Get a head start on the historic third machzor of Mishnah Berurah.

“You don’t have to wait for the siyum to come aboard Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program! You can experience how learning daily halacha transforms your life by jumping into hilchos megillah and Purim and completing all the halachos of Purim before Purim this year! What a way to get started, by being engaged in a davar b’ito, learning halachos in their right time!” These were the words of Rabbi Avigdor Bernstein, a senior member of hanhalas Dirshu, advocating that new Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners start right now!

Indeed, there is much buzz in the air about the historic milestone of completing the second machzor of Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha with massive world siyumim being held in Eretz Yisrael, the United States and Europe. The mammoth accomplishments of lomdei Daf HaYomi B’Halacha who have persevered, day in and day out, for seven years traversing all six chalakim of Mishnah Berurah, will be celebrated and acclaimed. The fact that a large portion of the learners also took monthly tests on the halachos and daily mussar learning is something that will be celebrated with great fanfare.

Certainly, there will be thousands of new participants who will start chelek aleph of Mishnah Berurah with the machzor shelishi that will commence on 19 Adar Alef/February 20, but there is no reason to wait! If you want this Purim to have more meaning, if you want to feel the true simchas Purim this year, one of the best ways to do this is by learning the halachos of Purim before Purim. “It is a totally different experience when you learn the entire Mishnah Berurah on that Yom Tov in advance of that Yom Tov. You really live the Yom Tov,” related Rabbi Bernstein.

Investing Before the IPO!

We all know that in the stock market there is something called an IPO, an initial public offering, where investors can get in on a new stock that will go public. Imagine if you could get in on that stock even before the IPO! That is what starting Daf HaYomi B’Halacha with hilchos megillah is.

On 9 Shevat/January 11, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha will begin the halachos of Purim, so now is the time to get in on the ground floor! This way, by the time the new machzor starts, you will be familiar with everything that has to do with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, you learn to understand the nuances of the Mishnah Berurah, of the Biur Halacha. You learn how the biurim and musafim—Dirshu’s masterful compilation of the poskim with scenarios that came after the Mishnah Berurah was writtenãtransform abstract concepts into modern-day scenarios that you must know in order to observe halacha properly.

All Three Components of a Rav

Indeed, at a prior Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha event for rabbanim, the rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, HaGaon HaRav Malkiel Kotler, shlita, said, “The Gemara tells us that ‘everyone who learns daily halacha is assured a place in Olam Haba, as the pasuk states, halichos olam…’ When a person learns halacha every day his every halicha, his every step, throughout the day is done in accordance with the Torah. This is what assures him Olam Haba. Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program gives every Yid the opportunity to be a shoneh halachos b’chol yom and to become a ben Olam Haba because when he learns halacha his every step will be taken in accordance with Hashem’s desire through the observance of halacha.”

The rosh yeshiva then quoted his father, HaGaon HaRav Shneur Kotler, zt”l, rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha, who said that there was once a machlokes among great rabbanim of previous generations as to what constituted the primary duties of a rav. One posited that the main duty is to answer shailos. Another said that the main duty is to stand in the breach and ensure that the community maintains a certain standard. The Chofetz Chaim, however, explained that the main duty of a rav is to learn Torah with his congregants.

“Perhaps,” the rosh yeshiva exclaimed, “learning Mishnah Berurah daily in a program such as Daf HaYomi B’Halacha contains all three of these components. It teaches psak halacha, it empowers a person to keep a high standard of Yiddishkeit and it is limud haTorah! Now is the time to encourage all to join because you cannot compare someone who learns halacha to one who does not,” concluded the rosh yeshiva.

The Chinuch Value of a Test

Reb Chaim Bauer has been learning the Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program for 12 years straight. Month in and month out, Reb Chaim visits the Boro Park testing site where he takes the bechina. He explains, “Learning the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha and having to take a test on it every month fills you with a sense of energy and urgency! It gives you such a push! Even if you did not do well on one test, the very fact that you took the test pushes you to persevere and make sure that the next month you will do better. You always know that the next test is less than a month away. It infuses you with cheshek, with the desire to learn and know.”

Reb Chaim also pointed out that when a father is part of Dirshu it has a transformative impact on the entire family, especially the children. “When your children know that you are learning Dirshu, you are learning for the bechina, they have such a sense of deep pride in the Torah accomplishments of their father that it really changes the chinuch of the entire family!”

So Much to Learn and Know About Purim

There is so much to learn and so much to know.

Is there an obligation to eat meat on Purim?

Only if you learn Dirshu’s biurim and musafim will you be able to know what Rav Shmuel Wosner says about this.

There is a mitzvah to give a machatzis hashekel on Erev Purim. Can you give the machatzis hashekel from maaser money? What does Rav Nissim Karelitz say about this?

When you say the bracha of Shehecheyanu on the megillah on Purim morning, what other mitzvos are you supposed to have in mind?

All these and hundreds upon hundreds more halachos will come to life as you embark on hilchos megillah with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha this week, 10 Shevat/January 12. Now is the time to get in on the ground floor of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha so that when the new machzor shelishi starts, your engines will be going full throttle. You will already have utmost familiarity with the program and what it takes to be a Yid who is shoneh halachos b’chol yom and can then become a ben Olam Haba because when a person learns halacha, every step of his day is lived with Hashem!

Try it!

To join, please contact Dirshu at 1-888-5Dirshu or email [email protected].

By Chaim Gold