It’s 6:20 a.m.

One by one, the chaburah members make their way to their seats at the two long, narrow tables in the shul. It may be early, but the participants are clearly energized and motivated. And it’s not the Keurig-brewed coffee that is generating their excitement.

The 25 men assembled at the shul in Chestnut Ridge are of various ages and backgrounds, including veteran members of the workforce, salespeople, professionals, and some men who recently left kollel. Their common bond? They are about to begin their daily learning of Hilchasa, and they couldn’t be more pumped.

That commonality transcends the town limits of Chestnut Ridge and, for that matter, the State of New York as well. Because at about the same time, chaburos in Lakewood, Toms River, and Rockland County are also convening. Due to the time-zone difference, the flagship Chicago chaburah will begin a bit later. And it’s not just for early risers or insomniacs. Later in the day, a number of night-seder chaburos will also be learning the Hilchasa program in all these locations, and additional chaburos will capitalize on their weekend time for longer, more intense Shabbos and Sunday chaburos.

Not surprisingly, all of them are loving it.

 

What is Hilchasa?

Zoom out to about 20 years ago, when a young scholar, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Butrimowitz, served as rosh kollel of the Ottawa Community Kollel. In this capacity, Rabbi Butrimowitz led a morning chaburah for working men, most of whom had some solid background in learning.

“We explored different types of learning regimens and approaches,” Rabbi Butrimowitz recalls. “But we found that when we learned only gemara or only Halachah, it didn’t really fulfill the ‘geshmak’ level the participants wanted to achieve.”

It’s a common frustration faced by many people across all walks of life, especially those whose schedules—and sometimes attention spans—are limited.

So, gradually, Rabbi Butrimowitz developed an intuitive approach, learning sugyos in a focused and thorough manner and carefully following the “thread” right through the poskim, teshuvos, and halachah l’ma’aseh, including Mishnah Berurah and even current halachic questions.

“Hilchasa is not a new or revolutionary mehalech in learning,” Rabbi Butrimowitz explains. “It is simply a cultivated method of the classic approach of ‘asukei shmait’sa aliba d’hilchasah’—it just makes it easy to attain by organizing the complete sugya and taking it to completion.”

The results of the initial attempt were apparent almost immediately. When the group started with the gemara and Rishonim and stayed focused right down to halachah l’maaseh, it was electrifying.

“The oilam nailed the sugya with the lomdus, and it was amazing to see how they also crystallized it into actual daily life, which gave them tremendous sipuk.”

After several years Rabbi Butrimowitz relocated to Chicago, where a chaburah of bnei Torah in the workforce quickly coalesced around him. It was there that Hilchasa really began to gain momentum. Slowly, the curated method was tweaked to perfection.

However, with a curriculum that spans so many sefarim, from the Gemara and Rishonim to early poskim and teshuvos, Tur, Shulchan Aruch, teshuvos, Mishnah Berurah, and contemporary psak, it became apparent that the group would need self-contained, sugya-based sefarim of the curated material and marei mekomos.

The ambitious group lent their resources and efforts, and soon the acclaimed Hilchasa series of sefarim was developed.

 

Sharing the gift

“Fifty years ago, the renaissance of Torah in America was limited to the yeshivah world,” says R’ Reuven Fishman, a Hilchasa chaburah member in Lakewood. “Today, there is a tidal wave of desire for accomplishment in learning: to ‘cover ground,’ to know Halachah, and to achieve clarity and depth of understanding.”

The challenge that many face, especially people who are not engaged in full-time learning, is that the time constraints and distractions of the workday can make these goals elusive. As a result, many people end up compromising either on havanah, retention, or covering material, leading to less-than-satisfying results.

“Hilchasa was designed specifically to address this challenge that so many people struggle with,” says R’ Reuven.

According to Rabbi Yechezkel Moscovitz of Monsey, the director of Hilchasa, although Hilchasa has quietly been in use for many years by chaburos in Chicago, Monsey, and Lakewood, it has only recently gained public awareness.

As Rabbi Moscovitz explains, “Hilchasa really began as a private endeavor, but a number of chaburah members in Chicago were very inspired by their own success, and they decided to share the gift of Hilchasa with the Torah world.”

When Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch heard about Hilchasa and saw some samples, he was very enthusiastic, and he urged the organizers and Rabbi Butrimovitz to exert efforts to make Hilchasa available to the tzibbur at large. As Rav Hirsch wrote in his glowing haskamah, “I had tremendous hana’ah from your wonderful initiative to make the Hilchasa series available to the greater Torah community… Experience has clearly indicated the tremendous to’eles and success that this curriculum provides.”

As a nonprofit organization, the initiative and involvement of the chaburah members has been crucial, especially in helping defray the costs of developing and producing the sefarim. Recently, the organization embarked on a more vigorous awareness campaign advertising the sefarim and the mehalech, and the response has already been overwhelming.

“Hilchasa has a very universal appeal,” Rabbi Moscovitz explains. “Because it distills the sugyos using the basic, intuitive approach that was used for centuries—learning a specific inyan from the source gemara and Rishonim right down to the halachah l’maaseh—it can be used by anyone from yungerleit in kollel to ba’alei batim and everyone in between.”

R’ Moshe Kreitman of Lakewood agrees. “Hilchasa is unique because it makes halachah sugyos available to any level of talmid chacham,” he enthused. “In fact, some of the Shabbos/Sunday chaburos have upped the level of iyun, actually delivering an in-depth shiur each week.”

As the Hilchasa movement accelerated, a team of talmidei chachamim, under the direct guidance of Rabbi Butrimowitz, continues to produce the sefarim on a very broad range of sugyos. Currently, more than 30 sugyos have been completed, including a full series on Shabbos, Yom Tov, Pesach, Yamim Nora’im, and more. The team is energetically working on another 50 or so sugyos, including Orach Chaim and Yoreh Dei’ah.

 

How is Hilchasa different from other learning programs?

A veteran Hilchasa rosh chaburah in Monsey shared his experienced view:

“Most programs are based on a time-to-quantity ratio, like a specific amount of material per day or per week, which many people like because it keeps them on track. Hilchasa is geared more to achieving quality of understanding plus a well-rounded, thorough knowledge of the sugya down to halachah. It’s especially a great idea for people with limited schedules who want to accomplish but also want a clear grasp of what they’re learning, whether as a chaburah or with a chavrusa.”

 

A movement in the making

Due to the recent increased demand, the Hilchasa staff has been working with many shul rabbanim to help organize Hilchasa chaburos in Lakewood, Jackson, Toms River, Monsey, and elsewhere.

An important component of Hilchasa is that it only includes the directly relevant material without going off on interesting side topics.

According to Rabbi Tzvi Rubinfeld, who heads a chaburah in Lakewood, this plays an important role in the long-term success and satisfaction of chaburah members. “By staying focused, learners are able to get a clear and thorough kinyan of the sugya and improve their retention.”

One interesting side benefit of Hilchasa is the broader impact it has on participants. “It’s a transformative limud,” says Rabbi Rafael Perlstein, a rosh chaburah in Chestnut Ridge. “I have personally seen how Hilchasa literally improves the lives of chaburah members.”

Significantly, Hilchasa enjoys the warm haskamos and encouragement of many gedolim, including Rav Reuven Feinstein, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, and Rav Yeruchem Olshin.

Surprisingly, Hilchasa is not yet available at retail sefarim stores. As Rabbi Moscovitz clarified, “Due to the large variety of topics, it is not practical to have supplies of every volume in every store.”

Currently, the sefarim can either be purchased online at Hilchasa.org or by phone. However, as Rabbi Moscovitz is quick to point out, the recent huge spike in demand has caused the leadership of the organization to revisit its ‘business model.’

“We are seriously exploring options of having a designated store in each strategic location as a point of sales.”

In response to requests, the organization also hopes to offer online audio shiurim as well as voluntary bechinos.

“Of course, like everything, this is an initiative that requires much siyata d’Shmaya,” says Rabbi Moscovitz. “B’ezras Hashem, if these early signs are any indication, we envision this to take off as a real movement. For so many people out there who want to improve the quality of their learning and increase their knowledge of Halachah, Hilchasa is the ideal solution.”