Siyum Hashas - anybody attending, anybody care? (women)

Jay3fer

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 9:53 pm

Apart from supporting husbands / sons / fathers / brothers etc who are learning shas, are there any women out there in their own right who are a) learning daf yomi, and b) planning to attend the siyum Hashas somewhere near them to celebrate the accomplishment???

This is mostly personal curiosity, but partly professional interest (I'm a writer)... because it's SUCH a huge thing in some circles, and yet not really much on the radar of most women I know.

Edited to add (because people get scared when they see writer), I would never write about anybody without their permission. And I write for very obscure publications. ;-)

TranquilityAndPeace

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 10:18 pm

If my DH decides to go with our boys, I'd go along. I would even take the kids (we have all boys) on my own, if DH decides not to go, but I know that would not be practical, as I wouldn't be able to sit with them!

Our sons are 9, 11, and 13 - and I think this event could form a solid and positive impression of Daf Yomi and learning in general on their malleable minds. In another 7 years, they will be at a completely different place in their lives, so I think this is a wonderful opportunity for them. I remember about 21 years ago, when I was in middle school, and my friends were talking about going, but I didn't go.

I don't think I gave you any writing material in this post, though - sorry!

chocolate chips

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 10:30 pm

My husband used to learn daf yomi when he had plenty time on his hands unfortunately he doesn't anymore.
He IS going to the siyum hashas and offered to buy me a ticket too but I a: get a bit panicky in such a huge crowd (I need an exit space) and b: have no interest since I don't know much about daf yomi because I do not learn it and since it will all be 'torah talk' which I won't understand.

My mil is going, she likes to see such gatherings and she understands it all. On the one hand it is a real man thing since they are the ones who learn it but on the other hand, like the internet asifa, its just a huge achdusdik gathering of Jews of different types all coming together for one cause, singing, dancing and davening together which is one huge uplifting event that changes everyone spirits for the better!

I will watch live clips and videos etc but it's just not practical for me to actually be there.

yaelinIN

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 10:48 pm

The DH is going and the older boys, but DD and DB are too young (and too antsy) to make it realistic for me to go. Perhaps in 7.5 more years. I would like to go -- I like this kind of stuff...

Too lazy to learn DY.

dee's mommy

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 11:13 pm

My husband is is planning to go with the rest of the men in the shiur he learns in. We did look into my daughter and I going with him, but it just isn't practical. She is very young, and it is a long bus trip. With my husband going, it would be a wonderful experience for him to share with me. With all three of us going, we become the parents of the cranky kid on a bus all day there, and then all day back the next day. This is not even putting into consideration what I would do with the little one during the actual siyum itself.

Maybe next time, when we are at a different stage of life all of us could go.

MaBelleVie

Sun, Jun 03 2012, 11:36 pm

I have never learned daf yomi. I did attend the last siyum hashas, and it was beautiful.

My dh does learn daf yomi, but he started in the middle of this cycle so he won't be up to a siyum on the whole shas yet. We may fly in for the siyum anyway. If we do, only he will attend. It's not something I would get a babysitter for, unless he was part of the siyum.

Jay3fer

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 1:13 am

Apropos of this, I just found this nice video from Rebbetzin Lori Palatnik:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....all-u

I don't know how to phrase it without sounding cynical; there IS unbelievable achdus at this time, but I guess it's hard to see that it's not achdus to the exclusion of half of klal Yisrael. Why does this bother me so much when I happily daven with a mechitzah etc...? Not sure. Everybody acts like this is a modern-day hakheil, but by hakheil, even the women were expected to be learning right alongside (to whatever extent they were not interrupted by babies and young kids!).

This is an imperfect formulation of what I'm feeling at the moment... :-)

Jay3fer

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 1:18 am

Marion wrote:

I promised my DH that I would look into it. Does anyone have information about the siyum in Toronto?

Just saw this. @Marion - you're in Maaleh Adumim??? We're looking there (maybe, if we don't go north) for when we make aliyah next year...
Anyway, I also happen to have the Toronto brochure on the desk in front of me!!!

