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Hamodia July 27, 20116

F E AT U R E I

Bringing the Torahto Life

Rabbi Dan Roth teaches

his morning halachah class

at Aderes HaTorah.

Feature 072711 p6-13 Torah Live.FS.qxd 7/18/2011 12:06 AM Page 6



Inyan Magazine 2 5 T am m uz 5 7 71 7

BY GAVRIEL HORAN

In many ways the challenges facing educators in this

generation are greater than ever before. In the past,

teachers had to deal with discipline and class

participation. Today the battle being waged to keep

students’ attention is unparalleled. In many circles,

teachers have to compete with the nonstop action and

excitement of iPods, cell phones and computers

— in and out of the classroom.

A shidduchno one ever imagined

Torahand Technology





THE AVERAGE American teenager

is plugged in to some form of

media or another for as many as

ten hours a day. On top of that, most

kids and teens today aren’t interested in

learning something unless they see an

immediate benefit to their lives — even

if the teacher presents it in a livelyfashion. Today’s teachers therefore have

the double challenge of presenting

material in an exciting and engaging

manner and showing its personal

relevance to students.

Unfortunately, this problem affects

Torah educators as well. In a world of

fast-moving visual images, how do we

get students to stop and take note of their

heritage, to help them become

passionate about Torah? Is it possible to

harness technology to make Torah

meaningful and relevant to the masses

without compromising its depth or

beauty?

“Thirty Is for Strength”Rabbi Dan Roth, founder and director

of Torah Live, a dynamic multimediaTorah organization, realized that many

people today need to be taught Torah in

their language. He learned how to speak

to this generation the hard way.

Rabbi Roth’s very first day of teaching

did not go at all as planned. Originally

from London, he had been learning in

kollel for many years in some of Israel’s

finest yeshivos, including Mir

Yerushalayim and the kollel of Rabbi

Tzvi Kushelevsky, one of the great

Yerushalmi Roshei Yeshivah, when he

started thinking about getting involved

in teaching.

He decided to learn a night seder in

Pirkei Avos to prepare material for

lectures. He loved it so much that he

began devoting more and more time to

it, and soon realized that he had themakings of a sefer on his hands. To write

a book, however, would require more

than a few hours a day. The idea of

leaving full-time Gemara learning to

study Pirkei Avos in depth didn’t seem

right. He sought Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky’s

advice.

“Age twenty is for pursuing; age

thirty is for strength,” explained Rabbi

Orlofsky, quoting from Pirkei Avos (5:25).

“Martial-arts experts are able to break





slabs of wood and concrete with their

bare hands because they know how to

focus all their energy into one point.

Your twenties are meant for exploring

various life goals and options to learn

what you like and what you’re good at.

By the time you reach thirty, however,

you are expected to know enough aboutyour strengths and character to be able

to strip away everything else and focus

all your energies and abilities into your

unique talent. That’s what strength

means.”

Rabbi Roth had just turned thirty.

Inspired by Rabbi Orlofsky’s words, he

spent the next three years of his life

writing a book about everyday lessons

gleaned from the teachings of Pirkei

Avos . In the process of writing the book,

he realized he had a talent for making

Torah concepts relevant and down-to-

earth. The book was aptly entitled

Relevance — Pirkei Avos for the Twenty-

First Century (Feldheim). After he

finished the book, he got his first

teaching job in a program for at-risk

teens at Ohr Somayach inYerushalayim.

He was hoping his students would

relate to Pirkei Avos , but he was in for a

shock. The class was a total nightmare.

The students completely ignored him;

some were texting each other, others

even walked out of the room.

“It was enough to make anyone say

goodbye to a career in teaching,” he

recalls. Instead of quitting, however, he

decided to try to get to the root of the

problem.

The SolutionWhen he thought about it, he

realized that the issue wasn’t the kids or the material — it was the entire

generation.

“Today people are used to absorbing

information in a whole new way,” he

explained. “Modern media has changed

the way many people learn. For them,

we have to translate the eternal truths

of our Torah into today’s language. I

had to get with the program.”

He decided to pick a topic he knew

the students would be excited about …

and making money seemed like a good

place to start.

He set to work researching the

mitzvah of maaser , setting aside a tenth

of one’s income for charity — the

Torah’s recipe for financial success —

and thought about dynamic ways topresent it. Rabbi Roth had been very

interested in computers ever since his

parents had bought him the first home

computer to come on the market back

in the early 1980s. After high school he

was even accepted into a computer

science program but chose to go to

yeshivah instead.

After that, his computer skills had

lain dormant while he focused on

learning. Now he finally had an outlet

for them. After teaching himself a few

new programs, he got to work putting

his maaser material together in a

technologically savvy package.

The result was a dynamicmultimedia Torah presentation called

“How to Make the Big Bucks.” It was a

smashing success. Students who had

previously been unable to sit through a

class were suddenly on the edge of their

seats. Because they were hearing their

own “language,” their curiosity was

piqued, and they were inspired to learn

more about the Torah outlook on life.

