Yidden Across the Globe Learning Amud HaYomi With Dedication And Depth They Never Thought Possible

Sometimes the beauty of a revolution is that it becomes so mainstream that you don’t even realize that a complete transformation has taken place! This aptly describes the transformation in Klal Yisrael as a result of Dirshu’s increasingly popular Amud HaYomi program that has, baruch Hashem, tens of thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of lomdim all over the globe, learning the daily amud with a dedication and depth that they never thought possible.

In fact, an amazing opportunity is available for anyone who has not yet joined. On Sunday, 14 Shevat/ February 1, the Amud HaYomi will begin Perek Arvei Pesachim, the perek that contains all the geshmake Gemaras about the seder night. If you start Arvei Pesachim with the program, you will finish before Pesach! What an amazing opportunity to truly “live” the seder.

HaGaon HaRav Avraham Salim, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Me’or HaTorah and one of the senior and most prominent Sephardic roshei yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, recently said, In recent years, I visited numerous countries outside of Eretz Yisrael and wherever I go, I see baalei battim deeply engaged in learning! Similarly, we see this in the way that the Amud HaYomi has become so popular. The slower pace of learning truly connects Jews to Torah. The fact that they can understand what they learn at a deeper level intensifies their bond with Torah in a profound way.

Perhaps HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, best encapsulated why the Amud HaYomi became so popular in such a short span of time, by giving hashkafic insight into its entire purpose. Rav Cohen recalled how, when the foundational meetings were held to establish the Amud HaYomi, “I shared an important thought. Rav Meir Shapiro had tremendous zechuyos when he established the Daf HaYomi. Many people have, baruch Hashem, completed the entire Shas through learning with the Daf HaYomi and that is wonderful. Nevertheless, the fact is that for those who learn the daf in a half hour or 45 minutes, it is nearly impossible to learn it properly. When Rav Meir Shapiro established the Daf HaYomi in Poland, Yidden after a day of work or before the workday started, spent not a half hour learning, but hours learning the daf. They were able to review and truly achieve a havana in the sugyos they were learning.”

“We must understand,” Rav Cohen explained, “Daf HaYomi is not like the limud of chok! If a person does the Daf HaYomi in a half hour, that is not the Daf HaYomi of Rav Meir Shapiro. Rav Meir Shapiro envisioned Yidden throughout the world being able to talk together in learning that day’s daf. He dreamt that they would be so well versed in the daf that they could discuss it and argue over it with fellow Yidden wherever they were. If someone can learn the daf and know it in accordance with that august vision of Rav Meir Shapiro, that is wonderful! Tavo alav bracha! The question is, what happens if a person learns the daf without really understanding it? Rav Elyashiv 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 this is not minimizing the daf!” Rav Cohen thundered, “It is strengthening the entire purpose of the Daf HaYomi. The Amud HaYomi is NOT minimizing the daf by cutting it in half into an amud! It is clear as light that the Amud HaYomi is strengthening the yesod upon which Rav Meir Shapiro built the Daf HaYomi!”

Indeed, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, shlita, has encouraged lomdim to undertake Amud HaYomi saying, “HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Be’er Yaakov, would often bemoan the fact that avreichim do not have a wide ranging bekius in Shas. He would advise avreichim to take time during bein hasedarim or night seder to learn an amud yomi. My father, Rav Boruch Sorotzkin, zt”l, also had an amud yomi seder every afternoon.”