The Evolving Jew

This past Monday evening, August 6th, I attended the Modern Orthodox Siyum Hashas which was held at the Spanish & Potugese Synagogue on the Upper West Side. All in all, it was a beautiful and inspiring evening. There was no sense of “We’re modern & proud!”, just a sincere celebration of Limud Torah. Everyone was handed a program as they came in, together with a sample of the new Koren English Talmud, which contained the first few pages Masechet Brachot, I think up to Daf 8. I flipped through it and I have to say I’m quite impressed. There were several hundred participants – I’m terrible at judging crowds, so don’t ask me how many exactly. I was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of Chasidim at the Siyum. There were three 40-minute time slots, each filled with a choice of several lectures. The ones I attended were all excellent. The one I enjoyed most was by Wendy Amsellem, a brilliant young woman who teaches at Drisha.  She very animatedly taught about the evoluti