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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.
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.
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