The first 9 days of the month of Av are days of national mourning and the blackest days on the Jewish calendar, when both Holy Temples were destroyed and when we contemplate the nearly 2,000-year-long exile.
Though festivities are inappropriate for these days, there is one avenue of joy that is permitted—joy associated with serving G‑d, the joy of a mitzvah.
In fact, the celebration of certain mitzvos overrides the sorrowful nature of the moment, and calls for a seudat mitzvah—a celebratory mitzvah meal during which course the mourning practices of these days are relaxed.
One such joyous occasion is the participation in a siyum (the completion) of a tractate of the Talmud—which is both a mitzvah as well as an academic feat worthy of celebration.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke of the need to shine a beacon of light on these days of darkness through participation in a siyum and encouraged public broadcast it to share this joy with others.
The Sages have said that the primary reason for the Temple’s destruction was the lack of love and harmony between Jews. Sharing in the joy of another, the one who completed the tractate, is a demonstration of Jewish unity—which reverses the cause for our predicament, and therefore brings it to an end.
In his later years, the Rebbe requested that the siyums should continue through the 15th of Av—the holiday which celebrates the “upward rebound” from Tisha b’Av.
5773-2013 Siyum Schedule
1 Av – Monday, July 8 8:00 PM ET
2 Av – Tuesday, July 9 8:00 PM ET
3 Av – Wednesday, July 10 8:00 PM ET
4 Av – Thursday, July 11 8:00 PM ET
5 Av – Friday, July 12 1:45 PM ET
7 Av – Sat Night, July 13 11:00 PM ET
8 Av – Monday, July 15 8:00 PM ET
9 Av – Tuesday, July 16 8:00 PM ET
10 Av – Wednesday, July 17 8:00 PM ET
11 Av – Thursday, July 18 8:00 PM ET
12 Av – Friday, July 19 1:45 PM ET
14 Av – Sat Night, July 20 11:00 PM ET
15 Av – Monday, July 22 8:00 PM ET
Each program runs for approximately 15 minutes. This program will be simultaneously broadcasted locally in the New York area Monday-Friday on Radio WSNR 620AM., and Saturday nights on Radio WMCA 570 AM
The siyum broadcast is also available on the Jewish.TV app. No need to worry where you are at the time of the siyum as you can join in with your iPhone, Android, or other smart device by going to chabad.org/siyum.
shteef!
There was a countdown but it never started.Can you please try to make it happen tonight?
Thank you.
Listening to the shiur does not mean you can eat meat afterwards. If you were at a live siyum, and it was a siyum you would have gone to anyways, then you would be able to. The idea is more of increasing joy in a permissable manner.
If u heard it means u can eat meat? Or we don’t hold be it
There was a countdown and after 5 minutes of 1 second left, it says this concludes the live series…