A belated siyum/daf yomi post
I've wanted to post about the Siyum Ha-Shas nearly 2 weeks ago. I took my two older sons to the Convention Center in downtown Baltimore. The whole idea of hooking up venues around the globe to participate in a single event such as this is quite impressive. (7 1/2 years ago New York magazine termed the tickets for the Siyum in MSG as the "hardest tickets to score" - or some similar language - at that time.)
Unlike last time though, I felt that I had a part in this Siyum. Unlike Cosmic X who's finishing the whole Shas - Talmud - a little late, I fell behind during Shabbos - the second tractate - and dropped out during Eruvin - the third. I just didn't have the dedication. Still I did participate in the process for a time.
Crossing the Rubicon has links to a variety of articles on the topic. via Destination Jerusalem we can find an excerpt of "From September 11 to the Daf Yomi" at Chareidi Wannabe. (The complete story was in the Siyum program and a recent issue of Jewish Observer.)
My Obiter Dicta expresses his conflict over learning Daf Yomi and concludes with beautiful thoughts from his brother. Biur Chametz has the goods on Halacha Yomi.
Point of Pinchas who took the famous "Siyum Hashas" photo from Route 3 in NJ links to his collection of photos.
I've started doing Daf with my 12 and 11 year old boys. Judith at Kesher Talk has started doing Daf too. In fact everyone seems to be doing Daf :-)!
For insights on the Daf don't miss Parshablog or A-Daf-A-Day.
UPDATE: For the past week, I've had the pleasure of doing Daf with my brother (as well as my two sons.) Some of my best learning I did with my brother 25 or so years ago. We learned the last three perakim of Berachos and the last perek of Pesachim with Rashi, Rash and Mishneh Brurah. It's wonderful to see the progression from opinions of the Tanaim and Amoraim to the eventual practical Halacha. To this day I insist on using Siddurim and Bentchers that have the special prayer for the host.
That prayer appears in many more publications now; but was still a novelty 25 years ago.
Also 25 years ago my brother kept asking me, "It's a beautiful possuk (passage from the Bible) where do we say it?" The answer, invariably was "V'Yitain Lecho", a prayer many, but not all, say after Shabbos. I didn't say it then. But on Wednesday night (I think) I proudly pointed to my brother the possuk from "V'Yitain Lecho."
Also thanks to Presence for Blogdigger. I found some of these sites by a Blogdigger search on "Daf Yomi."
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