[Avodah] Aruch Hashulchan Yomi

[Dovi Jacobs]

According to the AishDas calendar, the current cycle for daily learning
of the Aruch Hashulchan will end on 11 Sivan 5769 (June 3, 2009):
<http://www.aishdas.org/luach/?year=2009&month=6>

It is not scheduled to begin again until November of that year:
<http://www.aishdas.org/luach/?year=2009&month=11>

I have no idea what the reason for the gap from June to November is,
but perhaps it is for the best for reasons I will explain below. In
this post I would like to describe how I view daily study of the Arukh
Hashulchan (AHS), and offer some suggestions for re-thinking the daily
study program.

[It's a simple programming error, but since RDJ's proposals are worthy
of discussion I took the time to fix his email (it was sent with
technical gliches) and bounce it to the list. -micha]

What the AHS is to me:
For most of my life I have been aware of the Aruch Hashulchan, and I
always admired it, but only studied small parts of it sporadically. It
is only in the past few years (since Shavuos 5766) that I started to
work on it continually as a form of personal "kovea itim latorah" in the
area of practical halachah. Since then I have managed to cover large,
significant portions of Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah, and learned a
tremendous amount. I admit with some shame that throughout countless
years of formal yeshivah study (which included halakhah & Shulchan Arukh),
and personal Torah study thereafter, there were still significant parts
of Yoreh Deah and even Orach Chaim I had never completely gone through
siman-by-siman before this (and even some large parts I had hardly looked
at). Not to mention Even Haezer and Choshen Mishpat...

When I began to do continuous study of the AHS in 5766, I think I was
aware that AishDas had an "Aruch Hashulchan Yomi" schedule, but it
didn't meet my needs at the time. First of all, since I had decided
to contribute the text I learned to the public (at Hebrew Wikisource),
and editing was more demanding than just reading, I found one siman per
day to be far too much. Secondly, I had some definite ideas about which
areas I wanted to learn and in what order, so instead I focused on those
areas. Nevertheless, I realize the value and power in a daily schedule
that that encourages many people to learn the same things at the same
time together.

Why did I pick davka the AHS for learning Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah?
The answer begins with my belief that Orach Chaim, Yoreh Deah, Even
Haezer, and Choshen Mishpat are not books per se, but rather areas of
knowledge. Each of them, and every siman within each of them, covers
a specific set of sugyos in a certain order, and certain shitos of the
poskim derived from those sugyos.

The scope of each siman was first defined by the author of the Tur,
along with the scope and order of topics in each of the four larger
areas of knowledge. But ever since the Beis Yosef, the very idea of
"Orach Chaim" or "Yoreh Deah" (or any particular siman within them) has
traveled far beyond the text of the Tur itself. Rather than remaining
a specific text, each of them has instead become a defined area of
knowledge based on specific sugyos organized in a particular fashion,
and has been addressed as such by countless poskim.

But this is exactly what makes them so hard to learn! Because what, in
the final analysis, should one read? Reading the Tur by itself is not
overly demanding, but it is not nearly enough. Learning the Tur along
with the Beis Yosef and the important acharonim is optimal, but it remains
beyond the reach of those who cannot invest many hours every day in such a
program (which is why such learning is usually left to semichah students
and candidates for dayanus). As for reading the Shulchan Arukh itself
(such as in the "Halachah Yomis" program), on a personal level I find
it to be extremely unsatisfying. Remember that the SA/Rema were written
as review notes for the Beis Yosef and Darkei Moshe. As such they are
an extremely poor pedagogical tool for someone who is learning halachah
on a more basic level, and in fact they were never meant to be used as
such. As terse summaries, they are also simply not enjoyable to read.

It was the Aruch Hashulchan that filled this void perfectly for me.
Writing about complex topics clearly and understandably, the author of
the AHS manages at once to summarize all of the basic dinim in the SA &
Rema, to present them in the context of the major shitos of the Rishonim
(usually also dealing with the fundamental sugyos in Shas that gave rise
to those shitos), and to summarize the major points of the acharonim
(nosei kelim on the SA).

Beyond this, there are several special features of the AHS that appealed
to me because of my own personal interests:

1. Special focus on the Rambam, who is usually cited verbatum for each
relevant sugya and dealt with at length in relation to other rishonim.

2. Special focus on shitos of the Yerushalmi where relevant.

3. Interesting chiddushim. Sometimes these are very convincing and
sometimes much less so, but they usually get right to the heart of the
sugya at hand (which makes them very worth reading).

