Jerusalem – Video-Photos: ‘Siyum HaShas’ In One Day Unites National-religious Community

Jerusalem – Hundreds of yeshiva students and rabbis from across the spectrum of the national religious community participated in a marathon Talmud study session on Sunday, and completed the 2,711 double-sided folio pages of the Babylonian Talmud over the course of the day.

Some of the most senior rabbis in the national religious community participated in the study session, including Rabbi Haim Druckman, Rabbi Dov Lior and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Aryeh Stern, as well as several MKs from the national religious sector including Naftali Bennett and Betzalel Smotrich.

Some senior haredi rabbis were also present, including Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, Rabbi Dov Landau, Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar.

The event, called “Together in Holiness,” was organized by the Association of Hesder Yeshivas, and was designed to unite the different components of the national-religious sector, from the liberal wing through the moderate mainstream and to the conservative, so-called “national-haredi” branch of the community.

Those studying teamed up in traditional “chavruta” one-on-one partnerships, with each chavruta studying eight folio pages each in order to complete the study of the entire Talmud by 6 p.m.
Prof. Simcha Goldin, father of slain IDF soldier Hadar Goldin whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza for more than four years, was amongst those who began studying at nine o’clock in the morning. He paired off with Rabbi Druckman as his study partner.

The two grandfathers of Amiad Ish-Ran, the three-day old baby boy who was murdered in the terrorist attack outside of Ofra earlier this month, participated in the event and its closing ceremony.

“This concentration of Torah study it is an outstanding example of what we do all year round,” Druckman told The Jerusalem Post.

“We are strengthening and building the Torah, and the Jewish people in the State of Israel, which is so vital. Thank God we have merited to arouse Torah study in our generation, and it has flourished.

“We are talking about Torah which is connected to the State of Israel, to the army of Israel, to the Land of People, and which is connected to life. It is an instruction book for life. It is critical for the existence of the state and the people.”

Head of the Association of Hesder Yeshivas Mulli Jesselson said that the marathon Talmud session was designed to unite the national religious community around the Torah.

“This is an historic event in which the whole community of those who love and study the Torah is taking part, in which Talmud study is a foundational stone in the building of every yeshiva for thousands of years,” said Jesselson.
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