Talmud Class Celebrates with a Siyyum

On a sunny Shabbat morning, amidst fellow congregants in attendance for Services, the Rodef Shalom Adult Talmud Class concluded their ten-year study of Tractate Berachot with a Siyyum (celebration of the completion of learning) ceremony in the congregation’s Sanctuary, followed by a festive Kiddush, on December 12.

The group of adult learners, having already studied and completed Tractate Moed Katan over a previous time period, elected to begin Berachot due to its diversity of topics and relevance to daily Jewish practice, as well as the curious subject of dream interpretation. They sat down to commence their learning on January 25, 2005, and have met on 2-3 Sunday mornings per month with Rabbi Bernard Gerson, to study, discuss, and reflect on the 64-page treatise, which was dubbed by Fredie Halvorsen, a regular participant, as “diligent and holy work.” While some of the faces have changed due to life’s transitions, the class maintained a presence of 10-12 men and women throughout its lifetime, and the names of all participants were read publicly to the congregation during the Siyyum.

In his comments to the final page of Berachot at the ceremony, Rabbi Gerson noted the dialectic between the expressions shared, upon taking leave of a friend, of Lech L’Shalom (“Go to peace”) vs. Lech B’Shalom (“Go in peace”): the former mantra is preferable, since a living person should never mark time in the same spiritual place, but rather towards a higher level, and hence the need for discussion about what the Talmud Class will take up next. Current and future plans include a course entitled Readings in Aggadah, a peer-led discussion of stories in the Talmud, and the commencement of a new tractate of study (which has yet to be determined) in the late Spring. For further information about these studies and other adult education opportunities, contact Rabbi Gerson at 303-322-0150.

Photo of Students at last Adult Talmud Class, October 19, 2015 (left to right: Joy Davis, Leslie Tjarks, Kay Shaw, Joe Defez, Saadia Behar, Shoshana Adler, Lee Valdez, Alan Katz, Fredie Halvorsen)