2nd Siyum Hashas – A look back

The 2nd Siyum HaShas was held on 27 June 1938 (28 Sivan 5698). Again the main venue was the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, but the founder of that yeshiva and the Daf Yomi program, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, was not present, having died suddenly in 1933 at the age of 46. An estimated 15,000[27] to 20,000[28] Jews came from all over Poland to celebrate the milestone together with many Torah luminaries, including the Rebbes of Boyan-Cracow, Sochatchov, Sadigura, and Modzhitz, Rabbi Menachem Ziemba, and Rabbi Dov Berish Weidenfeld. So many Gedolim were gathered in one place that many halachic queries were sent directly to Lublin. The two-day event culminated with the completion of a Sefer Torah in memory of Shapiro.

In the United States, Siyums were held in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn.

In Mandatory Palestine, organizers planned to hold a Siyum in the Zikhron Meir neighborhood of Bnei Brak (named for Rabbi Meir Shapiro). It was cancelled at the last minute by the British mandatory government, which banned all mass gatherings for fear of “anti-government demonstrations”.