Journey through Pesachim begins 25 Tammuz

Hanhalas Dirshu at a meeting with HaRav Dov Landau in his home

Mazel Tov Klal Yisrael! Multitudes Across the World to Complete Amud HaYomi Masechta Eruvin

By Chaim Gold

When HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, shlita, wrote a historic letter this past Rosh Chodesh Kislevencouraging Klal Yisrael to begin learning Masechta Eruvin with the Amud HaYomi Program, the idea of completing the long, difficult masechta seemed out of reach for many.

Eruvin is considered one of the three most difficult masechtos, thus, many of those who started did not know if they would be able to persevere and complete the masechta. Now, some eight months later, thousands upon thousands of Amud HaYomi learners are gearing up to successfully complete the masechta! Not only that, but they haven’t completed it in a superficial way, in a “just trying to keep up” way. Rather, they have managed to acquire a deep havana, a deep understanding of the concepts and halachos contained in the masechta. How? By following the advice of the Slabodka rosh yeshiva, Rav Landau, as written in his letter:

How important, how vitally necessary it is to learn the entire Masechta Eruvin, page by page, with the Amud HaYomi program. It is even important for those who have already learned and been deeply engaged in this masechta to join and learn the Amud HaYomi together with Klal Yisrael.

Learning the Gemara combined with [learning] the specially published booklets [Iyun HaAmud] containing chiddushim from the mefarshim and many important halachos related to the Gemara [learned in the Amud HaYomi] is a very worthy undertaking….

Yes, that is one of the unique aspects of the fifteen-year journey through Shas with the Amud HaYomi. It does not mean going at breakneck speed where one does not have the time to review and look into some of the basic mefarshim so that he can get a better understanding of the material.

{Gaining a Kinyan in Torah is Exhilarating!

Moshe S., an Amud HaYomi learner from Lakewood, put it succinctly, “With the Amud HaYomi, I have the opportunity to cover ground to complete masechtos while simultaneously having the time to properly learn and analyze each amud. The exhilarating feeling that I have now as we are about to complete Masechta Eruvinis the feeling one gets when one feels that he has a kinyan in the Torah, not just superficial knowledge.”

Indeed, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, rosh yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva, explained that the limud established by Rav Meir Shapiro for Klal Yisrael is extremely necessary because by nature, every person needs a mechayev and a framework that obligates him and enables him to learn with a plan, in an orderly fashion. Otherwise, one’s daily obligations get in the way and rob him of learning time. In Rav Meir Shapiro’s generation, people had more time for learning. They would spend hours every day in the shteibel and the Daf HaYomi was therefore an ideal limud. Today, people are much busier with the overwhelming obligations of everyday life and need a limud with more geshmak to engage them. Even bnei Torah need a certain geshmak to enable them to sustain their goals in bekiyus. The Amud HaYomi program, which gives a person more time to cultivate a real geshmak in learning, addresses all these needs. “That is why I encourage it,” Rav Cohen explained.

Rav Cohen continued by saying that it is for this reason that he is not surprised by the way the relatively new Amud HaYomi limud has conquered the hearts and minds of Klal Yisrael in such a short time! “This is just the beginning,” he said, “In the future, how many more people will upgrade their limud haTorah by joining the program and it will literally take over Klal Yisrael.”

“The great Gaon and Posek Hador, HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt’l, told me that learning without understanding is worth very little. It is better to learn less but to really understand. Thus, if the Amud HaYomi will ensure that a person can learn less but understand, then it is not minimizing the daf!” Rav Cohen thundered, “It is strengthening the entire purpose of the Daf HaYomi!”

{Amud Hayomi Is Contagious

That is why the Amud HaYomi lomdim deserve the heartiest of mazel tovs for completing this unbelievable milestone. Completing Eruvin is not an easy task, but the rewards are infinite!

R’ Simcha, an Amud HaYomi learner from Brooklyn, related, “I joined the Amud HaYomi program a few months ago, when they began Masechta Eruvin. At first, I wondered whether I would be able to persevere, but the slower pace of only an amud per day and the ability that it gave me to think about what I am learning and to look up difficulties that I encountered in the mefarshim has been a game changer for me and my chavrusah. I am looking forward with great anticipation to beginning Masechta Pesachim on 25 Tammuz.”

In all truth, however, the Amud HaYomi is contagious. The point made by R’ Simcha about anticipating the start of Masechta Pesachim was highlighted a few months ago by HaGaon HaRav Nissan Kaplan, shlita, rosh yeshivas Daas Aharon. He shared a personal story. “I have a talmid who learned by me in Mir Yerushalayim and currently lives in chutz la’aretz. After his marriage, he was learning difficult areas of ChoshenMishpat in kollel. Eventually, he returned to his city of origin in chutz la’aretz, and baruch Hashem is successful in parnassah. You know what happened to him? He has been ‘bitten’ by the ‘Dirshu bug’. Despite running a large business, he is engaged in Torah learning for eight hours per day! Yes, he is constantly learning and reviewing so that he can take his Dirshu test every month.

{A Journey That Spans the World!

That is the power of Amud HaYomi! To be a Dirshu Amud HaYomi Yid, you cannot suffice with a perfunctory, one hour shiur each day. You must learn, review, and review some more. It is a constant fight, a battle and that is why it is so dear in the eyes of Hashem.

Indeed, since its inception with the start of Masechta Brachos in Cheshvan, 5784, the Amud HaYomi has conquered Klal Yisrael. From Brooklyn to Bnei Brak, from London to Lakewood, from Buenos Aires to Beitar, and from Monsey to Melbourne, Amud HaYomi shiurim and chaburos have opened everywhere!

As we wish mazel tov to lomdei Amud HaYomi on their completing Masechta Eruvin, and wish them hatzlachah as they embark on Masechta Pesachim, perhaps it is time for you to join them on their journey!

To get a real kinyan in Torah, join the Amud HaYomi by contacting Dirshu at [email protected] or at 1-888-5Dirshu.