Trip to Montreal celebrates learning

Above, the Rhode Island delegation to the Siyum Mishnayos after a fun game of hockey.

On Jan. 22, 26 boys from the Providence Hebrew Day School (from Pawtucket and Providence, and Sharon, Massachusetts) traveled to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the annual Siyum Mishnayos. This weekend event, organized by Pirchei Agudath Israel of Montreal, is a celebration of learning. All of the boys who attended had studied the prerequisite amount of mishnayos, which varies based on age, in order to join the trip.

Students from across the eastern coast of the United States and Canada gathered together for a fun weekend culminating in a gala melave malka celebration on Saturday night.  Providence’s participation in this trip is facilitated by the students of the New England Rabbinical College; this year the trip was coordinated by Yisroel Yavner and chaperoned by students Avrohom Menachem Bachrach, Ephraim Seiff, Yehoshua Shepherd, and Yisroel Yavner, as well as members of the community, Nadav Minkin and Aaron Rubenstein.

The participants enjoyed bowling, snow tubing, singing, festive Shabbat meals, a visit to a pizza store and candy store, and of course, learning Torah. Students were hosted by members of Montreal’s Jewish community. Many of the hosts and hostesses commented on the boys’ fine behavior. One hostess called the families of the boys who had stayed at her house on Sunday to compliment the boys on their exemplary behavior, offers of assistance and fine manners.

Although the trip was long and the boys came home exhausted, they are already counting the days to next year’s Siyum Mishnayos.

YISROEL YAVNER, a student at the New England Rabbinical College, is a graduate of PHDS and Maimonides.