The personality of the author is also very important in my opinion.
First of all, the author was an excellent writer and apparently (from
his writing) also an excellent teacher. This makes learning fruitful,
because when you read you feel like your rav is teaching the relevant
siman to you.

Secondly, the author was a first-rate posek. This is important because
it means that the decisions one learns are authoritative ones, positions
that may be taken into account and relied upon (depending of course on
the situation and the approach of the posek who is dealing with it). I
highly doubt that anyone who learns the AHS daily becomes an "AHS chasid"
who thinks of the AHS as "the last word in pesak halachah" (unlike the
many thousands who view the Mishnah Berurah in exactly that way). And I
believe that this lack of chasidus is a very healthy thing. More than a
century has passed since the AHS was first published, and we have our
own contemporary poskim in a vastly changed reality. But it is still
important to know that the psak one reads when learning is authoritative
and may be taken into account, even if the practical psak in your actual
life doesn't always exactly match you learned in the AHS.

The spirit of the AHS fits this approach well. The author always comes
across as a Rav, never as an Admor. On occasion he states his personal
psak in uncompromising terms, but in the vast majority of cases he offers
his opinion as exactly that: his opinion. It is an authoritative and
informed opinion, but no more and no less than that. The phrases "nirah
li" and "lefi aniyus daati" occur many times in nearly every siman of
the AHS, and this too is something that has endeared the book to me
as a tool for learning halachah. Furthermore, the author's particular
approach to pesak, which endeavors to support popular practice and common
mihagim whenever possible, and applies kocha de-hetera whenever possible,
is something that I think we need more of today.

To conclude, I personally chose to learn the AHS because it is an
excellent tool to help me cover material in Orach Chaim, Yoreh Deah, Even
Haezer, and Choshen Mishpat. It was also, for other reasons, a viable
text to contribute to the public at Hebrew Wikisource. I believe that
those digital contributions will make the AHS an even more effective tool
for those who use it in the future, as the publicly available digital
text becomes fuller over time, and ever more readable and accurate,
with tens of thousands of direct links are added to Shas and poskim.

Rethinking the daily program:

In terms of re-thinking the daily study program for AHS, my starting
point is the idea expressed above that for those who learn it, it
is first and foremost a tool for learning four major areas of Torah
knowledge: Orach Chaim, Yoreh Deah, Even Haezer, and Choshen Mishpat.
This concept leads me to three conclusions:

1. A daily study program should cover the entire Shulchan Aruch.

There are three major sections missing in the printed versions of the
AHS. Two are in Yoreh Deah (Hilkhos Aku"m and Hilchos Nedarim) and
one in Even Haezer (Hilchos Kesubos). We know with certainty that the
author wrote them all, but none of them were ever published until R.
Simcha Fishbane published Hilchos Nedarim in 1992 from the author's
own manuscript. The rest are still missing, however, and even Hilchos
Nedarim is only available to someone who buys a full new set of AHS
from a specific publisher. In addition, the author of AHS purposely
skipped Hilchos Terumus and Maseros in Yoreh Deah because he planned
to deal with them at length elsewhere (as indeed he later did in Aruch
Hashulchan He'asid).

Not surprisingly, the current study program skips the missing parts.
That is the simplest thing to do, and if I had planned such a program
initially I probably would have done the very same thing. Such skipping
is reflected, for instance, in the following calendar:
<http://www.aishdas.org/luach/?year=2007&month=5>

However, if one views the AHS primarily as a tool for learning Yoreh Deah,
i.e. Yoreh Deah itself is the primary subject matter and not the AHS,
then skipping large parts of YD is not an adequate solution. "Use the
best tool you can to do the job" is always good advice, and the AHS is
an excellent tool. But when it is unavailable there still may be other
good tools to use.

My personal suggestion for these cases is to learn the Levush. The
Levush is very similar to the AHS in many ways, both of them being
restatements of the individual simanim in clear language. They both
had similar goals, and indeed the author of the AHS wrote that the
Levush was one of his primary models. Perhaps "me-az yatza masok" if
the missing parts of the AHS can serve as an impetus for people who
study halachah to become familiar with the beauty of the Levush. To
move this idea forward I have uploaded scans of the Levush on the
missing portions of the AHS at either of the following links (in
either PDF of DjVu format):
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mordecai_Yoffe>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Yechiel_Michel_Epstein>

These can be easily downloaded and printed. They include a scan of
Levush Hilchos Nedarim for those who do not have convenient access
to Rabbi Fishbane's special AHS edition. (I further intend to use the
non-copyrighted Levush as a suggested supplement at the online version of
the AHS.) They also include a scan of the Levush on Terumos and Maseros
because the AHS Ha'asid is not easily available to all, and also because
there is value in seeing the topic as it is presented the context of
Yoreh Deah.

