Hashem has to be smiling! No, I am not a navi nor am I privy to what is transpiring in the celestial worlds. Certainly, I cannot and would not ascribe any emotions, keviyachol to Hashem, but this is a no brainer. The Gemara teaches us that from the day that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Hashem has only the 4 amos of halacha. The Gemara also teaches that he who learns halacha daily is assured that he is a ben Olam Habaah.

This month, the month of Nissan, 5775 (2015), tens upon tens of thousands of yidden have begun to learn daily halacha in Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program. The legions of new Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners are not limited to any particular geographical location. They span the entire world! Certainly the major centers of Yiddishkeit such as Brooklyn, Lakewood, Monsey and of course Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak have seen not just an increase in Daf HaYomi B’Halacha learners but rather a remarkable, revolutionary transformation. Just as one can walk into virtually every shul and see a Daf Yomi Gemara shiur or sets of chavrusas learning Daf HaYomi Gemara, today one can see the same thing with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha in many shuls!

Daily shiurim morning and night, chavrusah learning, Daf HaYomi B’Halacha chaburos… are everywhere, not only in the large major centers of Yiddishkeit, but in smaller communities as well. From Providence, Rhode Island to Pinsk, Ukraine, from Portland, Oregon to Johannesburg, South Africa, from Buenos-Aires, Argentina to Strasbourg, France, from Cleveland, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan and Montreal, Canada and hundreds of other locales worldwide… just walk into any local shul and you will undoubtedly find a Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiur learning through the halachos of waking up in the morning and netilas yadayim.

The New Machzor

In this historic month of Nissan, Yidden have made a conscious decision to set aside time for practical halacha and one can see the change everywhere. One talmid chochom related, “I didn’t realize how many halachos were involved in the simple act of washing negel vasser every morning until I started learning hilchos netilas yadayim with the second machzor of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha.”

Rabbi Ahron Gobioff, Dirshu’s American Director, related, “New shiurim have opened at an unprecedented pace. We know of hundreds of new Daf HaYomi B’Halacha shiurim that have opened over the course of the month, but that is just a drop in the bucket. Shiurim have spontaneously sprung up all over the country and truth be told, Dirshu’s offices don’t even know about all of them. It is an organization’s dream! Imagine having a program that is so successful that it becomes virtually impossible to track its success! That is what is happening with Daf HaYomi B’Halacha,” explained Rabbi Gobioff.

Daf HaYomi B’Halacha L’Bachurim All Over the Country

Another facet of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha that has enjoyed remarkable success this month is Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha L’Bachurim Bein Hazemanim Program. The Daf HaYomi B’Halacha Bein Hazemanim program is a special program designed for bachurim in both high school-aged mesivtas and yeshiva gedolos. It offers a daily program of halacha that accomplishes two important goals. It provides structure to bein hazemanim while simultaneously bringing bachurim into the world of practical and accountable limud halacha. Thousands of bachurim have joined and are learning the laws of how one conducts oneself in the morning as well as the laws of netilas yadayim.

At the beginning of the bein hazemani, important and riveting pesicha shiurim and divrei chizuk were delivered at more than fifteen locations across North America.

Picking up a Mishnah Berurah is Picking up Dvar Hashem!

Rav Zev Smith, who spoke in the Lakewood location, gave a fascinating shiur on many of the important practical halachos set forth. When he spoke about the first siman in the entire Shulchan Aruch, he in essence gave the bachurim a shiur on what halacha is, why it is important, what they are accomplishing and how they are connecting to Hashem through the learning of halacha. The Gemara tells us that Hashem has nothing in this world except for the 4 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!

Halacha is Hiluch, Travels Through Life…

“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! When we learn how to tie our shoes, how to wash our hands in the morning, even how to use the bathroom, this is not just laws, it is walking with Hashem.”

Indeed, as we approach the test for the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha l’Bachurim and the first test in the new machzor of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha where tens of thousands are scheduled to be tested, it is truly a time for Klal Yisrael to celebrate – to celebrate untold numbers connecting with the Dvar Hashem!

By Chaim Gold