ed.], some of whom are arriving from abroad to join this event and pay tribute to thousands of devoted Bnei Torah learning and excelling in Daf Yomi. The pinnacle moments of Siyum HaDaf and Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim will be embellished with a rousing musical performance led by internationally-reputed singer and composer Rav Chaim Banet and the Shira Chadasha Boys’ Choir."