Once upon a time a teacher could walk into a classroom, begin to speak, write on the board and hold the students in the palm of his hand.
Those days are past.
Instead, there is a downward spiral of students attention spans, paralleled by the upward spiral of teachers desperately seeking tools to keep young people engaged.
In 2010, Rabbi Dan Roth walked into a classroom of American students in Israel who had dropped out of their families Orthodox lifestyles. The students ignored him; some even left the classroom. He walked out knowing he had crashed and burned.
Rather than look for another profession, he returned to the classroom, with the same material, in the form of a multimedia slideshow, and the students reacted with enthusiasm.
His goal was not just to reach his students, but also to reach the world, and the seeds of Torah Live were sown.
Torah Lives graphics, animation and film level are highly professional and their team of men and women includes over thirty scriptwriters, animators, video editors, and sound and special effects artists.
Fast forward to the autumn of 2021. Torah Lives graphics, animation and film level are highly professional and their team of men and women includes over thirty scriptwriters, animators, video editors, and sound and special effects artists.
While the world was in lockdown, Torah Live kicked in big time. Since the beginning of COVID, over 1.5 million videos have been viewed, and the website has been accessed by 168,000 active users.It has hundreds of thousands of viewers from around North America and the world, including Moscow, Paris, London, Australia and South Africa.
Hadassah Levy, a Torah Live blogger, writes, An unexpected, and particularly meaningful new user base of Torah Live, has begun among the Bnei Menashe community in India, a group of Jews who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel (a claim confirmed in 2005 by the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar).
Photo courtesy of Torah Live
A new gaming website was recently added to their rich reservoir. The gaming program is advised by Rabbi Yaakov Deyo. A graduate of Harvard Business School, he was the educational director for Aish L.A. for four years (1998-2002), director of Partners in Torah in New Jersey for seven years, and was involved in many other Jewish educational projects. Were basically looking to create something between Fortnite and Kahn Academy, a platform that will not only engage players, but draw them into a world of Torah by learning via film, performing mitzvot and submitting pics of their work, creating positive impacts in the world around them.
Students are given the tools to create their own written content and animated shorts, and can also upload their own photos and short videos. Parents or teachers can create their own program to incentivize their children. The kids choose their picture from an avatar and can send their photos to Torah Live, who will cartoonify them.Each player has his own dashboard that goes up to 36 levels, alluding to the thirty-six full-fledged righteous individuals in each generation (Talmud, Succa 45b, translation by Sefaria). Points in the gaming element are based on creativity, quality and effort. As they participate, they also earn badges.
Rabbi Roth says, The child earns virtual coins, called dinars. They can decide how to spend them, like sending food to a poor family for Shabbat or sending flowers to an elderly person in a retirement home. We hope through partnerships to help fulfill the childs wish Our hope is that when the child grows up, hell give real money to charity, not virtual money.
Among the more than 30 rabbis who offer video approbations on the site are Rabbi Asher Weiss, Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Meir Goldwicht, and Rabbi Yisroel Reisman. The late Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski says, in a clip, Man was intended to be not just an intellectual animal, but a spiritual animal, and in Torah language, this means the acquisition and the development of midot. He calls the work of Torah Live unprecedented educationally and something that can help both young people and adults achieve tzelem Elokimbe in the image of God.
Torah Live materials are used by all ages, by all denominations of Judaism and even by some non-Jews who are learning for conversion or who are simply seeking knowledge.
Torah Live materials are used by all ages, by all denominations of Judaism and even by some non-Jews who are learning for conversion or who are simply seeking knowledge.
Jacob Scheer, who teaches in a Conservative school in N.Y., used Torah Live videos to teach about the issue of ribis (interest). Zita Weinstein, a home-schooling parent, said that her children, know its coming from the right source I often hear my kids laugh as theyre watching and they just want more and more. Rabbi Binyamin Plotzker of Monsey, director of teaching and learning at Yeshiva Ketana Ohr Reuben, said that, The Tefillah and Emunah series is saturated with hashkafa, Emunah and is dealt with so clearly and humorously. They have also been used by Aish, NCSY and Chabad. Some of their films have even appeared on El Al.
Photo courtesy of Torah Live
In addition to their programs on Jewish ritual and mitzvot are those that relate to ones behavior, such as judging one favorably, the quality of patience, the value of a smile, the importance of humility in leadership, and a magnificent 18-part unit on The Power of Speech. Everything is filmed among the magnificent vistas of Israel, including the ocean (to explore the snails from which the blue dye for tzitziot comes).
