The Siyum haShas program was fire, and the Five Towns Far Rockaway community was well represented. Â The streets of far Rockaway were near empty, and some of the local shuls did not have a minyan on time for Mincha and Maariv.
Phyllis Reiss, from Far Rockaway attended the event to celebrate the second time that her husband completed the cycle. Â Two of the stadium employees told her, “We have never seen a crowd like this, so many people in attendance, and no beer!”
Many of those who attended arrived back at 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning.  The program ended 2 and ½ hours after it was scheduled to end.
One local far Rockaway resident remarked, “My daughter also went tothe siyum. Â She had a plane to catch 5 hours after she arrived home!”
The programming and the singing  was also inter-generational.  Somelocal families had three or four generations attending together. One local shul had announced a rumor that Agudath Israel had requested that no one perform the wave at the end of the siyum.
This was unconfirmed, however.
By Yossi Abramson
