“A colossal kiddush Hashem, were the words that came to mind when I observed the first Amud HaYomi test last week,” related Rabbi Moshe Fisher, Co-Director of Dirshu’s operations in North America, in describing what he saw at multiple testing sites in Brooklyn. “What I saw on the night of the bechina in Brooklyn and what I heard later from those who were at other sites all over the world, was a kiddush Hashem of tremendous proportions.  

In truth, there are no words to describe the huge response to the beginning of the new Amud HaYomi program. Even Dirshu’s hanhala, who have seen numerous massive growth spurts over the years, were flabbergasted by the world-wide response as untold thousands gathered all over Eretz Yisrael in testing centers from Tzefas in the North to Be’er Sheva in the south. The entire North America and Canada, Europe, England, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, even Gibraltar, as well as Argentina and Australia all had a massive uptick of new participants.

In Eretz Yisrael alone there were more than 900 testing sites with people of all ages, all types and stripes gathering to take the test. Tens of thousands of people took the tests! Yes, you read that right, 900 testing sites and tens of thousands of test-takers, an absolute record!  

The Amud HaYomi program began with daf beis in Masechta Brachos this past Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan. In the course of that first month, hundreds of new shiurim opened all over the world, taking even the hanhala of Dirshu by surprise.  

Another amazing aspect of watching the first test was the sight of such a wide range of people! 

“Mena’ar v’ad zakein!” exclaimed Rabbi Avigdor Bernstein, a senior member of the Dirshu hanhala in Eretz Yisrael. “Boys under bar mitzvah were sitting alongside great-grandfathers with long white beards who needed the aid of a cane to walk. They were all there. Ashkenazim and Sefardim, Chassidim and Yeshiva types, baalei battim and kollel yungeleit, all united by the Torah and a program that enables them to comprehensively and systematically go through Shas with a plan.”  

Another amazing innovation that has seen success above and beyond anyone’s dream is the comprehensive, gevaldik kuntress called Iyun Ha’Amud compiled by great talmidei chachomim that Dirshu has published and distributed. The kuntress, designed to assist the lomdim of Amud HaYomi with their learning, includes the pages of the Gemara, explanations and supplements, marei mekomos and practical applications of the halachah, as well as the basic “reyd” on each sugya. It also offers “sikumim”, small encapsulations of each sugya to assist lomdim in remembering the important parts of each sugya.  

Rabbi Bernstein said, “It is clear that in the world of Torah, the ‘buzz’ today is Amud HaYomi. The Amud HaYomi has truly become the nachlas haklal, the inheritance of all Klal Yisrael. It is our fervent tefillah that the zechus of the Amud HaYomi will continue to protect Klal Yisrael!”