His Life Mission: Celebrating a Single Page of Talmud

Torah learning is not just an obligation — it’s a celebration. The custom of holding a festive meal to mark the completion of a Talmudic tractate (masechet) or a specific topic dates back to Talmudic times. The celebration is considered so significant in halachah (Jewish law) that even on days of communal mourning, when eating meat is usually forbidden, we still serve meat at the festive meal for a siyum, the completion of a section of learning.

A Unique Siyum Begins with Determination

Several decades ago, a very special siyum took place.

Meir (not his real name) was a student at Mesivta Tiferet Yerushalayim yeshivah in New York City. Unlike most of the young men learning there, he came from a non-observant family. His parents were proud Jews but lacked Torah learning.

Meir was a diligent student. When he came home for weekly visits, he would share tidbits of knowledge with his parents. One time, his father was especially captivated by what he was hearing and asked where Meir had learned it.

“In the Talmud,” Meir replied.

“Let me see,” his father responded.

“I can show you,” Meir said, “but I’m afraid you won’t understand it. The Mishnah is in Hebrew, but the Gemara is in Aramaic, the language spoken at the time.”

Three Years for One Daf

If Meir thought this would deter his father, he was mistaken. This was years before the publication of the Schottenstein translation of the Talmud, and for someone with almost no background, learning Gemara in the original was an incredibly arduous task.

Nonetheless, although already getting on in years, his father decided he would study Gemara in its original Aramaic — even if it took him a year to master a single page (daf).

It didn’t take him a year. It took him three years.

Three years of determined struggle, at the end of which Meir’s father completed learning his first-ever daf Gemara. By then, he knew that Jews celebrate the completion of an entire tractate with a siyum. He was so delighted with his own accomplishment that he wanted to make a siyum for his one page.

“I never heard of such a thing,” Meir told his father. “A siyum on one page? I know you worked harder on it than most people do on an entire tractate — it’s amazing. Maybe I’ll ask my rosh yeshivah (yeshivah dean) what he thinks.”

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s Remarkable Approval

Meir’s rosh yeshivah was none other than Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, widely acknowledged as the Torah leader of American Jewry in his generation. After hearing the question and understanding the context, Rabbi Feinstein remarked that he had attended many types of siyumim in his life — on Mishnah, Gemara, halachic works — but he had never been to a siyum on a single page of Gemara.

He told Meir it would be his honor to attend a siyum that was the culmination of three years of toil and hard work. Meir’s father should make the siyum, and Rabbi Feinstein himself would attend.

A siyum was held with tremendous joy. Meir’s father stood up and recited the last line of the page of Gemara out loud, explaining it to everyone present. A lavish meal was served, accompanied by music and singing. The festivities continued late into the night.

A Life’s Purpose Fulfilled

The next morning, Meir’s father didn’t wake up. He had passed away in his sleep, calmly going to meet his Maker.

When Rabbi Feinstein was told, he was deeply moved.

“It seems that this great man accomplished his entire purpose in life with the completion of a single page of Gemara,” he said.

As related by Rabbi Aryeh Enkin: the story is found in “Yoma Tava L’rabanan,” chapter two, footnote eight.