A dinner marking the 25th anniversary of Europe's largest adult Torah learning centre saw 250 people study all 6,200 pages of the Talmud in 48 hours to mark the event.

The dinner, attended by more than 600 people at the Manchester Hilton Hotel, was to pay homage to Rabbi Avraham Silbiger.

The rabbi founded Beis Medrash Chodosh in Salford, which began as a portacabin but now hosts 250 scholars studying in 12 advanced Talmudic academies, or kollelim, in a purpose-built venue.

Chodosh programme director Rabbi Aryeh Schonberg said: "People walked away energising and charged from the evening which celebrated a facility which helps anyone willing to study Torah.

"Our alumni have gone on to rabbinic positions with some becoming Jewish monetary law experts working with beth dins in the UK."