2. A daily study program should be of reasonable daily quantity.

Some daily Torah-study programs are meant to be very short: The Mishnah
Yomis is two mishnayos per day, the Halachah Yomis is three seifim a day
(from Orach Chaim with supplements from the Kitzur in other areas). These
two programs take 6 years and 3-4 years respectively for a full cycle. A
cycle of Halachah Yomis covers Orach Chaim, plus material from other
parts of the SA as summarized in the Kitzur SA.

Other daily Torah-study programs require a very serious investment in
time, Daf Yomi being the primary example. The alternative Halakhah Yomis
that does a daf-per-day in the Mishnah Berurah is also for someone who
wants to commit in advance to more than just a few minutes a day. Chabad
offers its Rambam Yomi in two formats (one perek-per-day or three)
precisely because not everyone can make the same kind of commitment
(time or energy), but even the single-perek option is more than just
minimal work if one reads the Rambam seriously.

It seems to me that an AHS Yomi program would be a middle-ground one.
Not something that requires at least an hour to do meaningfully like
the Daf Yomi, and not something concise like the Mishnah Yomis. It is
most similar to the daf-per-day of Mishnah Berurah, not just in terms
of what is being studied but also in terms of the level of commitment
that the study of such material implies.

The current AHS study cycle is based on the simple idea of one
siman-per-day. The problem with this is quantity: Since simanim can be
extremely long or extremely short, and you often have several huge ones
or several tiny ones in a row, they do not provide a viable base for
dividing the material into units for daily study.

No daily study program in perfect in this respect. Daf Yomi sometimes
covers extremely long or difficult dapim, sometimes easier or shorter
ones. But in the final analysis the unit of a *page* means that there
is some limit to the variations. You won't find a series of long and
hard dapim each of which takes 20 times as long to teach in a Daf Yomi
shiur than does a less demanding daf. But this happens all the time in
the SA and works based on it.

Therefore, I recommend daily units based on more even quantity. Very short
simanim can be combined, and very long simanim should be divided. Creating
a schedule of this type will obviously take more work than a simple
"one-siman-per-day" formula, but I see no other way to create a realistic
program.

In general, I suggest that the daily units should usually be roughly
a daily "blatt" of the AHS, i.e. about 12-14 seifim, and never more
than about 20 seifim. Such a schedule can be worked out without too
much trouble based on the convenient Tables of Contents at the Hebrew
Wikisource:
* <http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/AHS:OH>
* <http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/AHS:YD>
* <http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/AHS:EE>
* <http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/AHS:HM>

3. Flexible topics.

The current AHS Yomi program is based on the simple idea of learning the
AHS "straight" from start to finish, from the very beginning of Orach
Chaim to the very end of Choshen Mishpat. I would like to suggest a more
flexible alternative.

It is important to begin with the axiom that not everyone is interested
in learning the same things, or even capable of doing so. Orach Chaim
is probably the most directly relevant part of the AHS for most people
and the most popular part to learn. Yoreh Deah is far less popular,
although it contains many areas that are extremely relevant to the
average Jew who learns halachah. In general, over the past few years I
have become ever less convinced that "hora'ah" is an adequate explanation
for which material is contained in Yoreh Deah. Are Hilchos Sefer Torah &
Mezuzah areas that require "hora'ah" more than Hilchos Tefillin in Orach
Chaim? Do Hilchos Kibbud Av va-Em require rabbinic hora'ah more than
Hilchos Berachos? Despite the classic image of bringing the chicken to
a rabbi for a psak, I am not even sure that the first chelek of Yoreh
Deah is truly less relevant to the average person's practical halachah
than many parts of Orach Chaim, nor that it is meant primarily for rabbis.

On the other hand, the bulk of material in Even ha-Ezer and Choshen
Mishpat is truly meant for dayyanim (except for the first part of EE that
is relevant to mesadrei kiddushin). There are obviously some halachos
in EE and CHM that are highly relevant to all, but not the vast majority
of topics.

