Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The Siyyum

Just *some* of the books used Friday morning in final preparations for the talk given Saturday night

When Shabbos ended on December 24, our family went into overdrive cleaning up from Shabbos, lighting the first Chanukah candle, and getting ready for Shalom Shachne's siyyum.   


(aside from this sign, most of the evening was held in English)

He had been a bit concerned that he would not get the ten men required for a minyan, but he clearly needn't have worried.  By the time people had finished squeezing in, we had over 30 people crammed into our living/dining room.  And they were all sitting down!  Penina said it was like how the Bais HaMikdash would expand so all the Jews could fit in.  Taking a tip from cousins Jen and Shmuley, we had moved a bunch of furniture out onto the porch.


It was so amazing to see all the people coming to be with him for this.  Our neighbor, Sharon, leaned over and said to me, "look at all these people coming to be with your family and you've only lived here such a short time".  

Moshe's wife and I sat next to each other in ulpan last year and now our husbands are also friends

We had a wide range of Jews there.  How can one tell?  Look at the men's head coverings: we had some men wearing kippah sruga, some with black hats, and some with shtreimels--and we commented that it felt very much like Malden to see so many different types of people (and so many different ages) together.  


The night's learning was in memory of Shalom Shachne's stepsister Hilary and his Aunt Sunny, both of whom died within the last year, and his father.  It was a beautiful way to honor the memory of these three very special, and much-missed, people.

For those interested in the real "almost-like-you-were-here" experience, here is the whole devar:

Siyum Shabbos

Mazal tov, Shalom Shachne, and kol hakavod on all your hard work.

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