Curious to know how many people have benefited from the Torah Live presentations, I created a “Torah Live global tracker.” So far over 650 presentations have been given in over 100 cities worldwide (Berlin, Munich, Honolulu, Moscow, Cape Town, Sydney, Johannesburg, Melbourne Efrat, Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Quebe, Toronto, Miami, Las Vegas….)

You can see the list of schools and organizations here (PDF). Many organizations signed up to use the Purim material but since it was shareware, I’m still not clear if they did or not, so if you think you should be (or not be!) on the list, please write to me at d.roth@torahlive.com

With gratitude to the Almighty, it gives me great pleasure to share with you the exciting news that Michael and Bettina Bradfield are sponsoring a multimedia Torah Live presentation in memory of Susi and Fred Bradfield on the topic of leadership.

Michael requested that we conduct market research to determine that there would be demand for such a presentation. The results of our research are posted above: NCSY (Birthright),UJIA, TRIBE, Meor, National Jewish Outreach Program, Aish, SEED, JLE, Maimonidies, and other major educational organizations all recommending the project.

Thank you Conrad Morris for the kind introduction.

If you have good ideas or sources on this topic, please e-mail me at d.roth@torahlive.com

Click the document below for full size version.

We’re in a race against time….

Rabbi Yitzchak  Weinberger of Bergen County, NJ, called me recently with the following idea:

“I know this is last minute, but I have a great suggestion for you… Each year many newcomers come to the megillah reading on Purim and – not understanding a word of Hebrew – have no idea what is going on. They sit listening to the baal koreh for half an hour and do not understand a single word. For many, this is their first taste of Judaism and it does not exactly leave them thirsty for more.

“For years, I have wanted to produce high quality visual material that would be shown by outreach organizations while the megillah is being read to enable those who don’t understand Hebrew to enjoy the reading as well. When I read the Hamodia feature article about you and your amazing work, I thought, ‘If anyone can do it, this guy can!’”

We accepted the challenge and are working day and night to produce stunning slides that can be shown digitally during the megillah reading. Of course, once complete, educators may want to use material to show their classes in the days before Purim.

The material will be ready PG on Sunday 4th March – too close to Purim to start spreading the word about it then. I am therefore encouraging people to start spreading the word now and sign up ASAP.

Know a school or outreach organization that wants the material? Please write to stunningdigitalmegillah@torahlive.com

Chodesh tov,
Rabbi Dan Roth

PS: Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, world renown halachic authority and one of the spiritual leaders of the worldwide baal teshuva movement, has endorsed the idea of screening the material during the megillah reading with the proviso that this only be be done by outreach organizations. Each organization is encouraged to consult with their own halachic authority.

We thought it quite funny to see Yossie Weiss, one of the Torah Live staff members, drowning in all the mail from the over fifty teachers that signed up this week to get the Mezuzah presentation educators  kit.

This sudden surge of demand is the result of Torah Live’s new partnership with NJOP to make its material available to a broader audience.

Thank you Michael and Karine Bloch of Raanana for sponsoring the DVD in honor of their children: Eitan, Yoel, and Tali. Michael was not only the brainchild behind the creation of the DVD but is also the one who introduced our work to Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, director of NJOP and made this partnership happen.

Best caption for this picture gets the Mezuzah DVD for FREE! Congratulations to Ilan and Simone Goldstein who won last month’s free Mezuzah DVD.

Dan

PS. If your organization or someone you know wants to partner with Torah Live to distribute the material, we have a sponsor who is willing to chip in in a major way to make the cost almost free to participating outreach and educational organizations.

The Financial Times praised him. Magazines called him ‘revolutionary.’ The BBC aired a 30 minute documentary about him. The Prime Minister invited him to dinner…

 But to me he was, and always will be – Zeide.

With gratitude to the Almighty, it gives me great pleasure to share with you the exciting news that the Schreiber Charitable Trust is sponsoring a multimedia Torah Live presentation in memory Mr. Chaim Schreiber – my late grandfather.

As the newspaper quotes below attest to (a small sampling from the scores of articles that appeared about him in the media), my grandfather was a master of treating workers properly. He had absolute trust in his 8,500 workers and the feeling was reciprocated. “I’ll be sick when he goes,”  said one hard-bitten union negotiator, “but they tell me his grandfather lived to 110, so there’s hope for us yet!’ Not exactly the usual tribute from an employee to his boss!

“The latest Schreiber scheme is one in which workers get extra pay when they have holidays. ‘He said we need more money to spend then,’ said a union official.

- Electrical & Trading, April 1979 

“It’s called the sick committee and it’s certainly Schreiber’s oddest innovation. It meets every Wednesday morning and it alone decides who will get sick pay and who won’t…”

- The Risk Business, BBC, October 1981

“In 1970 clocking-in was abolished. It was the kind of policing system that was highly unsatisfactory in Schreiber’s eyes. Apart from anything else it is, to him, a control that implies mistrust. ‘Now time keeping is better than ever before,’ says production director Fred Noyes.”

