Walk into any random shul or yeshiva this bein hazmanim and one of the sights you will most likely encounter is bochurim learning together in pairs Mishnah Berurah, hilchos tefillah and Dirshu’s well-known Biurim U’Musafim additions. This is the fourth bein hazmanim with Dirshu providing its popular Daf HaYomi B’Halacha L’Bochurim program. With the passing of time, however, participation and enthusiasm for the program is growing by leaps and bounds!
One inspiring feature of the program is its inaugural halacha shiurim in the larger communities given by prominent rabbanim and poskim. The shiurim set the tone for the program and provide important background, enabling every bochur to better understand the foundations and underlying principles of hilchos tefillah.
Over this coming Pesach bein hazmanim, some 30 communities will participate in the program. Whether in Toronto, Providence, Boston, Baltimore or St. Louis, thousands of bochurim will be learning daily Mishnah Berurah, getting a real taste for the learning and an appreciation for how learning daily halacha with a defined, accountable program can transform one’s day and one’s bein hazmanim.
The Daf HaYomi B’Halacha Bein Hazmanim program, a special program designed for bochurim, will begin on 7 Nissan for high school-aged bochurim and on 3 Nissan for bochurim in yeshiva gedolos. The program culminates with a test on 24 Nissan/May 2.
Toward the beginning of bein hazmanim, on either Sunday, 9 Nissan/April 17, or Monday, 10 Nissan/April 18, depending on location, important and riveting pesicha shiurim and divrei chizuk will be delivered at 12 locales across North America.
In Flatbush, at the Agudas Yisrael Bais Binyonim, the inaugural halacha shiur for bochurim will be delivered by HaGaon HaRav Eliezer Ginsburg, shlita, rav of Agudas Yisrael Zichron Shmuel and rosh kollel in the Mir Yeshiva of Flatbush. The shiur in the Five Towns will be held in the Agudas Yisrael of W. Lawrence and will be addressed by HaGaon HaRav Yaakov Bender, shlita, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah. The Toldos Yaakov Yosef Bais Medrash of Skver in Montreal, Canada, will host the event for bochurim with HaGaon HaRav Yochanan Wosner, shlita, Raavad D’Chassidei Skver and Skverer dayan of Montreal, who will deliver a shiur. In Passaic, New Jersey, the pesicha shiur will be delivered by HaRav Asher Dovid May, shlita, rosh kollel of Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic, at Congregation Bais Torah U’Tefillah. Kehal Birchas Avrohom will be the site for HaRav Yitzchok Zalman Gips, shlita, rav of Kehal Birchas Avrohom and rosh yeshivas Nehardaah, to address the bochurim in Boro Park. Other locations include Khal Shearis Adas Yisrael in Lakewood, where HaRav Zev Smith, shlita, will deliver a shiur; Kollel Institute of Greater Detroit, where the maggid shiur will be HaRav Aharon Sorscher, shlita, rosh mesivta of Mesivta Yagdil Torah; Agudas Yisrael of Cleveland, where there will be a shiur by HaRav Boruch Hirschfeld, shlita, rav of Kehillas Ahavas Yisrael and rosh kollel of Kollel Ateres Boruch; Bais Medrash Hagadol of Shikun Skver where the maggid shiur will be the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha maggid shiur, HaRav Ephraim Greenbaum; Chicago Center for Torah and Chesed where HaRav Avrohom Lipschutz, shlita, mashgiach of the Telshe Yeshiva of Chicago, will address the bochurim; in Los Angeles, the maggid shiur will be HaRav Nochum Sauer, shlita, rosh kollel D’Yula; and in Baltimore, the shiur be given at Kehillas Kol Torah were HaRav Yosef Berger, shlita, rav d’Kehillas Kol Torah, will address the bachurim.
Rabbi Ahron Gobioff, Dirshu’s American director, relates, “This will be the fourth bein hazmanim when we will merit having the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha L’Bochurim. Until now, the turnout has been increasing by leaps and bounds! The pesicha shiurim really bring the bochurim into the sugya with the rabbanim and roshei yeshiva impressing upon the bochurim the importance of what they are doing. Their involvement in a structured bein hazmanim daily learning program and, more importantly, their exposure to the world of practical halacha where they really encounter the fundamentals of learning Mishnah Berurah is remarkable.
Rav Zev Smith, who will speak in Lakewood, gave over a powerful message at the pesicha shiur at the previous Daf HaYomi B’Halacha L’Bochurim program this past Sukkos. He said, “The Gemara tells us that Hashem has nothing in this world except for the four amos of halacha. Hashem’s world—the real world—is the 4 amos of halacha! The Gemara says, “Dvar Hashem zu halacha.” A person who thinks deeply into this should be overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he is doing. When he picks up a Mishnah Berurah he is picking up dvar Hashem!”
“Why does the Gemara call learning the laws “halacha”? Wouldn’t “dinim” be a more accurate term? The answer,” said Rav Smith, “is that halacha is much more than the dry learning of dinim. It is “hiluch.” It is the way one “walks” through life. He is traveling through life with Hashem’s word being the foremost thing in his mind!”
By Chaim Gold
