Yesterday we had a very special siyum for my ds18.  A siyum is a special party held to commemorate the completion of a significant portion of Torah learning, and ds18 completed tractate Pesachim this year.   This wasn’t done according to the schedule of the yeshiva,  but he was very motivated and focused to accomplish this and did a lot of it on his own.

Initially he asked if he could celebrate his siyum at the shalosh seudos held in our honor on Shabbos, but as we discussed it, we all agreed that it wasn’t the best time, that the siyum and farewell party would detract from one another.  So we decided to have the siyum at our home the following afternoon, and ds invited the people who have been part of his learning development over the last few years: his bar mitzva teacher, married learning partners, gemara tutor, our shul rabbi, his stock mentor.  As everyone came in, dd15 (she just had a birthday :)) commented to me how nice it was to see our home filled with so many high caliber people at one time.  A couple of his teachers couldn’t make it, but most of those invited came.  We also invited our parents, and my sister and law and her fiance.  So we had a nice crowd of under 30 people.

Our house is very much in the throes of moving – everything we have is now in the main living area of the house, and we have packed boxes stacked in one area, and lots of open boxes sitting all around.  But we managed to clear the kitchen counters and the living room and dining room area enough for it to look somewhat neat.  (Two hours before people walked it, it looked highly doubtful that it would be possible! :))

To keep things simple, we decided to use paper goods and have a basic meal: deli, salad, cake, ice cream.  My mother bought all the salad ingredients and non-dairy ice cream for dessert, my inlaws brought a bakery cake and rolls, and we picked up cold cuts and paper goods and took care of the preparation, borrowing a table, chairs, etc.

This was a beautiful event.  I was so glad for ds that so many people showed up – he didn’t know who would come – and it was just the right way for him to thank the people he’s known over the years and to be able to say goodbye to them.  And for us it was just the right way to show him how important he and his learning are to us, that even at this busy time it was a priority for us.

Avivah