It is the day after 2012 Siyum Hashas at MetLife stadium and my heart is still racing, my mind is still whirling, my feet are still jumping, as they were last night. For most of us, this event has to be one of the most inspirational and incredible experiences of our lifetime.

As a campus kiruv Rabbi, I wanted to give the frum world a different perspective, no less inspiring and uplifting.

Several years ago, various kiruv organizations and specifically Partners in Torah, started to look to the Siyum Hashas as a valuable kiruv opportunity. While many critics of kiruv assume that we are all about providing our secular students with flashy proofs of G-d and Torah and inspiring experiences a mile wide but an inch deep, those involved in kiruv day to day can tell you that it is more about caring for our fellow Jew and in depth Torah learning of chumash, gemara and machshava. We show our students that they are part of a much bigger Jewish world which consists of Jews of all backgrounds and professions who have one common purpose – to deepen our relationship with the Borei Olam. Where better to drive home this message then at the Siyum Hashas which combines the celebration of our raison d’être together with Jews across the spectrum of orthodoxy?

Still, many of the campus mekarvim hesitated at the idea of bringing our students to the event. How would students react to the separation of men and women? What happens when the girls ask why they aren’t learning gemara? Would our students feel uncomfortable and out of place with all of the hats surrounding them?

A pre event was organized at the Crowne Plaza which provided the students with a much needed perspective of what is so special and central about gemara learning and much needed context of the historical import of what was about to transpire. Rabbi Yitzchok Feldheim ended his speech by saying, “For the first time in MetLife Stadium it can truly be said; The Giants take the field.”

As we entered the tunnel leading to our seats, our hearts fluttered for a moment as we surveyed a stadium full of our Jewish brethren. Our group sat next to another kiruv group from Manhattan organized by the chessed and kiruv powerhouse, Mr. Steve Eisenberg. Of the thousands who came with the kiruv groups, there were a mix of recent baalei teshuva and some in middle of their journey. I was glad to see the recent baalei teshuva come. Frum from birth people, myself included, do not always realize how hard it is for them to integrate into the frum world and understand all of the nuances and idiosyncrasies of our community. They must contend with personal struggles and criticisms from their friends and family. This event was such a great chizuk for them. Another group from the Nefesh Yehudi organization brought 30 secular, Israeli college students as a reward for completing Perek Ailu Metzios. They could be heard singing “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, anachnu ohavim otcha,” right after the dancing was completed.

When Rav Yitzchok Scheiner shlit’a got up to speak, I made sure to point out to the secular students, that this man, one of the most respected roshei yeshiva of our generation, grew up in Pittsburgh with a very limited Jewish education. He was attending the University of Pittsburgh, pursuing a degree in Mathematics, when Rav Avrohom Bender zt’l (Grandfather of Rav Yaakov Bender of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway) convinced him of the importance of going to Yeshiva. I hoped the students would be able to see what one can become despite their limited background.

Throughout program we coached our guys through all of the foreign language and expressions.

“Rabbi, what’s a yid? Rabbi, what does Siyum mean? Rabbi, what’s a Bava Kamma?” I was the sections de facto translator and I tried as best I could to give over the stirring divrei chizuk from our Torah luminaries. But the moment that brought everything together had to be the dancing. Everyone grabbed the person next to him. Chasid and litvak, sephardi and ashkenazi, religious and secular, white shirt and blue, up hat, down hat and no hat, hugged, danced and whirled around together. Many of us were dancing with students on our shoulders. As my students say, it was the ultimate “man circle.” But what kicked the Siyum into another gear was when they started to sing the methodical and steady cadence of “mah ashiv lach,” Everyone in the stadium began to jump as one. It was as if the stadium, no – the entire world, the malachim and perhaps Hashem Himself, were jumping up and down together with the crowd. Ashrei ayin ro’asoh kol aileh! Happy is the eye which beheld all of this!

It is hard to know the long term impact of the Siyum Hashas. But one day, many years from now, we can proudly tell our grandchildren that we attended the 12th Siyum Hashas in MetLife Stadium. For on a steamy summer’s night in August 2012, there was no division between Jew and fellow Jew. There were no chassidishe or litvishe, no balabatish or yeshivish, no Sephardim or Ashkenazim. Nobody was secular or religious, right wing or left. There were no problems in Klal Yisroel, no crises to talk about. There were just 90,000 Jews who came together to rededicate ourselves to Hashem, His Torah and to each other. For on that night in MetLife stadium, we were all Giants.

Rabbi Meir Goldberg is the Director of Rutgers Jewish Xperience at Rutgers U in New Brunswick, NJ. He resides in Lakewood, NJ with his family. He can be reached at [email protected]

(Source: Hamodia)