Yesterday I made a siyum on all of Tanach.
Last Shavuos it occurred to me that Hashem gave us Torah,
Neviim, Ksuvim for us to learn -- and to learn from. And
that's when I started. It has taken me eleven months and four
days to go through all of it, although I am sure Yated
readers can do it in less time.
Perhaps it was R' Akiva who pushed me into it... Here I was,
almost forty years old, and I had never been through the
complete text of Sefer Rus, while with many of the
other parts of Tanach I did not even have a nodding
acquaintance. Most of us have been through the entire
chumash, with Yehoshua, Shoftim, Shmuel, Melochim and
chapters of Yeshaya and Yirmeya thrown in. We've heard the
reading of Esther, of course, are familiar with lots of
Tehillim, Yona, and perhaps much more. But who has
ever plowed through Micha? Tzefania? Iyov? Doniel? Divrei
Hayomim?
Going through all of Tanach from one end to the other, with a
reliable source text like an Artscroll translation, gives one
a panoramic view of Jewish history, from the beginning of the
world until the end of days. The drama of Yosef revealing
himself to his brothers, of Eliyohu on Mt. Carmel and Doniel
in the lion's den, for example, is breathtaking. We read
about Hashem's great love for us as individuals and as
Klal Yisroel as His Chosen People, divine reward and
retribution as seen through the pattern of our history as a
sovereign nation in our homeland, recorded by our Prophets,
about the great sanctity of the Mishkon and the Beis
Hamikdosh, testified to by the number of chapters devoted to
their construction and contents and their loving detail --
all this is more than inspiring.
When taking on this project, select a translation that you
feel comfortable with, perhaps with transliterated Hebrew
names (Yishai vs. Jesse etc.), and that has the Hebrew side
by side, so that if you have difficulty with an English word
(I got stumped on `mulcted' in Divrei Hayomim) you can
refer to the Hebrew text, which may sometimes be more
familiar. By all means, try to tackle one that incorporates
commentaries.
I did not set myself any daily quotas, and was really
surprised when I reached the end before I half expected to. I
studied on Friday nights, Shabbos, and while watching the
children at the playground, which eventually became prime
time. They loved the outing and I had the added incentive to
take them out.
The children especially enjoyed the Chocolate Chip Cookie
Siyum. Right now, I'm shopping around for the right text for
my next time 'round. With meforshim. Or in Hebrew.
Ideas, anyone?
[Yes. Always one to put my 2 grush worth -- how about picking
up some Aramaic and doing it with Onkelos in chumash
and Yonosson ben Uziel for Tanach? Maybe for that third time
'round.]
