Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program is completing the difficult halachos of eiruven and moving on to Hilchos Pesach. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the beginning of Hilchos Pesach coincides with the yahrtzeit of the Chofetz Chaim. The Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program is devoted to learning a daily page of the Chofetz Chaim’s Mishnah Berurah and a daily portion of one of the Chofetz Chaim’s mussar sefarim.
Certainly, the zechus of the Chofetz Chaim is an integral component in ensuring that the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha has grown beyond belief, with thousands of shiurim and many tens of thousands of participants all over the world.
“Now is an opportune time to join the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program and complete most of the halachos of Pesach in advance of next Pesach,” said Rabbi Shlomo Rozenstein, Dirshu’s director of public relations. “This is the second machzor of the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program. About seven years ago, the first time we started hilchos Pesach, many new participants joined. Chelek Daled, which is primarily devoted to eiruven, had been viewed by some as a difficult undertaking. Once we reached Chelek Hei and Hilchos Pesach, however, many more joined. We anticipate a tremendous bump in enrollment this year with the start of Hilchos Pesach on 26 Elul/September 26, just days before Rosh Hashanah. What a wonderful kabbalah to undertake in advance of Rosh Hashanah and in honor of the Chofetz Chaim’s yahrtzeit.”
Indeed, Dirshu’s special Fifth Annual International Yom Limud and Tefillah will be held on Tuesday, 24 Elul/September 24, the day before the completion of Chelek Daled. Yidden throughout the world will gather to recite specific perakim of Tehillim and learn segments from the two seminal sefarim written by the Chofetz Chaim, the Mishnah Berurah and the Sefer Shmiras Haloshon.
The Yom Limud and Tefillah, under the auspices of Dirshu and its kiruv arm, Acheinu, is designed to reach out with a message of achdus to all Jews from across the spectrum and at all levels of observance, promoting Torah learning and tefillah.
Hilchos Pesach is one of those areas in the Mishnah Berurah where lomdei halacha with limited time often choose to learn only the seemingly more relevant halachos. Many of the important simanim that on the surface seem to either be very intricate or not as relevant to our times are therefore neglected. Countless individuals suffice with learning the beginning of Chelek Hei, which deals with the halachos of bedikas chametz and biur chametz and then skip over to the Seder night, thus missing numerous vital halachos. There are the halachos of ta’aruvos chametz, the halachos of what one must do if, God forbid, he finds chametz in his house on Pesach, the halachos of kashering keilim, baking matzos and the list goes on…
In fact, during the last machzor of the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, one of the lomdim remarked, “I would never have dreamt that I would one day be zoche to learn all of the halachos of baking matzos, all of the complex details on how to properly sell chametz to a gentile and the detailed wording of the shtar, the document of sale. When would I have ever sat down and properly learned the difficult halachos of hagalas keilim, kashering keilim for Pesach, with so many associated, contemporary scenarios? But I have done just that, thanks to Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program.”
The many tens of thousands of participants in the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha don’t just learn perfunctorily. They learn and review the halachos together with the Dirshu Biurim U’Musafim that depicts hundreds of modern-day scenarios emanating from these halachos and they were tested on all of them! In fact, the senior rosh yeshiva of Ponevezh, HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, shlita, said before the commencement of Hilchos Shabbos in reference to the Dirshu edition of the Mishnah Berurah, “We have been zoche that a Mishnah Berurah with many important additions has been published. This is very important. It would be a tremendous zechus for every single person to try keeping Shabbos according to halacha. In this zechus may we merit the geulah sheleimah.”
“Halacha is the ikker,” were the words of HaGaon HaRav Dovid Feinstein, shlita, rosh yeshiva of Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim and one of the senior poskim of our generation, when asked what his father Rav Moshe would have said about a daily halacha learning program such as the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha.
One prominent rosh yeshiva, upon his visit to a Dirshu testing site, observed hundreds of people diligently taking tests on halacha and mussar, and exclaimed, “Can one imagine what simcha there is in shamayim?! Can one imagine the nachas that the heilige Chofetz Chaim and the heilige Rav Yisrael Salanter, founder of the mussar movement, must be having when they look down and see thousands of people from all walks of life learning halacha and mussar?! The tens of thousands of lomdei Daf HaYomi B’Halacha comprise an army—an army of soldiers declaring, ‘My day will be one in which I encounter Hashem Yisbarach every second!’”
More than a decade ago, the posek hador HaGaon HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l, encouraged the hanhala of Dirshu to create halacha programs whereby lomdei Torah would be encouraged to learn, understand and know halacha l’maaseh, practical halacha. Over the course of the years, lomdei Dirshu in both its Kinyan Halacha and Daf HaYomi B’Halacha programs have followed through on Rav Elyashiv’s guidance and have wrought a transformation in the Torah world. With the completion of Chelek Daled, Hilchos Eiruven and the commencement of Chelek Hei, Hilchos Pesach, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners will now be able to learn the entire Hilchos Pesach.
Perhaps the discerning remarks of the sar haTorah, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, can serve as the greatest catalyst to start learning Hilchos Pesach with the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha. He recently said, “In our generation, the generation of ikvesa d’Meshicha, there is a great tumah, impurity, in the world. The power of the yetzer hara in this world is greater than it ever was. That is why we must flee from ‘this world’ and enter ‘the world of Hashem.’ What is the ‘world of Hashem’? The ‘world of Hashem’ is the daled amos of halacha.”
Whereas some of the Dirshu programs cater to those who are able to devote a considerable part of their day to learning, the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program is for everyone. Now, right before Rosh Hashanah, is an optimum time to join and begin Chelek Hei. Learning daily halacha with a structured program will have a transformative impact on your life.
What are you waiting for?!
To join Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, please call 888-5-Dirshu or email [email protected].
By Chaim Gold
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