Drive-In Pirchim Mishnayos Siyum Held in Manchester

Sunday evening saw over 800 people participate in an innovative and inspiring event – probably the only COVID-compliant large-scale children’s Mishnayos Siyum in Europe.

A group of dedicated and hard-working askanim hired the carpark of Tesco’s supermarket in Prestwich for a drive-in Pirchim Mishanyos siyum. With the postponement of the large annual Agudas Yisroel siyum and the local Manchester mini-siyum, the organizers did not want to disappoint the boys, or fail to celebrate their learning – and the drive-in siyum was born.

It followed the pattern of a regular siyum, with large screens so everyone could see the speakers, and the sound broadcast on a designated frequency onto the car radios. Prize winners were called up to collect their prizes from a table.

Joint first prize winners were Yossi Halpern and Aharon Yehoshua Schwarz, who both learned 502 mishnayos b’al peh. Moshe Royde won second prize with 431 mishnayos and Benzion Roth came third with 410 mishnayos.

Special mention must go to Shmuel Royde who learned the whole of shishah sidrei Mishnah for his bar mitzvah which fell during the lockdown. He was farhered over a period of two weeks before the siyum, and was honored with making the siyum and saying the hadran on Seder Moed.