Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halachah Program Set to Embark on Chelek Hei of Mishnah Berurah

By: Chaim Gold

A Unique Opportunity to Bring Daily Halacha into Your Life

HaRav Shmuel Wosner discussing the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program in 2010 with Rav Dovid Hofstedter

Imagine being able to learn nearly all of hilchos Pesach this year before Pesach. Yes, we are only just beginning chodesh Elul and Pesach seems far off on the horizon but learning hilchos Pesach is a serious undertaking and if you start now, with Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program, you can come into Pesach on a completely different plane. What a wonderful kabbalah to make before Rosh Hashanah, a kabbalah to bring daily halacha into your life!

HaGaon HaRav Shraga Shteinman, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Orchos Torah, said that this is exactly what we should be doing now in Elul as we begin thinking about the upcoming Rosh Hashanah, “It is incumbent on all of us to make a cheshbon hanefesh and discern what we need to improve. One of the things that every Jew must analyze is if his knowledge of daily halacha is up to par. If he finds himself lacking, he should optimally make a kabbalah to accept upon himself to improve and learn the halachos that he needs to know. Are we sufficiently familiar with the halachos of Pesach? If the answer is no, then now is the time to accept upon oneself to learn hilchos Pesach.

“What better time to join the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha than now?!” Rav Shraga Shteinman exclaimed, “If we make this kind of kabbalah, we will see that, little by little, we will gain a knowledge of the halachos of each yom tov, each day and Shabbos. What better way to amass zechusim than to make a kabbalah to learn daily halacha?!”

{Permeating One’s Life with Halacha!

The Dirshu Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program was established in the month of Iyar, 2008, at Dirshu’s Tenth Anniversary Celebration in Eretz Yisrael. The program received not just the blessing but also the active encouragement of the senior Gedolei Yisrael of that time including, HaGaon HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt’l; HaGaon HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, zt’l; HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef, zt’l; HaGaon HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, zt’l; HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Wosner, zt’l; and yblc’h, the Gerrer Rebbe, shlita; the Belzer Rebbe, shlita; the Sanzer Rebbe, shlita; and many others.

As the many thousands who already participate know, the program features a daf of Mishnah Berurahdaily, five days a week, with Friday and Shabbos set aside for chazarah. When a Dirshu delegation visited the Gerrer Rebbe, shlita, the Rebbe encapsulated one of the primary purposes of the program: “When someone makes learning halachah and knowledge of Mishnah Berurah part of his daily learning schedule from a young age, he becomes accustomed to living in such a way that for the rest of his life his every action is permeated by halacha.”

Currently, the Daf Hayomi B’Halacha is already moving towards the latter part of its third cycle. They have just completed the difficult halachos of Eruvin and are set to embark on hilchos Pesach.

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, which 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 chametzand biur chametz and then skip over to the Seder night, thereby missing numerous vital halachos. There are the halachos of taaruvos chametz, the halachos of what one must do if, G-d 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 zocheh to learn all the halachos of baking matzos, all the complex details on how to properly sell chometz 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, kasheringkeilim for Pesach, with so many associated, contemporary scenarios? But I have done just that, thanks to Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program.”

{Fleeing This World for the ‘World of Hashem’!

During the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha’s last machzor, the Sar HaTorah, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, zt’l, was still with us and before the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha embarked on Chelek Hei, he said something that can serve as the greatest catalyst to start learning hilchos Pesach with the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha. He said, “In our generation, the generation of ikvesah 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.”

Perhaps HaGaon HaRav Yaakov Hillel, shlita, Rosh Yeshivat Ahavat Shalom, put it most succinctly when he said, “By promoting a daily Mishnah Berurah program, Dirshu has done a colossal chesed for Klal Yisrael. The Mishnah Berurah is not just a halacha sefer, it is a sefer that builds the life of every Jew. The Chofetz Chaim spent over 25 years writing the Mishnah Berurah. Until you really learn it, you cannot appreciate the work that went into it. Dirshu has given all of us a window into the greatness of this sefer.”

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, during Elul, the month of teshuvahwhen we begin our march towards Rosh Hashanah, it is the 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 e-mail, [email protected].