The Simcha of a Siyum

It is not immediately clear what Rabba and Rav Yosef’s intent was. Why is the fact that they could no longer cut wood a reason for celebration? Just the opposite! There is a mitzvah that they are no longer able to perform. They should be sad!

Rabbeinu Gershom explains that those that were previously occupied in the mitzvah of gathering wood are now able to learn Torah. Embarking on an intense period of Torah study is cause for celebration. In fact, the Gemara continues that the nights start becoming longer from Tu B’Av and on. In an agricultural society, most work was limited to the daytime. Once the nights start becoming longer, everyone is expected to learn more Torah at night. The Shulchan Aruch rules that a rebbe should learn with his talmidim during the day but also learn some at night. The Vilna Gaon says that his source is from this very Gemara. Children should not be trained that the mitzvah of learning Torah is a daytime pursuit. Just the opposite – when they enter the workforce, perhaps their only free time to learn may be at night. Incidentally, my Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, remarked that as a youngster in Europe he used go the local shul to learn Torah at night. However, there were generally no seats available. Everyone from the town came to learn Torah at night. He was forced to sit on the leg supports of his father’s shtender!

Rabbeinu Gershom’s position is that the cause for a celebration was the beginning a new mitzvah. The Rashbam disagrees. He says the celebration was because they just completed a mitzvah. For many months, they were gathering wood for the altar, from Nissan until Tu B’Av. To finally bring this great mitzvah to its conclusion is cause for celebration. Our Sages teach us that the credit for a mitzvah goes to the one who completes it. Although all the participants in a mitzvah get reward, there is something unique about being the one who completes the mitzvah. Similarly here, although gathering wood was a mitzvah that lasted for months, bringing it to its completion is cause for celebration. In fact, this idea is codified by the Misha Berura in midst of a discussion about Simchas Torah (669:6). He writes that indeed completing a mitzvah is cause for celebration, although he does not specifically state what mitzvos he is referring to.

The most famous application of this Gemara was stated by the Nimukei Yosef. He writes that this passage is the source that one should make a seudah when he completes learning a masechta, The Rema states in Yoeh Deah (246:26) that it is a mitzvah to rejoice and make a seudah upon completion of a masechta. In fact, the poskim write that one can likewise make a siyum on the completion of Tanach. Rav Vozner, zt”l, writes that if one studied a sefer of Navi and completed it on Erev Pesach, he can make a siyum and that will exempt the firstborns from the need to fast. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, famously told a student to make a siyum on a daf Gemara! A student used to study Gemara with his father every time he went home for Shabbos. After some time, they finished a daf of Gemara. Rav Moshe instructed the talmid to make a siyum and informed him that he would personally attend!

The Maharshal was so convinced that a party upon completion of sefer is a seudas mitzvah that he ruled that during benching at a siyum one should recite, “Blessed is our G-d shehasmicha b’mono.” This phrase “[Hashem] Whose abode is this celebration” is recited at betnching at a sheva brachos or a wedding. The Maharshal reasoned that certainly the phrase should be recited at a siyum which certainly brings “joy” to Hashem. However, at the first siyum when the Maharshal was ready to put his new ruling into practice something terrible happened. The Maharshal does not go into detail about what exactly occurred but needless to say it was not pleasant. The Maharshal attributed the occurrence to a punishment for inventing a new halacha which had no source in the writings of the earlier poskim. Already in Masechta Shabbos (118), Abaye states that he made a siyum whenever a talmid completes a masechta. Certainly, the idea of making a siyum dates back to then, yet no Rishon mentioned this halacha of reciting “shehasmicha b’mono.” Therefore, the Maharshal retracted his ruling and states that the phrase should only be recited at sheva brachos or a wedding.

Rabbi Yosef (“Joey”) Newcomb of Yeshiva Ateres Shimon suggested that perhaps even Rabbeinu Gershom agrees that theoretically one should make a seudah upon completion of a mitzvah. However, in this situation, where the mitzvah is no longer available because wood can no longer be cut for the altar, it may seem like one is celebrating freedom from the burden of doing a mitzvah. Therefore, it is better not to celebrate the completion of this mitzvah. Hence, he offers an alternative logic, namely that the celebration is for the beginning of an intense Torah study program. However, by a siyum on Torah, there is always more Torah to learn, and no one would misunderstand the nature of his celebration. He certainly can’t be celebrating that he is done and finished with a mitzvah. Rather, he is celebrating the accomplishment that he finished one segment of Torah. Therefore, even Rabbeinu Gershom would agree that making a simcha upon the completion of a sefer is meritorious.