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Ed Sheeran is popular — but not as popular as the Talmud, according to attendance figures at MetLife Stadium
(JTA) — British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran came close to setting the attendance record at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, drawing a crowd of 89,106 concertgoers.
The current record-holder? A celebration of Talmud study in 2012 that filled the seats and stands with 93,000 people, most of them Orthodox men.
That gathering, called the Siyum HaShas, marked the completion of the seven-and-a-half year cycle of Daf Yomi, the practice of studying one double-sided page of Babylonian Talmud per day.
The 2012 ceremony re-entered social media discourse this week due to a tweet from PopCrave, an entertainment news company with 1.4 million followers on Twitter. Its tweet, posted early on Monday, read, “Ed Sheeran breaks the all-time attendance record at MetLife Stadium with a reported crowd of 89,000 people. It is his biggest US show to date.”
The tweet has been viewed nearly 6 million times, but hours after it went up, a box of text appeared below it fact-checking its claim and citing the Siyum HaShas attendance. The text feature, known as a Community Note, provides context to tweets that contain inaccurate or misleading information. They began appearing on the platform in 2021 and are written by users who apply to write them. A note will show up below a tweet if enough other contributors rate it as helpful.
The Community Note tacked onto the PopCrave tweet was posted just before 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and was written by a contributor identified on the platform with the alias “Futuristic Mountain Seagull.”
“The all-time attendance record for MetLife Stadium of 93,000 people was set by the 12th Siyum HaShas on August 1, 2012,” the note reads. It includes a link to the Wikipedia page for MetLife Stadium. Sheeran’s attendance figure was reportedly the largest ever for a concert at the stadium.
Those who participate in Daf Yomi all study the same page of Talmud every day, and it takes roughly seven and a half years to get through all 2,711 pages of the rabbinic code of law. The most recent Siyum HaShas celebration took place in January 2020, also at MetLife Stadium, and the next one is scheduled for June 2027. Women have been admitted to the event since 1990, and sit in a separate section from the rest of the attendees. The Siyum HaShas is organized by Agudath Israel, an umbrella organization for haredi Orthodox Jews headquartered in New York City.
Orthodox Twitter users reacted to the note with a mixture of amusement and pride.
“As one of the 93,000 attendees of the Siyum HaShas at @MetLifeStadium in 2012 (and 2020), I officially endorse this Community Note,” Joel Petlin, the superintendent of schools in the Hasidic New York town of Kiryas Joel, wrote on Twitter. “Sorry @edsheeran, @AgudahNews still has the record.”
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Indonesia’s Biggest Islamic Group Asks Chief to Resign Over Invitation to Pro-Israeli Speaker
Then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary general of the 60-million member Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, at his office in Jerusalem. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.
Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chief to resign for inviting a US scholar known for his support of Israel during the Gaza war to an internal event in August, according to meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters.
The leadership of NU, which is also the world’s biggest Islamic organization with around 100 million members and affiliates, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or be removed from his post, according to the minutes from a meeting on Thursday.
NU cited Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an International Zionism network” for an internal event and alleged financial mismanagement as reasons for his ouster.
Staquf, who has been NU’s chairman since 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NU official Najib Azca told Reuters the decision was linked to Staquf’s invitation to former US official and scholar Peter Berkowitz for an August training event.
Staquf has apologized for the invitation and called it an oversight as he had not carefully checked Berkowitz’s background, adding that he condemned Israel‘s “brutal genocidal acts in Gaza.”
Berkowitz often writes in support of Israel‘s campaign in Gaza, according to his website, including a piece in September aiming to refute allegations of genocide against Israel.
Berkowitz spoke at NU seminars about the history of Western political thought in August, his website showed.
Berkowitz did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment that reached him outside of office hours.
Indonesia, the world’s Muslim-majority nation, has routinely condemned Israel‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since the war broke out in 2023. It has long advocated for a two-state solution and has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
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Protesters at Tel Aviv Rally Call for State Inquiry into Oct. 7 Failings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl. In Jerusalem on 16 October 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli protesters gathered on Saturday in Tel Aviv, to demand the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoint a committee to initiate a state inquiry on the security failings of October 7.
Saturday night rallies in Tel Aviv have been a fixture of the two-year-long war in Gaza that was triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, that saw the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Protesters charged that Netanyahu refuses to be held accountable for his share of responsibility in Israel’s blackest day. They likewise took exception to Netanyahu’s wish to select the members of the committee, arguing this represented subversion of the democratic process.
Protesters also demanded the return of remains of the three deceased hostages still remaining in Gaza: Ran Gvili, Dror or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.
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Ukraine ‘Ready to Discuss’ Trump Admin’s Plan to End War, as US Official Says Plan Not Up for Negotiation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Kyiv will engage with Washington’s 28-point plan to end the war with Russia and demonstrate it is open to substantive discussions, a senior Ukrainian official said on Saturday, even as an official from the US administration of President Donald Trump indicated that the plan was not up for negotiation.
“In the coming days in Switzerland we are launching consultations between senior officials of Ukraine and the United States on the possible parameters of a future peace agreement,” Rustem Umerov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, wrote on his official Facebook account.
“Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests. This is another stage of the dialogue that has been ongoing in recent days and is primarily aimed at aligning our vision for the next steps,” he further added. “We value the involvement of the American side and its readiness for a substantive discussion. Ukraine will continue to act responsibly, professionally, and consistently — as required by our national security.”
This comes after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Friday that Ukraine risked losing its dignity and freedom — or Washington’s backing — over a US peace plan that endorses key Russian demands.
Washington’s 28-point plan calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept restrictions on its military and renounce its bid to join NATO.
Meanwhile, Financial Times reported on Saturday that US army secretary Daniel Driscoll communicated in no uncertain terms to Ukrainian and European officials there was no room to negotiate on its plan and Washington would show little flexibility.
“We are not negotiating details,” he was quoted as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has previously refused to budge on Russia’s demands, said on Friday the US plan could be the basis of a final resolution to the nearly four-year-old conflict. He said Kyiv was against the plan but neither it nor its European allies understood the reality of Russian advances in Ukraine.