Siyum HaShas

Siyum HaShas סיום הש"ס‎
Logo of the main Siyum HaShas organized by Agudath Israel of America
Status	Active
Frequency	Every 2,711 days
Venue	International
Years active	100
Inaugurated	2 February 1931 (1931-02-02)
Founder	Rabbi Meir Shapiro
Previous event	January 1, 2020
Next event	June 7, 2027
Attendance	93,000[1] (2012)
Organized by	World Agudath Israel

Siyum HaShas (Hebrew: סיום הש"ס, lit. "completion of the Six Orders [of the Talmud]") is a celebration of the completion of the Daf Yomi (daily Talmud folio) program, a roughly seven-and-a-half-year cycle of learning the Oral Torah and its commentaries, in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud are covered in sequence – one page per day.^[2] The first Daf Yomi cycle began on the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5684 (11 September 1923); the thirteenth cycle concluded on 4 January 2020 and the fourteenth cycle began the following day, to be concluded on 7 June 2027. The Siyum HaShas marks both the end of the previous cycle and the beginning of the next, and is characterized by celebratory speeches, as well as singing and dancing. The next day, the new cycle begins again.

For Jews for whom Torah study is a daily obligation, the publicity and excitement surrounding the Siyum HaShas has resulted in more participants, more Daf Yomi shiurim (lessons), and more Siyum locations with each cycle.^[3] Since 1990, attendance at the main Siyum HaShas in America, organized by the Agudath Israel of America, has increased dramatically, necessitating the booking of larger arenas and stadiums.^[4] The 13th Siyum HaShas on 1 January 2020 took place in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey with a sellout crowd of over 90,000. Other organizations, such as Dirshu, and neighborhood groups and synagogues in cities around the world, also hold Siyum HaShas events expected to attract tens of thousands of participants.