The Process
Elchanan Schnurr, the scriptwriter and showrunner, is originally from Los Angeles. He considers the direction that Rabbi Roth wants to take a project and researches the content. The process is a dialogue with Rabbi Roth, and Ben Katz (who writes, shoots and edits) and Ronen Zhurat (theirmain animator) are very influential on the creative side.
Ben Katz, originally from New York, told this writer, It is challenging to create productions that have many locations, or many different characters or a combination of graphics, live action and animation. The Lost Light, which had all of the above, was actually approached as two separate productions that were filmed almost a year apart. It also had many logistical nightmares, and many recurring characters that needed to be tracked down and scheduled a year later.
On the other hand, the stunning Weapon of War segment from The Power of Words was scripted, prepared and filmed in a day.
Validation from the Rambam and a Harvard Professor
The Rambam, in Sefer Hamada (the Book of Knowledge), Hilchot Talmud Torah 4:5, explains that the sages said that one who is shy cannot learn [because they are embarrassed], referring to a subject [the students] dont understand due to its depth, or mipnei daatan ktzara. This last phrase is usually translated because his comprehension is weak but one Torah scholar told me it can also be interpreted as referring to a students short concentration span. Today, a student using Torah Live will feel more confident, as he navigates at his own pace.
More than 800 years later, Professor Howard Gardners ground breaking 1983 book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, noted that in addition to language and logic/math, a person can have an intelligence that is spatial, or musical, or bodily-kinesthetic, or interpersonal or intrapersonal. He later added naturalistic intelligence, and new candidates are Existential IntelligenceThe Intelligence of Big Questions and Pedological IntelligenceThe Intelligence of Teaching.
Whether Rabbi Roth and his crew realize it or not, they are implementing Professor Gardners theory of multiple intelligences through their multifaceted Torah Live programs, enabling children, parents and their teachers to find their own pathway to Torah.
Toby Klein Greenwald is an award-winning journalist, director of Raise Your Spirits Theatre, an educator and the editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com. She was thrilled to discover many of her actresses in the Torah Live films.
Link:
Torah Live Breathes New Life into Education - Jewish Journal
- 3-week-old baby hospitalized with brain infection after brit gone wrong - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Why Isn't Poultry and Dairy Kosher? - Kosher - Chabad.org [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Where There's a Will There's a Why - TAPinto.net [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Why the Menorah Is the Most Enduring of All Jewish Symbols - Flux Magazine [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- What is the Book of Esther really about? - San Diego Jewish World [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- A treasure trove of LGBTQ texts from two millennia of Jewish history - The Jewish News of Northern California [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Is it Permissible to Study Mishneh Torah as a Stand-Alone Work? - Mishneh Torah In-Depth, Article 1 - Introduction to Mishneh Torah - Chabad.org [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- When King Louis IX Burned the Talmud - Aish [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- How to beat the virus? It's in the Talmud - Jewish News [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Words, like sticks and stones, can hurt us - The Jewish Star [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Together, we can lift each other to a higher level - Jewish Community Voice [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Harnessing Information - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Psalm 23: Who Walks in the Valley of the Shadow of Death? - My Jewish Learning [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Opinion: Why can't we learn to disagree without being disagreeable? - Spartanburg Herald Journal [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- The Wake-up Call the World Received in 5780 - Touro College News [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Meaning of community - jewishpresstampa [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- Babylonian Talmud [Full Text] - Jewish Virtual Library [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- 21 Talmud Facts Every Jew Should Know - Talmud [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- What is the Talmud? Biblical Meaning & Definition [Last Updated On: August 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 26th, 2020]
- As Israel Eases Lockdown, Fears of Another Infection Spike - Israel Today [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future but it's not impossible - The Japan Times [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Prop. 18 is vital for teens who want and deserve to vote - The Jewish News of Northern California [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- God's transformative tears | Religious Life | jewishaz.com - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Why Is the Torah Read at Shabbat Minchah? - Chabad.org [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- At one JCC, new classes make it easy for adults with disabilities to tune in - Forward [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Yiddish professor goes viral in town hall with President Biden - Forward [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- My son, Mohammed El Halabi, is innocent of funding Hamas - opinion - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Matthew Keene: America can heal when it works to become righteous - GoErie.com [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Leadership Lessons from Shushan | Charles E. Savenor | The Blogs - The Times of Israel [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- A rabbis open letter to his haredi brethren - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Terumah: Elevating our intentions - The Jewish Standard [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- What kind of Jew are you? - comment - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Adam