Wednesday evening, August 1, 2012 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front Street East. (this was originally the O'Keefe Centre, then the Hummingbird Centre...)

Men's seats range from Platinum @ $180 to Green @ $18.
Women's seats range from Gold @ $100 to Green @ $18.

There are also sponsorships, which include Platinum tickets (presumably, Gold if you're a woman) and honourable mention, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 corporate sponsorship.

Call 1-855-SIYUM-12
Email siyumhashastoronto@gmail.com
Fax 416.781.4544
Mail 129 McGillivray Ave Toronto, ON M5M 2Y7

There's also some text that I won't type over here.

ACT NOW AND PREPARE TO EXPERIENCE A DEMONSTRATION OF KOVOD HATORAH AND KIDDUSH HASHEM YOU WILL NEVER FORGET.

Hope that helps! ;-)

Hashemlovesme

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 2:16 am

I went to a hookup of the last siyum HaShas when I was in 12th grade & even though I was not an emotional person at all, I got all choked up when all the men started singing & dancing after making the actual siyum. I remember thinking "all through the generations others have tried to destroy us physically & spiritually & here are tens (hundreds?) of thousands of us uniting & making such a huge siyum, what a shtuch!"

Marion

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 2:22 am

Jay3fer wrote:

Marion wrote:

I promised my DH that I would look into it. Does anyone have information about the siyum in Toronto?

Thanks for the information. My DH is going to be upset, I think, as we are actually arriving in Toronto on the 1st...but I think by the time we get in he'll be too tired to attend! (We have to leave for the airport around 2:30 in the morning, Israel time, so for him to attend anything in the evening, Toronto time, after spending 14+ hours in transit with 4 young children, I think is going to be pushing it!)

Yes, we're in Ma'ale Adumim. Feel free to PM me if you want feedback.

shabri

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 8:50 am

Last time my father bought tickets for him and all of my brothers/brothers-in-law. I was still single at the time and told him I wanted to go. My engaged sister came along with me. It was one of the most inspiring nightsof my life. I am not an emotional person but after the made the Siam and everyone started singing and dancing I started crying. Dvenng and saying yihei shmei raba with thousands of other Jews of all stripes was incredible.

That was in MSG. Now I live in Israel and iy"h will have a newborn. I would like to go although I know the numbers at binyanei Hauma English speaking one will be fewer. We will see where I am up to then.

When people were talking about the Internet asifa and how there were so many Jews together and how rarities I was thinking but aren't there so many more going to the soyuz hashas?

sky

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 9:00 am

AFAIK $18 seats are sold out.

My dh learns daf yomi and gives a small shiur. He started about 1/2 year into the cycle so he won't be making the siyum with everyone else but I really hope that he goes. I hope he buys tickets soon because I would hate for him to not go after all the work and effort he has put into his learning.
I don't think that it is practical for me to go with a bunch of little children.

mommyhood

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 9:42 am

I'm not going but my mother and sister are and I know many girls and women who went to the last one (none of them learn daf yomi). I don't really enjoy big crowds and I have a short attention span for speeches. Dh is going, he doesn't learn daf yomi but it's just a nice thing to go to support all the learning and to see so many gedolim together.

Jay3fer

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 11:56 am

chani8 wrote:

Is this a mixed event, for both charedi and DL??

Do you mean the main NYC event, or the binyanei Hauma English speaking one? Anyway, I don't know about elsewhere, but the pic for the Toronto one shows only a bunch of black hats... not a sruga in the bunch. Israel might be different. I hope, but don't feel confident that it would be. Officially, it's an agudah thing, right?

OOTBubby

Mon, Jun 04 2012, 11:56 am

I am going אי"ה with DH. I live OOT and for the last 3 siyumim I attended our local gatherings.

We'd already planned this time to go to the big NY/NJ one and had ordered our own tickets when someone we are close to told us that he'd purchased a private box and invited us to join his family there, so we are doing that.

I go in support of those who learn the Daf and for the immense gathering -- I find it to be inspiring even though I do have a hard time sitting through so many speeches. For something like this I think it's worth it.