That’s how Torah Live was born.

“Today people are used to absorbing

information in a whole new way. Modern media

has changed the way people learn. We have to

translate the eternal truths of our

Torah into today’s language.”

Presenting Torah Live'smezuzah DVD.





Torah and Technology With its team of talented graphic

designers and programmers, Torah Live

has since produced close to a dozen

interactive, state-of-the-art multimedia

presentations on a variety of Torah

topics, from the intricacies of halachah to

the beauty of hashkafah. Everything iscreated under the close supervision of

Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, a posek in

Yerushalayim and Rosh Kollel of the

Jerusalem Kollel, a distinguished

English-speaking kollel devoted to kiruv

training.

The programs created by Torah Live

are on such diverse topics as how to

achieve happiness, conquering anger,

the laws of mezuzah, yichud , and Sukkos.

Using cutting-edge special effects,

humor and passion, Torah Live engages

audiences of all ages and religious

backgrounds. As opposed to using

stand-alone video content, Torah Live is

unique in that it provides educators withmultimedia tools that can enhance their

lectures.

As Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, the

founder of the National Jewish Outreach

Program (NJOP) and the Association of

Jewish Outreach Programs (AJOP), once

pointed out, “No one decided to become

more religious through technology

alone. Success comes from combining

technology with personal contact.” By

giving a speaker the advantage of

technology, Torah Live intertwines the

power and clarity of video with live

interaction.

To date, Rabbi Roth has presented

over one hundred such lectures in fiftycities around the world to people and

organizations across the spectrum of

Orthodoxy — schools, yeshivos,

corporate workplaces, youth groups and

kiruv organizations — in an interactive,

entertaining and lively way that

captures listeners’ attention and drives

the lessons home. The project has

gained steam in the Jewish world, with

diverse organizations — from a Modern

Orthodox school in Sydney, Australia, to

Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim — signing

up for presentations. Rabbi Roth has

spoken at two Torah Umesorah

conventions, Rabbi Yisroel Reisman’s

shul in Flatbush, Dayan Ehrentreu’s

conference in Munich, and even Her

Majesty’s Treasury in Westminster,

London.

Torah Live presentations appeal to

such a wide variety of audiences becauseonce the main template has been

created, each presentation can be fine-

tuned to meet the unique needs of a

particular audience, whether it consists

of secular adults, at-risk teens, seminary

and yeshivah students, or working men.

“The versatility of Torah Live is

evidence of the Torah’s eternal

message,” Rabbi Roth said. “We only

need to find the right way to present it to

each distinct audience, in the right

language.”

Talking the Talk Although the proper use of

technology and setting limits to it is asensitive subject in the frum world today,

the issue is less about the technology

itself and more about how it’s being

used.

“The purpose of all of creation is in

order for Klal Yisrael to learn Hashem’s

Torah,” Torah Live’s president, Rabbi

Yitzchak Berkovits, said. “Hashem

created technology and gave us the

talent to use it for the sake of getting Klal

Yisrael motivated to learn and

understand.”

In a similar vein, commenting on the

latest mezuzah presentation, RabbiYisroel Reisman said, “The Ribbono shel

Olam has given our generation the

knowledge and ability to create vivid

images and productions which

stimulate the mind and impress upon

the memory. It is important that this be

used for pure purposes, to further Torah

knowledge and mitzvah observance.”

Nonetheless, Torah Live hit a

stumbling block when a kosher internet

filter denied its subscribers access to

Torah Live’s halachah videos. The

representative refused to make an

exception even after consulting with his

superiors. Rabbi Roth was forced to

speak to the CEO himself, who lookedinto Torah Live. The CEO was so

impressed that he made an

appointment to meet Rabbi Roth — and

volunteered to be the first member of the

Torah Live board.

Originally for English-speaking

Rabbi Yisroel Reisman (L) with Rabbi Roth.





audiences, Torah Live’s material has

also been translated into Hebrew.

Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Yudkovski,

Torah Live’s Hebrew representative,

recently delivered a lecture in Rishon

Letzion to a mixed crowd of Mizrachi,

chareidi, and secular Israelis.

Participants commented that TorahLive had succeeded in bridging the

secular-religious divide. One of the

nonreligious women said afterward

that she only wished it had contained

more Torah sources!

Renowned mechanech Rabbi Noach

Orlowek said in the name of his rebbi,

Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, zt”l, that

the Torah was given in seventy

languages “because each student

should be taught in the language that

he understands best. Today, for many

people, one of the foremost languages

is the ability to show Torah in a way

that is alive before the students’ eyes.

Torah Live can be called ‘ yayin yashanb’kankan chadash,’ old wine in a new

vessel. The medium may be new, but it

is full of the old, full of Torah, showing

people the beauty and simplicity of

even the most complex halachos .”

