When I think of a siyyum, or completion of an important portion of Torah study, I am reminded of the siyyum of my childhood, so many years ago. Back in Brooklyn, at Crown Heights Yeshiva, whenever we completed learning a parsha, we knew a siyyum was imminent and a siyyum meant treats. The standard fare included fruit punch, dry cookies, salty pretzels, and greasy potato chips which left oil stains on the thin, white paper plates which held the snacks that made us all so happy.
Fast forward about 45-50 years to the special siyyum that recently took place at Congregation Beth Aaron. Beth Aaron’s members have been celebrating an annual siyyum on all of Mishnayot for about 30 years now, but things have changed just a bit from the siyyum of my childhood and even from the siyyum of 30 years ago.
While 30 years ago the rabbi, or some other volunteer, had to personally call many men to gather enough learners to have all the mesechtot assigned, today, thanks to modern technology, this is accomplished with the help of lzechernishmas.com, a website designed to organize Mishnayot learning. For the recent siyyum, 67 people signed up and followed through with their learning. Thirty years ago this list was probably 100 percent men, but thanks to changes in our educational system, at our siyyum men, women, and children participated with great pride. Thirty years ago it is likely that many men needed to commit to learning multiple mesechtot in order to complete the list, but today we have numerous volunteers, all of whom are eager to participate and therefore, we need only assign one mesechta per person or group, which maximizes the number of participants learning Torah.
In recent years we have been encouraging husbands to learn with their spouses and parents to learn with their children. This has begun to happen as we have 72 individuals signed up for the 63 mesechtot of the Six Orders of the Mishna, Shisha Sidrei Mishna, for the June 2015 siyyum.
In fact, the assortment of speakers at the recent siyyum at the seudah shlishit reflected this variety of participants. Shmulie Schwartz spoke to represent the younger learners; Evie Leifer spoke on behalf of the women participants, and Rabbi Richie Wolpoe rounded out the group. Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, Beth Aaron’s spiritual leader, spoke and made the siyyum on behalf of the entire group.
As opposed to the pretzels and potato chips of my youth, the siyyum seudah for many years now has consisted of deli platters along with other tasty delights. Dr. Barry Weissman has been generous in sponsoring the seudah for the past few years in memory of his parents, Pearl and Morris Weissman, a very special couple who were loyal members of our shul.
Finally, while in my youth a siyyum meant a parsha learned together, which is special in and of itself, our annual siyyum Mishnayot is a combination of individual learning, yet at the same time, a collective, community effort of which we are all proud.
By Alden Leifer
