By Chaim Gold
“Es shmekt der Geulah–It has the aroma of the geulah!” exclaimed the venerated senior roshyeshiva, HaGaon HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, shlita, upon perusing Dirshu’s new edition of the Sefer Chofetz Chaim with its biurim and musafim. The sefer was released this past RoshChodeshIyar in conjunction with the second machzor of Dirshu’s daf hayomi b’halacha program wherein it embarked on learning Sefer Chofetz Chaim in its Mussar component.
Leading members of Dirshu’s hanhalah were highly impressed with the results of the daf hayomi b’halacha’s recent second test in the present machzor. Rabbi Shlomo Rozenstein, Dirshu’s director of public affairs, related: “Usually, with the start of a new machzor there is a tremendous increase in enrollment as the hischadshus of starting the MishnahBerurah attracts large crowds. Additionally, the halachos of BirchosHashachar featured on the first test are halachos with which many are familiar and thus great numbers at the first test were to be expected. With the advent of the complex and less familiar halachos of tzitzis, we realized that we might see a tapering off from the astronomical numbers of some 30,000 test takers that we experienced during the first test. We were wrong! The colossal numbers remained steady even in the second test. The fact that the material was more difficult and less familiar did not deter lomdeiDirshu,” Rav Rozenstein said. “This attests to the deep inroads and bond that Dirshu has forged with the communities comprising the entire cross-section of Torah observant Jewry,” Rabbi Rozenstein concluded.
The Vital Mussar Component
One of the lesser known areas of the daf hayomi b’halacha program is the mussar component. In addition to learning a page of Sefer Mishnah Berurah with the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah’s biurim u’musafim, lomdei daf hayomi b’halacha also learn a daily quota of mussar from the sefarim of the ChofetzChaim. This past Rosh Chodesh Iyar the program embarked on the SeferChofetzChaim on hilchoslashonha’ra. The new Dirshu edition of the Sefer Chofetz Chaim is a groundbreaking creation that brings hundreds of citations from the other poskim as well as piskei halacha and words of gedolei haposkim and ba’alei mussar that shed light on the sefarim of the Chofetz Chaim.
The Chofetz Chaim himself writes in his introduction that one of the reasons Mashiach has not yet arrived is because we have not yet managed to rectify the colossal sin of lashonha’ra.
During the visit to Rav Shteinman led by Dirshu’s nasi, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, and other senior members of Dirshu’s hanhalah, Rav Shteinman was told that there are citations in the biurimu’musafim from things that he himself had said. Rav Shteinman asked if they could cite one example and they pointed to where the ChofetzChaim writes that a person who speaks lashonha’ra transgresses the prohibition of chillulHashem because lashonha’ra does not afford physical pleasure and thus people should not lust after it. The fact that people do desire to speak and hear lashonha’ra therefore constitutes a chillulHashem. Rav Shteinman, in his sefer E’eleh b’Tamar, explains that he heard from the Chazon Ish that based on this explanation of the Chofetz Chaim it is clear that the Chofetz Chaim himself did not derive pleasure from speaking lashonha’ra even though others do. Rav Shteinman also cited from the Mashgiach of Mir and Ponovezh, the great tzaddik, HaGaon HaRav Chatzkel Levenstein, zt’l, who essentially said that lashonha’ra is not a ta’avah, but once a person immerses himself in it and talks lashonha’ra without inhibition, he develops a ta’avah for it. A smile lit up Rav Shteinman’s countenance upon hearing those important citations from his own shmuessen.
Rav Hofstedter and the hanhalah also went to the home of HaGaonHaRav Gershon Edelstein, shlita, senior roshyeshiva at the Ponovezh Yeshiva where they presented him with the sefer. Rav Edelstein was similarly visibly impressed with the sefer and remarked that when the ChofetzChaim wrote and published his Sefer Chofetz Chaim his intention was to try repairing the tremendous breach in this vital area of Yiddishkeit that had become so neglected. Although the ChofetzChaim created a tremendous awareness with his sefer, to our great distress the sin has still not been rectified as it should. Perhaps this sefer will lead to additional rectification of the aveirah of lashonha’ra and the terrible spiritual toll that it has on the collective body of KlalYisrael, Rav Edelstein concluded.
During his visit to EretzYisrael, Rav Hofstedter, in addition to his visits to numerous gedoleiYisrael to present them with the new Dirshu edition of the Chofetz Chaim, gave a number of addresses. Notable among them was a powerful address to the talmidim of the Gerrer Yeshiva, Nezer HaTorah in the city of Rishon L’Tzion. The derashah was given in the presence of the Gerrer Rebbe, shlita.
As the daf hayomi b’halacha proceeds with learning hilchostzitzis and then hilchostefillin, there is tremendous momentum building with more and more kehillos embarking on the serious learning of daily halacha. In his address to his chassidim on motzaeiShavuos, the Belzer Rebbe, shlita, stressed the importance of daily limudhalacha.
Now Is The Time To Finally Learn Hilchos Tefillin!
Rabbi Aharon Gobioff, Dirshu’s North American director, related, “Many lomdeihalacha who have learned the first chelek of MishnahBerurah in the past would skip the complex and difficult halachos of tefillin. Now, with Dirshu inching towards the end of hilchostzitizis and the beginning of hilchostefillin, it is the opportune time to finally learn the halachos of tefillin and take advantage of the koachharabbim and the many shiurim currently available.”
One Dirshu participant related, “I used to learn halacha quite often, but I always skipped the halachos of tzitzis and tefillin because they were not so easy to understand. Now that I am in the framework of a Dirshu program, however, I am baruchHashem on the way to completing hilchostzitzis and soon I will embark on hilchostefillin! It is such a z’chus to be part of this program! There are so many halachos that I thought I knew before, but now I realize how little I really knew. I am thrilled to be able to be mikayem these vital halachos in the most lechatchiladige way!”
To join daf hayomi b’halacha and bring daily halacha into your life, please call 888-5-Dirshu or e-mail Info@kollelDirshu.org.
