Siyum without understanding the whole tractate

I finished learning a tractate, but there were folios that I didn’t understand. Can I make a siyum (a celebratory meal in honor of finishing the learning of a tractate)?

Dear …!

Judging by the date of your question, I surmise that you finished tractate Yevamos, which you were learning according to the Daf ha-Yomi program. (The “Daf ha-Yomi” program reached the end of tractate Yevamos again on 8^th Tammuz 5782, or June 7, 2022.) This is a long tractate, replete with novel and complicated concepts. It’s certainly challenging to grasp all the new constructs and to follow the complicated family structures that are discussed in the tractate for someone who comes to a Daf ha-Yomi lecture after a long, grueling day at work. Despite the difficulty of the material being learned and despite the fact that a fraction of participants always drop out when the program goes through Eruvin and Yevamos, you had the resilience to hold on and stay with the program. You continued to struggle day in and day out to understand the current folio. However, right now you experience a feeling of dissatisfaction, because many complicated concepts that have to do with complex family relationships remain moot to you. How can you celebrate if you didn’t grasp all the different cases of two sisters who married two brothers, etc.?

In fact, there are several reasons for the celebratory meal that is held in honor of finishing a tractate. One of them is knowing the whole tractate, what is dubbed “acquiring” a tractate. This is undoubtedly very important. Of course, every student should strive to clearly understand all the difficult passages before proceeding with his learning. But it’s well known that the author of Minchas Eliezer (Darkei Haim ve-Shalom, chapter 667) writes that Satan’s name is the abbreviation of the words “never finish a tractate”. The reason for this is that any commandment that one completes to the end reaches a very exalted spiritual state. The forces of evil do their utmost to prevent this.

Thus, deep understanding of the material that is being learnt is undoubtedly of great importance. Nonetheless, if it’s obvious that if the struggle to master it will only cause you to waste your time and will eventually lead you to despair, then I’d like to remind you of the saying of our sages (tractate Avodah Zarah, 19a, interpreting the verse Psalms 1:2): “’But his desire is in Hashem’s Torah’; Rebbi said: ’a person learns Torah on where his heart desires, as it says: ’his desire is in Hashem’s Torah’”. Therefore, you should skip these difficult passages and continue learning according to the regular schedule. Besides, the Sages did say that one should first familiarize himself with the material, and only then learn it in depth. The authors of Kad ha-Kemach (section “Torah”, §1) and the author of Shnei Luchos ha-Bris (section “Torah”, ch. “Shavuos”, §177) write that the Torah “wizens the naïve”. That is, even if the learner doesn’t understand it as yet, its very letters gradually wizen him, and in the future, he’ll be able to understand it better.  And see the Chido (Mar`it Ain), who writes that if a person is capable of understanding, but instead of making an effort to comprehend, just reads the material mindlessly, then his action lacks meaning. But if he is incapable of understanding, but nonetheless tries to read and make sense of the material, or if he reads in order to understand it better the next time, then this is indeed a great mitzvah, and this is what one should do.

This is especially true when the main stimulus to one’s learning is the daily folio, with its daily lectures and a set schedule. If you get stuck in one place, you’ll lose this stimulus. In this case it’s obvious that you should leave difficult passages behind and just follow your regular program and your set schedule. On the contrary – interruptions in one’s learning is the Evil Inclination’s way of diverting one from one’s learning program and depriving one of one’s group of peers. If one is being tempted to get bogged down, one should remember the words of the author of Sde Chemed (section 40, end of paragraph 198): “even if many were learning a tractate together, and each one completed several folios (which others didn’t learn), then they can hold a siyum together, and this is of utmost importance.”

Thus, in your case there are several reasons to hold a large and festive meal, as is fitting for such a joyful occasion, prompted by fulfillment of a commandment:

1. Magen Avraham (commentary to the Shulchan Oruch, section Orach Chaim) writes (chapter 551, subsection 33) that it’s fitting to make a festive meal to celebrate the completion of any commandment. There is no doubt in my mind that to participate in the daily lecture on tractate Yevamos, and not to drop out in the middle is definitely a great mitzvah. It’s extremely valuable in the eyes of the G-g of Israel. There is a famous story connected to this. Once there was a man whose son learned in a Yeshivah, but the man himself never had a chance to learn the Talmud. He decided that he also wants to acquire the Talmudic wisdom. It took him three years of hard work to learn just one folio of the Talmud. When he finished, he wanted to make a siyum. His son asked Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (the author of Igros Moshe) whether one is allowed to make a siyum in such a case. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein replied that this is a very great mitzvah to make a siyum on such an occasion, and that he should hold a big celebration, and that he himself wants to attend it.
2. The joy one experiences upon finishing a tractate is proportional to one’s ability to learn this tractate. And if due to all the reasons that we discussed above, one was forced to go over a tractate quickly, then this is what one was able to devote to learning this particular tractate. We never heard that one wouldn’t make a siyum on a tractate which was partially redacted due to censorship, or when completing tractate Tamid, where we don’t have the Talmudic text on the whole tractate, or when completing Maccot in the Jerusalem Talmud, where only the first chapter of the tractate is extant. Although it’s true that any siyum is incomplete and imperfect, nonetheless, if someone learned what he could and what he had to, according to his ability, and finished the tractate – this is a very joyful occasion and a celebration for Torah learners is in order.
3.  There is also the joy of joining together with all the people who learn the daily folio, and especially with the members of your learning group. Each one of you learned a part of the tractate, and, without a doubt, all of you together completed it. According to the opinion of Sde Chemed, when a group of people finish a tractate together, they should hold a siyum, even if each member of the group only finished a part of the tractate.
4. Reading of the Talmud is itself a commandment, even if this time the reader doesn’t understand what he’s reading. He’ll understand the material better next time.
5. Authorities discuss the question whether one can make a siyum if one was only able to understand the Mishnah in a given tractate. The question is whether one is allowed to have a meal that includes meat and wine, if the siyum takes place during the nine days (the nine days of mourning at the beginning of the month of Av). Even though in practice it’s customary not hold a meal that includes meat and wine during the “nine days” if one is only finishing the Mishnah, nonetheless, the very fact that such a question was raised tells you that finishing a Mishnah tractate is in itself a reason to be joyful and to make a festive meal. (In other words, one may celebrate the completion of a tractate if one was only able to understand the Mishnah. However, in order to be permitted to make a meal containing meat and wine during the “nine days”, one needs at least a minimal understanding of the Talmud, and not just the Mishnah.)

For learning something quickly without understanding, then learning it again in order to understand see: tractate Avodah Zorah 19a; Kad ha-Kemach (“Torah”, 1); Shnei Luchot ha-Brit (section “Torah Or”, part “Shavuos”, §177). See Magen Avraham (chapter 50, subsection 2) who says that if one doesn’t understand, this isn’t considered learning. But the Chido (Mar`it Ain, Avodah Zorah 19a) makes a distinction: in a case where there is a difficulty in understanding the material, and one learns through it in order to be able to understand it later, this is considered learning.

For the idea of making a siyum after completing a tractate see: Shabbos 119a; Remo (section Yore Dea, ch. 246, §26) and Turei Zahav (ibid., subsection 9) – that this also applies when someone else completed the tractate. Sde Chemed (40, end of paragraph 198); Darkei Chaim ve-Shalom (chapter 667); Eretz Tzvi (vol. II, chapter 74).

For making a siyum after learning the Mishnah see: Beis Yisroel (Landa, vol. I, section Orach Chaim, chapter 47); Daas Torah (section Orach Chaim, chapter 551, §10); Eretz Tzvi (vol. II, chapter 74).