As many of you know, there is a custom of studying a daily page of the (Babylonian) Talmud. This is known as daf yomi, “a daily daf.” A daf is two sides of an Aramaic or Hebrew page (front and back). If you study a daf yomi of the Talmud every single day, you can complete the entire Talmud in about seven-and-a-half years. (For more info, see the entry on Daf Yomi in Wikipedia.)The schedule of the discussion, commencing on 13 October, follows.
This October we are beginning a similar custom of studying a daily page of the Zohar. We have decided to study an ammud yomi, “a daily ammud” of Zohar. An ammud is half of a daf, that is, a single side of an Aramaic page of Zohar (such as Zohar 1:1a or Zohar 1:1b). The reason we are planning on studying a daily ammud rather than a daily daf is that the Zohar is so dense and demanding that a single page (that is, one side of a page) is challenging enough.
We are beginning Zohar Ammud Yomi (A Daily Page of Zohar) on the 20th of Tishrei 5775 (the 6th day of the festival of Sukkot), which corresponds to Monday night, October 13 – Tuesday, October 14, 2014. We have prepared a calendar for the first month, covering Zohar 1:1a-16b, running from October 13/14 through November 14. This calendar (posted below) lists each daily ammud (according to the traditional Aramaic pagination) and the corresponding English pages in The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 1. We estimate that we will complete the first volume (of the Pritzker Edition, which extends through the Torah portion Noah) in early 2015, following which we will proceed with Volume 2 (which opens with the Torah portion Lekh Lekha).
Daniel Matt and Rabbi Elie Spitz are coordinating Zohar Ammud Yomi. Rabbi Spitz and a number of others have committed themselves to this daily practice of study, and more folks will soon join. Rabbi Spitz has graciously agreed to occasionally post comments (relating to some of the daily Zohar passages) to this Zohar Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/theZohar/. Daniel Matt will also contribute occasionally. Members of this Facebook group are invited to join Zohar Ammud Yomi (A Daily Page of Zohar) and to participate in the online discussion. For now, this Zohar Facebook Group will serve as the hub of Zohar Ammud Yomi (A Daily Page of Zohar).
To follow the postings you must be on Facebook, where you can join the Zohar group. Should be very interesting.
HT Judy Barrett. Cross-file under "Aramaic Watch." More on the Zohar, and on Daniel Matt's Aramaic edition and English translation of it, here with many links.
