Start This Week and Complete the Masechta by This Coming Yom Kippur
Imagine davening the Yom Kippur Mussaf and being intimately familiar with the avodah of the Kohen on Yom Kippur! This year it is possible and relatively simple. The Amud HaYomi is beginning Masechta Yuma this week, 12 Iyar/April 29. By learning one amud per day, you can come into Yom Kippur with a clear understanding of every aspect of the avodah and exactly how the kapparah of Yom Kippur was done. What a zechus and kapparah that would be for you and Klal Yisrael!
Indeed, since the Amud HaYomi was established over two years ago at a gala event in Vienna in the same place where the Knessiah Gedolah was held, in the same city of Vienna where Rav Meir Shapiro established the Daf HaYomi, multitudes have joined the Amud HaYomi, finding that the slower pace enables them to better understand what they are learning.
In an unprecedented development, just last week, HaGaon HaRav Berel Povarsky, shlita, venerated Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovezh and the Zekan Roshei Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, issued a historic letter calling on Yidden all over the world to join the Amud HaYomi as they embark on Masechta Yuma.
The Letter
In his seminal letter Rav Berel writes:
It has already been many years since my dear friend, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita, established Dirshu, the worldwide Torah learning organization, and he has merited Divine support that has enabled him to spread the learning of Torah in an incredible way.
In the last years, he has added another amazing program, Amud HaYomi and Baruch Hashem, the learning of Amud HaYomi has spread tremendously throughout the world. Moreover, Dirshu is doing everything to help the lomdim join and be successful. They also publish a wonderful kuntress every month called Iyun HaAmud where they bring many of the primary points of lomdus that will help the lomdim better understand the amud.
Rav Berel continues with a clarion call calling on all to join the Amud HaYomi,
Now the [Amud HaYomi] is beginning Masechta Yuma. I have come to strengthen [the learning of Amud HaYomi] because it is something that is possible for almost everyone to add this limud to their regular learning sedarim. In doing so, they join the tens of thousands of Yidden in Klal Yisrael and thereby gain wide-ranging knowledge of Shas.”
The senior Rosh Yeshiva then points out that it is especially important to join for Masechta Yuma,
Masechta Yuma is unique because aside from the fact that it is a masechta in the seder of Moed, it is also a masechta that opens up the foundations of seder Kodshim.”
Rav Povarsky concludes his letter by giving a heartfelt bracha to Dirshu and its Nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter that they should continue to increase Torah learning among all segments of Klal Yisrael.
Hundreds of Shiurim World-Over
The great interest being generated for the learning of Amud HaYomi in advance of Masechta Yuma was not born in a vacuum. In the weeks before Pesach, the Amud HaYomi program learned Perek Arvei Pesachim and Dirshu invested great effort into facilitating the opening of many new Amud HaYomi shiurim so that participants could learn the sugyos of the seder night before Pesach. The response was phenomenal!
For example, in the Five Towns area itself, ten new shiurim opened! Among them a shiur given by Rabbi Yoni Levin, at Beis Medrash Hachaim V’Hashalom, a shiur given by Rabbi Heshy Blumstein in Kehillas Yismach Moshe, a shiur given at the Bach Jewish Center by Rabbi Benny Berlin and a shiur given by Rabbi Yosef Spiegel at Beis Medrsash Ostrov Kalushin and numerous others.
In Lakewood alone there are thirty Amud HaYomi shiurim in addition to the hundreds more who are learning with individual chavrusos.
Throughout the United States and Canada, Dirshu has established over 200 Amud HaYomi shiurim with many hundreds more in Eretz Yisrael and Europe!
The Secret to the Amud HaYomi’s Success
Why has Amud HaYomi become so popular in such a short time?
HaGaon HaRav Dovid Cohen, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, best encapsulated why the Amud HaYomi gained popularity so quickly 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.”
Rav Cohen maintained that the slower pace of Amud HaYomi enables a person to learn with a much more enhanced understanding of what he is learning and allows more time for chazara as well.
HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch Shlita: “This Limud Has The Power To Protect Klal Yisrael
Another important reason, especially relevant now amid the great uncertainty in the world, as noted by HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, shlita.”Several months ago, right before the Amud HaYomi embarked on Masechta Eruvin, the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva said, “This limud has the power to protect Klal Yisrael at a time when its enemies seek its destruction. Everyone knows the difficult situation in which the Torah world finds itself. And what saves us?” he exclaimed, “Only an increase in Torah learning and in kavod haTorah!”
Perhaps the powerful and compelling letter written on Rosh Chodesh Shevat by HaGaon HaRav Isamar Garbuz, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Orchos Torah, best explains why it is so important to join the Amud HaYomi. He wrote,
It is already more than two years since the Torah organization Dirshu established a program to learn Shas with the Amud HaYomi, where lomdim learn one amud every day and therefore merit to have an eternal kinyan in yedias haTorah….
After Pesach, they will go m’chayil el chayil and begin Masechta Yuma [about Yom Kippur] which they will learn until the coming Yom Kippur.
This will provide tremendous benefit because the lomdim will be able to learn about the Yom Tov of Yom Kippur in advance of that holy day.
The Amud HaYomi has become one of the staple limudim for Klal Yisrael as many have found that 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.”
If you want to experience the avodah on Yom Kippur in a way that you have never before experienced it, NOW is the time to join the Amud HaYomi. Don’t push it off!
To join the Amud HaYomi and to complete Masechta Yuma by this coming Yom Kippur, please contact Dirshu at info@dirshunj.org or at 1-888-5Dirshu.