Grant and The Case for Nuance in Jewish Education - Jewish Journal [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Procrastination, Colors, And The IKEA Effect - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Time to shift attitude to one of belonging - Cleveland Jewish News [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Death Is Nothing to Celebrate - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- CLERGY CORNER: Is there a blessing for the COVID-19 vaccine? - newportri.com [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Haman's Sons Correlating to the Nuremberg Nazis YS - Yeshiva World News [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- YU Releases COVID-Safe Purim Programming for Beren and Wilf Students - The Commentator - The Commentator [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Rabbi Megan Doherty on the Heartbeat Bill The Oberlin Review - The Oberlin Review [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Searching Jewish wisdom for guidance on vaccination | Ohr Chadash | stljewishlight.com - St. Louis Jewish Light [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Letters to the Editor | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Jonah Sanderson Successfully Navigates His Disability, Aims to Make Jewish Community More Inclusive - Jewish Journal [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- The Jewish Education Night of Networking Yeshiva University News - Yu News [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Your Shabbat table is magic. No, really. The rabbis said so. - The Jewish News of Northern California [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Talmud on the Mind: Exploring Chazal & Practical Psychology to Lead a Better Life - The Jewish Voice [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Is it kosher to smoke weed for Purim? - Forward [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2021]
- Science and Technology: Strengthening and Sustaining the Federal Science and Technology Workforce - Government Accountability Office [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Luokung Announces Closing on 100% Equity Interests of eMapGo Technologies - PRNewswire [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Why is it so hard to build government technology? - MIT Technology Review [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Experts Explore the Need for a National Technology Strategy - Nextgov [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Digital Technology Will Eliminate Millions of Jobs But Create New Opportunities - PRNewswire [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Home | Lyte Gaming PCs [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- Negative effects of technology: Psychological, social, and ... [Last Updated On: March 18th, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 18th, 2021]
- COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know Thursday - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Resurrecting the Reneged Deal - Modern Diplomacy [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- The imprint of Jews in Germany on the Jewish world - opinion - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Getting vaccinated was a lesson in humility and gratitude J. - The Jewish News of Northern California [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Confirmed COVID-19 variant cases jump by 179 in Quebec, including in schools - Montreal Gazette [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Six educators to receive awards from JEC of Cleveland - Cleveland Jewish News [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Join ToI Community and meet the matriarch of Orthodox feminism, Blu Greenberg - The Times of Israel [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Jewish community in Newcastle, England, shrinks, but has unexpected help - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- And Then: New Haggadah Captures Ancient and Contemporary Aspects of Passover - jewishboston.com [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- The Jewish community in Newcastle, England, is shrinking. But it's getting some unexpected help. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Parashat Vayikra: I Give, Therefore I Love - My Jewish Learning [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Faith Matters: Rebalancing our culture of consumption - The Recorder [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- This rabbi has seen the future, and it sounds like Clubhouse - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- The haredi-Christian tragedy and the idol worship of Talmud Torah - The Jerusalem Post [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- Talmud - New World Encyclopedia [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- What Is the Talmud? | My Jewish Learning [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]
- 7 facts about Passover that will surprise and delight you - St. Louis Jewish Light [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- Arts & Culture Newsletter: Celebrating 50 years of Queen with 50 weeks' worth of free clips - The San Diego Union-Tribune [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- What I've learned teaching Jewish texts in the UAE - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- Was the 'forbidden fruit' in the Garden of Eden really an apple? - Livescience.com [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- How Matzah and the Teshuvas HaRashba Saved Yidden From Hamas Terrorists - Yeshiva World News [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- To the editor | Families & Lifestyles | jewishaz.com - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix [Last Updated On: March 31st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 31st, 2021]
- Moving from the particular to the universal: The highest calling for the Jewish People? - St. Louis Jewish Light [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2021]
- Its hard to connect to the Torah as a trans Jew. Im trying anyway. - Forward [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2021]
- It is hard to connect to the Torah as a trans Jew. Here's why I'm trying anyway. - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2021]
- Virtually no more Jews left in Iraq, only empty buildings | | AW - The Arab Weekly [Last Updated On: April 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: April 2nd, 2021]