Daf Yomi: A Page a Day

The 7.5-year program that has unified Jewish learning across the world since 1923.

By The Editors

Calendar · 2 minute read

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Summary. Daf Yomi (literally "Page of the Day") is the daily Talmud study program, initiated by Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin in 1923. The program covers one page (one daf, or two sides of a Vilna edition page) of the Babylonian Talmud each day; the entire Bavli is completed in 7 years and 5 months. The 14th cycle began January 2020; the 15th will begin in 2027. Daily learning groups (shiurim) meet around the world; podcasts, apps, and online classes serve the millions who study independently. Daf Yomi has been called the most unifying single practice in contemporary Jewish life.

Why Daf Yomi

Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin proposed Daf Yomi at the First World Congress of the World Agudath Israel in Vienna in 1923. His vision: every Jew studying the same page of Talmud on the same day, anywhere in the world. The proposal was adopted. By the time of Rabbi Shapiro's death in 1933, daily Daf Yomi was well-established in Eastern Europe. The Holocaust devastated the original participants; the program was rebuilt after the war. The Siyum HaShas (the celebration at the completion of each cycle) has become one of the largest gatherings in contemporary Jewish life — over 90,000 people at the 13th Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, in January 2020.

What It Takes

Forty-five minutes a day, every day, for seven years and five months. The pace is unforgiving — miss a few days and you fall behind a tractate. Most people study with a shiur (a class), with a podcast (the OU's All Daf, Rabbi Eli Mansour, Rabbi Ari Bergmann), or with a chevruta. The text is in Hebrew and Aramaic; an English-language companion (the William Davidson Steinsaltz translation, available free on Sefaria; the ArtScroll Schottenstein Edition; the older Soncino edition) is essential for the New Jew.

Starting Mid-Cycle

You do not have to wait for a new cycle to begin. Start where the cycle currently is; join the next Siyum HaShas with your peers; then begin again with the next cycle from Berachot 2a. Or wait for January 2027 and the start of the 15th cycle. Both approaches work.

Alternatives to Daf Yomi

Mishna Yomit — one mishnah a day, completing the Mishnah in 6 years.

Rambam Yomi — three chapters of the Mishneh Torah a day, completing it in 11 months (the standard Chabad cycle).

Tanakh Yomi — a few chapters of Tanakh a day, completing it annually.

Halacha Yomit — short daily halacha (the OU offers a popular email).

Mesilat Yesharim Yomit — the Mussar text in a daily cycle.

Any of these is a worthy adult-learning commitment. For the New Jew without prior yeshiva background, Mishna Yomit or Rambam Yomi may be a gentler start than Daf Yomi.

Where Denominations Diverge

Originated in the Orthodox world and remains overwhelmingly Orthodox in its practitioner base, but Daf Yomi has been embraced increasingly in Conservative and Reform settings (notably the Hadar Institute's Daf Yomi for Women program, founded by Michelle Cohen Farber). Cross-denominational Daf Yomi groups are now common.

Sources

Talmud Bavli (entire corpus).

Rabbi Meir Shapiro's 1923 address to the World Agudath Israel.

Siyum HaShas history (myjewishlearning.com).