Daf Yomi Sium: Thoughts

About 25 men between the ages of 13 and 99 showed up to the daf Yomi sium. Some 85 days ago Irvine started its Daf Yomi program, and now we have our first complete sium. Its the first time anyone in Orange County ever hosted a Daf Yomi sium. And how appropriate that we should be finishing up the tractate of Yom Kippur.

It was a great time for all.

For those who don't know what the last page of Yom kippur talks about, here is a brief summary.

1. What is Vidu? Which prayers should we say?

2. What is Neila? Do we have to say the full Shemona esrei or not?

3. Who can go to the mikva on Yom Kippur, and all questions related to that.

But here is what I found interesting. The Gemorah talks about Erev Yom Kippur as "Oar Yomkippur" or The light of Yom Kippur. Now its not uncommon for the Gemorah to play opposite day, and say "The master of sight" when talking about a blind man. But one wonders, what is so wrong about saying Erev, or night, or darkness? That's natural. However, here the Gemorah feels that it needs to use a euphemism, and call the night, light.

I think there are many things we can learn from this, but one thing relevant to the blogosphere, is that we should be careful about how we talk negatively about others. Even something as benign as "evening" needs to be talked about in euphemism.

Just something to think about.