9 Days Siyumim Broadcast Live for 51st Year

Chabad.org, in partnership with the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE), will present a Daily Siyum each day of the Nine Days, from Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av through Tisha B’Av eve on 15 Menachem Av (July 15–29). The siyumim will be delivered by a rotating lineup of rabbis and will be broadcast live at Chabad.org/Siyum, as well as on New York’s WSNR AM 620 and Florida’s WJPR AM 1640.

The program’s history dates back to 1975, when the Rebbe spoke about the importance of holding a siyum every day of the Nine Days. The Rebbe quoted the famous teaching of the Munkatcher Rebbe, the Minchas Elozor: playing on the Talmud’s words, “When the month of Av comes we decrease in joy,” the Munkatcher Rebbe taught that we must decrease the negative aspects of Av by adding to the joy of Torah.

The Rebbe emphasized that this practice is an opportunity to genuinely increase Torah joy during a period of mourning, rather than a technical “loophole” to permit meat-eating. Taking this call to heart, Rabbi JJ Hecht began arranging for a daily siyum to be broadcast on the radio, allowing Jews across the Tri-State Area to participate.

Following Rabbi Hecht’s passing in 1990, the Rebbe instructed that the daily on-air siyum continue until the 15th of Av, the anniversary of Rabbi Hecht’s passing. Since 2008, the program—now hosted by Rabbi Shimon Hecht—also streams live on Chabad.org.