By Chaim Gold

“It is a time of war, a time when we need so much shemirah! How can we achieve shemirah? How can we invoke rachamei shomayim for all of Am Yisrael, for the soldiers at the front, for all those who live in Eretz Yisrael and for all Yidden around the world who are under attack?” exclaimed HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Zilberstein, shlita, Rav of Ramat Elchanan and one of the leading senior poskim of our time. “The answer is simple! It is staring us in the face. It is a one-word answer. ‘Shabbos!’ Yes, when we keep Shabbos, enhance our shemiras Shabbos, Shabbos keeps us, Shabbos guards us from difficulty and tragedy!” Those passionate words of Rav Zilberstein were said at a seminal meeting with leaders of hanhalas Dirshu, led by the Nasi of Dirshu, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, shlita. 

Rav Zilberstein was commenting on the hashgacha pratis that Dirshu’s two most popular learning programs will embark shortly on learning Masechta Shabbos – both Dirshu’s widely popular Amud HaYomi program and Daf HaYomi B’Halacha. 

Since its inception on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan of this year, the Amud HaYomi program has opened nearly 1,000 shiurim the world over with many tens of thousands of participants! The new daily limud “yomi’ with which Dirshu has gifted Klal Yisrael has taken off in an unprecedented way, literally conquering the hearts and minds of Klal Yisrael – whether it is baalei battim seeking a limud that enables them to gain a kinyan and have a geshmak; whether it is kollel yungeleit seeking a systematic way of being koneh Shas while simultaneously learning it in a non-superficial way; whether it is bachurim¸ yes, thousands of bachurim, who have taken to the limud! There are even a number of yeshivos that actually have so many bochurim learning as part of the program that Dirshu has agreed to make those yeshivos into monthly testing sites, so that the bachurim do not even have to leave yeshiva to take the tests.

The Amud HaYomi will be beginning Masechta Shabbos in less than four weeks, 9 Adar 1/February 18, and it was about this that Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein and numerous other Gedolei Yisrael with whom Dirshu met have expressed their joy. “Shabbos is a shemirah,” is the message that came through loud and clear. 

Not only will the Amud HaYomi begin learning Masechta Shabbos but Dirshu’s other massive program, its Daf HaYomi B’Halacha daily learning program will also embark on hilchos Shabbos, Chelek Gimmel of the Mishnah Berurah in a few months’ time. Thus, not only will lomdim be able to learn Masechta Shabbos with the Amud HaYomi, but at the very same time as they are deeply immersed in the sugyos of hilchos Shabbos they will also be able to learn the halacha l’maaseh of Shabbos with the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program.

Leading Gedolei Yisrael including HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, shlita, have urged the learning of hilchos Shabbos as a shemirah in response to the war that has been raging since Simchas Torah. Currently, anyone participating in Dirshu’s two flagship programs, has the opportunity to not only achieve a kinyan in Masechta Shabbos and hilchos Shabbos but also to bring rachamei shomayim upon Klal Yisrael who needs it so much during these trying times.