Siyum Daf Yomi

An event definition by Sam Spero.

On March 1 2005 the 11th Siyum HaShas will take place. It is a celebration of the 11th Daf Yomi cycle since the idea was instituted by Rabbi Meir Shapiro at the first world congress of Agudath Israel in Vienna in 1923.

The big celebrations will be held at two locations: in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., where Grinnell and Zussman are going; and at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The two events are expected to draw some 120,000 people in total.

There also will be some 60 venues throughout the world linked by satellite to the New York event. They include Milwaukee, whose siyum will be held at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Centers Klieger Auditorium, 5000 W. Chambers St.

The Daf Yomi project was, from its inception, designed for laypeople, according to Rabbi Avner Zarmi, vice president of the Wisconsin chapter of Agudath Israel of America.

Its purpose was to encourage laypeople to study Talmud, Zarmi said. The page-per-day was intended to give people a goal that would enable them to cover the whole in a reasonable frame of time.

The time of the hypothesis test was set for 17:45 to 21:00 EST, with the expected time for the recitation of the Smah between 20:00 and 21:00. The Chisquare if 17899 on 18000 df for p= 0.703 and Z=-0.532.

Siyum Daf Yomi

After the event, Sam sent a note saying it had lasted longer than anticipated, until about 22:45. He noted two special times of greater excitement, at about 18:10 and about 22:20. The following figure shows the longer period, and the two special moments are indicated by the black square on the zero line.

Siyum Daf Yomi


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