In the words of Rabbi Samson

Raphael Hirsch, zt”l, the goal is to

show that “authentic Judaism … does

not belong to an antiquated past but to

a living, pulsating present.”

A Meaningful Experience“One of the special qualities of a

multimedia shiur is that it addresses all

different types of learners,” Torah

Live’s creative director, Josh Goldberg,said. “There are people who learn by

seeing, people who learn by hearing,

and people who learn by interacting.

… We don’t want to entertain through

Torah, we want people to change their

lives.”

A recent study showed that 64

percent of people will watch until the

end of a thirty-minute infomercial (an

extended televised or video

advertisement), while only 20 percent

will read until the end of an article.

“People are no longer looking for

meaning. They are looking for meaningful experiences,” senior

Gateways lecturer Rabbi Yonason

Shippel said.

Rabbi Shippel, Torah Live’s New

York representative, has been licensed

to present Torah Live material at

Gateways seminars, which engage Jews

in dynamic introductions to Judaism,

for both frum and secular audiences.

“People are blown away by these

presentations, and it has had a

profound impact on them,” he said.

Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft, a rebbi at

London’s Hasmonean High School anda SEED kiruv lecturer, has presented

Torah Live lectures to hundreds of

people. “People are always surprised by

the level of professionalism,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that

Jewish organizations are often run on

very tight budgets and don’t have the

ability to produce material using

cutting-edge technology. This,

however, is sophisticated, fun, fast-

moving and highly professional. Torah

Live is a revolutionary way of teaching

Torah — it’s a big kiddush Hashem.”

Multimedia presentation on brachos





Cashing InAfter attending the lecture on maaser ,

many participants reported tithing their

money for the very first time. Shortly

after watching the presentation, one

businessman was about to close a big

deal, and he promised Hashem that if

the deal went through he would give

$200,000 to tzedakah.

“I realized the incredible power of

multimedia to speak to people,” Rabbi

Roth said. “Here was a regular guy, not

a philanthropist by any means, ready to

give philanthropic sums for the first

time in his life after simply watching an

hourlong presentation. Who would ever think that people would be so happy

about giving away money?

“What started as a teaching disaster

with a group of teenage boys ended up

beginning a new era in education. It’s a

revolutionary way to get people excited

about Torah.”

Seeing the impact the presentations

were having, Torah Live has now begun

licensing its materials to schools and

kiruv organizations around the world,

giving them the training and tools to

run the presentations themselves. So far

Torah Live programs have been

purchased by organizations in the

United States, England, South Africa and

Israel. Materials are now also available

on DVD for home or group viewing.

“The slippery slope of people leaving

the fold — be they teenagers or adults —

begins when mitzvos are practiced by

rote,” Rabbi Roth said. “We’re trying to

get people excited about Torah, showing

them that there’s nothing as deep or as

sweet as our heritage. This is my life’s

calling. It drives me day and night. I feel

a responsibility to help as many Yidden

as possible get clarity about Hashem’s

Torah. My biggest dream is to increasekevod Shamayim in the world.”

In his pocket Rabbi Roth carries a

quote from Rav Eliyahu Dessler, zt”l ,

that helps him stay focused and

inspired: “My own work has taught me

that nothing is impossible with siyatta

diShmaya. And when one acts with

mesirus nefesh to advance the learning of

Torah, Hashem helps in a miraculous

fashion.” In the current world situation,

writes Rabbi Dessler, spreading Torah is

not just the most important task, it is the

only one.

Rabbi Roth presents a Torah Live lecture at Yeshivah Shaarei Torah in Brooklyn.

“Here was a

regular guy, not

a philanthropist

by any means,

ready to give

philanthropic

sums for the first

time in his life

after watching

an hourlong

presentation.”





“Hashem gave each of us natural

talents and abilities that we have to use in

avodas Hashem,” Rabbi Roth continued.

“A few years ago when I was in kollel ,

financial and family pressure for me to

get a job was mounting, but I couldn’t

figure out what I was going to do with my

life. I literally couldn’t sleep at night,wondering what my next step would be. I

never had any idea that I would end up

doing anything like what I’m doing

today. Hashem guided my every step.”

There are many new topics on Torah

Live’s horizon for the coming year;

overcoming jealousy, the laws of kashrus,

and brachos are just a few of them.

“We can do any topic — there’s no

limit to how far we can go,” Rabbi Roth

said. “To many people, Torah is perceived

as outdated and out of touch with their

lives. They don’t realize that the Torah

has an opinion on all the issues that the

world is struggling with today — not only

an opinion but a deeper perspective, onethat’s higher, subtler, and more profound.

The Torah is as relevant today as ever.

Let’s take the entire Torah and translate

it into today’s language so everyone can

have access to our rich heritage.”❚I

Rabbi Roth gives the mezuzah presentation at Mir Yerushalayim.

“Many people don’t realize that the

Torah has an opinion on all

the issues that the world is

struggling with today.”


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