Therefore, I think we can identify three different basic areas of interest
to people within a daily study cycle: (1) Orach Chaim; (2) Yoreh Deah;
(3) Even ha-Ezer and Choshen Mishpat. Is is possible to build a more
flexible cycle that would let people choose which area they want to
study each year? I think it is.

Orach Chaim: OCH has three clear parts: (A) Seder ha-Yom, (B) Shabbos &
Eruvim, (C) Moadim. On a practical level the Moadim should be studied
before the relevant moed each year, and there is a mitzvah to do
so. Therefore, I suggest the following basic approach for a study cycle:

Moadim are studied for a total of 4-5 months each year at the relevant
times of year. On a practical level this means studying the last part of
Orach Chaim during Adar-Nisan and Elul-Tishrei, plus a bit more during
other times of the year.

Elul-Tishrei: Hilchos Rosh Hashanah, Yom Hakippurim, Sukkah, Lulav,
Chol Hamoed, Rosh Chodesh (120 simanim or 94 dapim in the AHS) in about
two months.

Adar-Nisan: Hilchos Megillah, Pesach & Chodesh Nisan, Yom Tov (113
simanim or 114 dapim in the AHS) in about two months.

Summer: Tisha be-Av & Taanis = 32 simanim or 25 dapim in the AHS (about
two weeks of study).

Winter: Chanukkah =16 simanim or 12 dapim in the AHS (about a week
of study).

This leaves more than seven months per year (more than eight in leap
years) for one of the other two parts of Orach Chaim: Seder ha-Yom
or Shabbos.

Seder ha-Yom is 241 simanim or 219 dapim in the AHS, to be completed
in about seven months or 210 days, for an average of a little more than
a daf-per-day.

Shabbos & Eruvin is 175 simanim or 265 dapim, for a similar average of
a little more than a daf=per-day in seven months.

Thus, Orach Chaim is completed in a two-year cycle, where each year
one learns the relevant moadim at the appropriate times, plus *either*
Seder ha-Yom *or* Shabbos. The moadim are somewhat heavier in terms of
daily quantity (closer to two dapim-per-day) but are also reviewed more
frequently. Plus, they are already fully available in digital form,
edited and formatted for easier study:
* <http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/AHS:OH>

A similar schedule could be worked out to complete Yoreh Deah (403
simanim) in about two years along with the moadim. The combined Even
ha-Ezer and Choshen Mishpat could be completed in perhaps three years
(178+427=605 simanim), maybe four.

To conclude, the AHS Yomi cycle would allow a person to decide whether
he wants to learn Orach Chaim that year (choosing either Seder ha-Yom
or Shabbos), or Yoreh Deah. Or alternatively to choose a multi-year
cycle for Even ha-Ezer and Choshen Mishpat.

There is a further advantage to this: Not everyone who wants to learn
halachah according to the seder of the SA wants to study davka the
AHS. But the simanim in the AHS are the same as the SA, and very
similar in terms of their length (i.e. a long siman in the SA is long
in the AHS, etc.). So no matter what a person wants to study each day,
whether it is SA/Rema, Tur/BY, Mishnah Berurah, Levush, AHS, or
anything else that fits the seder of the SA, he could be accommodated
by the above study cycle. Why not make its appeal as wide as possible?
It could be the "Shulchan Aruch" study cycle, but with special
emphasis on the AHS.

Online version:

At this point the online version is available for most of Orach Chaim:
All of the moadim, most of Shabbos & Eruvin (about 3/4 complete), and
the beginning of Seder ha-Yom. Some significant parts of Yoreh Deah
are also done.

I believe that the online version will make the AHS a far easier book
to read and study. It will also make it more widely available, now
that it is accessible to all and can be used and distributed free for
any purpose, as well as continually corrected and improved.

When the current AHS Yomi cycle ends after this coming Shavuos, Orach
Chaim will be closer to completion IYH (I hope to finish Hilchos
Tefillah sometime around Pesach, and Shabbos may be already be close
to done by then by my co-contributer). By November, when the next
cycle is scheduled to start, all of Orach Chaim may be complete. This
would give people the chance to do daily study (regardless of how
cycle is arranged) with the digital version, and hopefully also
improve it along the way while they learn. Any ideas to make it more
useful could also be implemented as they cover Orach Chaim.

Everything I've written is, when all is said and done, impressions and
ideas. It would be great to get further ideas on Avodah about how to
give a push forward to the comprehensive study of halachah in general,
and the AHS in particular. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Dovi