Daf Yomi "page [of the] day" or "daily folio") is a daily regimen undertaken to study the Babylonian Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

 one folio (a daf, or "blatt" in Yiddish, 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

Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...

 of seven and a half years.

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

World Agudath Israel

World Agudath Israel , usually known as the Aguda, was established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah Judaism, in succession to Agudas Shlumei Emunei Yisroel...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 in 1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro

Meir Shapiro

Yehuda Meir Shapiro , , was a prominent Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, also known as the Lubliner Rav...

. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...

 5684 (11 September 1923) the first cycle began. To strengthen this idea, the Gerrer

Ger (Hasidic dynasty)

Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....

 Rebbe

Rebbe

Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...

, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter

Avraham Mordechai Alter

Avraham Mordechai Alter , also known as the Imrei Emes after the works he authored, was the third Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1905 until his death in 1948. He was one of the founders of the Agudas Israel in Poland and was influential in establishing a network of...

, learned the first daf (folio) of Berakhot

Berakhot (Talmud)

Berachot is the first tractate of Seder Zeraim, a collection of the Mishnah that primarily deals with laws relating to plants and farming...

 in public on that day.

Impact

Thousands of Jews worldwide participate in the Daf Yomi program. Currently, Daf Yomi efforts contribute significantly [how] to Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 and Baalei Teshuva 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

Siyum hashas

Siyum HaShas is the celebration of the completion of the Daf Yomi program, a seven-and-a-half-year cycle of learning the oral Torah and its commentaries, , in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud are covered in sequence.-Background:The program was...

("completion [of] the Shas" The last Siyum Hashas took place on 1 March 2005 with an estimated 120,000 in attendance worldwide. It was organized by Agudath Israel of America

Agudath Israel of America

Agudath Israel of America , is a Haredi Jewish communal organization in the United States loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel.-Functions:...

. The next Siyum HaShas will take place on August 2, 2012.