Daf Yomi (Heb. דף יומי "page [of the] day" or "daily folio") is a yearly regimen undertaken to study the Babylonian Talmud one folio (a daf consists of both sides of the page) each day. Under this regimen, the entire Talmud would be completed, one day at a time, in a cycle of seven and a half years.
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Initiation
The novel idea of Jews in all corners of the globe to participate in completing together the entire Talmud, was put forth at the First World Congress of the World Agudath Israel in Vienna in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah 1923 (5684 on the Hebrew calendar) the first cycle began. On that day, the Gerrer Rebbe Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter to strengthen this idea, learned in public the first daf (folio) of Berakhot.
Impact
Thousands of Jews worldwide participate in the Daf Yomi program. Currently, Daf Yomi efforts contribute significantly to Orthodox Judaism and its Baal Teshuva Movement and has had a uniting factor among Jews.
Process
With 2,711 pages in the Talmud, one cycle takes about 7 years, 5 months. Daf Yomi started its 12th cycle of study on 2 March 2005. The completion of the cycle is celebrated in an event known as Siyum HaShas ("completion [of] the Shas" -- Shas, an acronym for shisha sidrei (mishnah) or "Six Orders of the Mishnah" -- is another name for the Talmud). The last Siyum took place on 1 March 2005 with an estimated 120,000 in attendance, worldwide. It was organized by Agudath Israel of America. The next Siyum HaShas will take place on 2 August 2012.
See also
- Siyum hashas -- Completion of the tractates
External links
- DafYomi Advancement Forum - study sources and images of each page of the Babylonian Talmud
- dafyomi.org - study resources
