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What is the first recorded instance of a siyum made for completion of learning torah, historically?

postasaguest
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  • maybe simchas torah? – Laser123 Apr 19 '17 at 16:17
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    @laser no way. That custom postdates the talmud – Double AA Apr 19 '17 at 16:47
  • Please clarify "siyum". Do you mean a seudah / meal or the recital of "hadran" as is commonly done after completing a Talmudic tractate? Related to this, define "Torah" - no formal siyum is done after completing a book of the Torah or even the whole thing (such as on Simchat Torah, based on the annual cycle.) – DanF Apr 19 '17 at 17:09
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    What is lacking with the answer that your nearly identical question: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/81771/what-is-the-source-for-making-a-celebration-siyum-upon-completing-some-learnin already received? It seems to answer this. – mevaqesh Apr 19 '17 at 17:30
  • @mevaqesh The answer in the linked question seems more of a reason for doing so. It's not an indication that Abaye was the FIRST person to have done this, unless there's something in that page of Talmud that wasn't cited in the answer. That's besides the general vagueness of this question as I indicated in my previous comment. – DanF Apr 19 '17 at 20:39
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    @DanF It gives you a Talmudic precedent. At the minimum the OP should specify that he is aware of a Talmudic source and is only looking for pre-Talmudic sources, or at least pre-Ammoraic sources, so users dont waste their time posting later sources, or duplicating the effort of finding that passage. – mevaqesh Apr 19 '17 at 20:41
  • @mevaqesh Valid point! – DanF Apr 19 '17 at 20:42
  • Do you mean is there a reference in the Navi about this? – sabbahillel Jan 16 '18 at 00:08
  • @postasaguest - The earliest "siyum" according to the Ramban Here - https://www.sefaria.org/Ramban_on_Exodus.24.11.4?lang=bi , was when then the Torah was given on Har Sinai. – פרי זהב Jul 17 '19 at 19:35

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The Midrash in Koheles Rabbah (1:1) makes the following statement, regarding the morning after King Solomon had his famous dream in which G-d promised him wisdom like nobody had ever had.

אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק חֲלוֹם עוֹמֵד עַל כַּנּוֹ, צִפּוֹר מְצוֹיֵץ וְיוֹדֵעַ עַל מָה מְצוֹיֵץ, חֲמוֹר נוֹהֵק וְיוֹדֵעַ עַל מָה נוֹהֵק, מִיָּד (מלכים א ג, טו): וַיָּבוֹא יְרוּשָׁלָיִם וַיַּעֲמֹד לִפְנֵי [ארון ברית אדני ויעל עלות ויעש שלמים] וַיַּעַשׂ מִשְׁתֶּה לְכָל עֲבָדָיו, אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק מִכָּאן שֶׁעוֹשִׂין סְעוּדָה לְגָמְרָהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה.

Says R' Yitzchak: The dream stood on its nest [i.e. it was immediately fulfilled]. A bird would chirp, and he would know about what it was chirping. A donkey would bray and he would know about what it was braying. Immediately (Kings 1:3:15) "he went to Jerusalem and he stood before the Ark of the Covenant of G-d, and he brought up Olos and made Shelamim, and he made a feast for all of his servants." Says R' Yitzchak, from here we learn that one makes a feast on completing the Torah.

An almost-identical Midrash appears in Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:9, except that there, the final statement is attributed to R' Elazar, rather than R' Yitzchak.

This sentiment is paralleled in Shabbos 118b-119a:

ואמר אביי תיתי לי דכי חזינא צורבא מרבנן דשלים מסכתיה עבידנא יומא טבא לרבנן

Says Abaye: Give me my reward, for when I see a young sage finish a Masechta, I make a feast for the Rabbis.

I bring down both, because while Shlomo HaMelech lived over a thousand years before Abaye, the Midrashim in which he is quoted were compiled almost a thousand years after Abaye.

DonielF
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  • Thank you! I think there are two parts to your A: 1. What the OP asked - the first Sium was made by Abaye (move it to beginning) 2. What's the source - it's a dupe, but you can leave it here. – Al Berko Jun 17 '19 at 12:26