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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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American Airlines to Resume Flights to Israel Amid Gaza Ceasefire
American Airlines planes sit on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York City, U.S., July 30, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper.
American Airlines said on Sunday it would resume flights to Israel in March, after the US carrier halted the New York JFK to Tel Aviv route following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the two-year war in Gaza.
American said it would re-launch its flights from JFK on March 28.
US rivals Delta and United have already resumed flights to Israel.
Many foreign carriers halted flights to Tel Aviv after October 7 and stayed away for long stretches during the past two years due to intermittent missile fire from Iran and Yemen.
That largely left flag-carrier El Al Israel Airlines, and smaller Israeli airlines Arkia and Israir, operating international routes, but with demand far higher than supply, airfares soared.
In the wake of a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, many foreign airlines have restarted flights to Tel Aviv. British Airways, SAS, Iberia and Swiss are slated to resume flights this week.
When American resumes flights, it will become the fifth carrier to fly nonstop to Israel from the United States, along with El Al, Arkia, Delta and United.
In addition to daily flights from Newark, United later is expected to also add flights to Tel Aviv from Washington (November 2) and Chicago (November 1).
Passenger traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv was up 25% over the first nine months of 2025 to 13.6 million, according to the Israel Airports Authority. El Al’s market share dropped to 32.5% from 44% a year earlier.
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Israel Allows Red Cross, Egyptian Teams into Gaza as Search for Hostage Bodies Widens
Palestinians gather around a Red Cross vehicle transporting hostages as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Red Cross and Egyptian teams have been permitted to search for the bodies of deceased hostages beyond the “yellow line” demarcating the Israeli military’s pullback in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday.
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Abbas Names Hussein al-Sheikh as Temporary Successor for PA Presidency
Hussein Al-Sheikh, former Secretary General of the Executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Ramallah in the West Bank December 16, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
i24 News – Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) issued a statement on Sunday outlining the succession process should the chairman’s position become vacant.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Deputy Chairman Hussein al-Sheikh will temporarily assume leadership of the PA in the absence of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The decree stipulates that al-Sheikh’s interim term would last up to 90 days, during which direct elections must be held to select a new chairman, in accordance with Palestinian election law.
If elections cannot be conducted within this period due to exceptional circumstances, the Palestinian Central Council may authorize a one-time extension.
Hussein al-Sheikh, born in 1960 in Ramallah, has a long history in Palestinian politics. As a teenager, he was sentenced to prison in Israel for terrorist activity and was incarcerated from age 18 until 1989. In the past year, he was appointed Deputy Chairman and designated successor by Abu Mazen after the Palestinian Central Council approved the creation of the position.
The announcement is seen as a move to formalize the line of succession and ensure stability within the PA amid ongoing political uncertainty and the absence of a functioning Legislative Council. Analysts say the decree clarifies leadership procedures in case of incapacity or vacancy, reflecting Abu Mazen’s efforts to maintain continuity and prevent a leadership vacuum in the Palestinian territories.