From Finish to Start

Photos: Naftoli Goldgrab and AEGedolimphotos.com

Bigger Than the crowd

Yisroel Besser

The press box is a mixed blessing. It’s warmer than outside, but it’s also sterile. You have space to put your hat down, but it’s not a matzav.

Minutes before the one o’clock start time of the Siyum Hashas, though, it was the perfect place to be. Through the glass, I could see a bustle of activity in one corner of the floor, and then similar activity in the other corner.

The four-sided dais was in the middle, the bandstand off to the side. It was clear from the two additional stages, still empty, that there were going to be other featured guests at this event, besides the rabbanim and musicians. I was curious, and in the small room nearby, from where Rabbi Yosef Chaim Golding was controlling sound, image, and video for the whole stadium, I got the answer.

“One is for the zekeinim, the survivors, and one is for the children.”