- Business Administration, May 1973

“When he decided in 1971 to make Schreiber public, he wanted all employees to become shareholders, and therefore partners in the company. But the government ruled that the share scheme he had developed would be considered a backhanded pay increase during a pay freeze. They said he could go ahead with the flotation but not with the share-scheme. As the banker explained, ‘A very small matter, a small detail- the flotation will be going through but you won’t be able to apply the share-scheme for your employees’.

But to Zeide this was the ultimate deal breaker: “If there are no shares for my employees there is no flotation.” He cancelled the whole thing. They were flabbergasted at how progressive he was, they couldn’t believe he wouldn’t go public because of employee benefits.

Source: Chaim Schreiber’s Way by Avital Schreiber Levy. (Thank you Avital!)

The presentation will be called, The Jewish Contribution to Industrial Relations, and will deal with such subjects as: paying workers on time, strikes, fixing executives salaries and other employer employee related issues.

The presentation will also include a short biographical video about his life legacy.

A big thank you to Mrs. Sara Schreiber (my grandmother), Ms. Judy Schreiber, (my mother), Graham and Ruthie Morris and David and Ruthie Schreiber (my uncles and aunts) for commissioning the project.

To dedicate a Torah Live presentation in memory of a loved one and leave your mark on the Jewish world, write to: sponsorthefuture@torahlive.com

Meet the faces in our new ‘behind the scenes’ video…

Exciting news from New York! YU’s MTA high school is licensing several Torah Live presentations. Rabbi Michael Taubes, Principal, found Torah Live’s material to be “exciting and very professional. Today we need to find new teaching methods to get kids to learn”.

Students, parents and teachers – want to see Torah Live in your school? Let us know in the comments below.

I’m amused and somewhat embarrassed at the sheer number of doughnuts that disappeared yesterday at the first ever Torah Live staff get-together. Below are some photos you might want to check out….

But first, with 50,899 views so far and counting, view Torah Live’s “Against All Odds” video which will help you experience Chanukah in a new light. (There are seven more when you finish watching that one!)

Wishing you a beautiful and meaningful Chanukah, Rabbi Dan Roth.

View the rest of our Chanukah series here.

Am about to change out from these horrible smelling clothes from today’s camel ride in the desert. Today’s video shoot is for an exciting new film on tevilas keilim – the Torah command to immerse new utensils. Torah Live’s team of six used a video crane mounted with weights to capture the breathtaking dining room table set in the desert. We climbed mountains and dressed up as waiters to serve the public a video fit for a king – The King of Kings.

If you want to get a link to the final film when it is ready, let us know in the comments below!

Rabbi Roth just concluded a three-day marathon of presenting our yet to be released brachot lecture at EYAHT. The students enjoyed the lectures and applied their discerning minds to offering constructive feedback. With their help, we are nearing completion of this presentation. Rebbetzin Miriam Gross wrote us,

In name of EYAHT we would like to thank you for an exceptional presentation. Our girls gained tremendously from attending this Brochot series and reported it was fascinating. Thank you for so generously presenting us with this rare opportunity. Hatzlocho in all your undertakings.

Thank you EYAHT for helping us bring great presentations to audiences around the world. Bring Torah Live to your community – for more info, write to info@torahlive.com.

     To date, Torah Live has produced 10 presentations, which have been given at over 180 venues in more than 50 cities worldwide (New York, Atlanta, London, Munich, Sydney, Johannesburg, Jerusalem) to both secular and religious audiences.

     Based on the overwhelming demand for our work, Torah Live intends to create 18 unique and interactive presentations over the coming two years for a broad range of audiences. These dynamic presentations will be used in 40 seminaries and yeshivot in Israel, 300 schools in America, England,South Africa, Israel and Australia by many of the 3,700 rabbis and kiruv professionals who are currently serving worldwide, and will inspire tens of thousands of Jews from various backgrounds.

     Torah Live believes that the communication revolution we are experiencing today is a Divine gift – a powerful tool to achieve unmatched levels of clarity in complex concepts. Join the revolution – to learn more about sponsoring a presentation and other partnership opportunities, write to sponsorthefuture@torahlive.com.

List of Future Presentations:

Businessmen and Professionals
Employee Employer Relationships [Reserved]
Advertising & Honesty
Laws of Loans and Interest

Youth at Risk
Drug Abuse and Addiction
Leadership Qualities [Reserved]
The Making of a Hero: Character Development

Outreach
Living Other Peoples Lives: Overcoming Jealousy
Wisdom of the Hebrew Alpha Bet
The Temple Mount: Past and Present
Jewish Life Cycle: From Cradle to Grave

Seminaries and Yeshivot
Land of Israel: Intrinsic Holiness
Shabbat: Finding Meaning in the Day of Rest [Reserved]
Putting the Holy Back into Holiday: Yom Tov
Higher Living: Emunah and Bitachon

Schools
Judging others Favorably
Spiritual Graduation: Bar & Bat Mitzvah
The King’s Knights: Kiddush Hashem
Ashkenazim and Sephardim: Understating the Roots

Miguel Abadi enjoying a private viewing of Torah Live presentations in his house in London with his children. Miguel, originally from Argentina, is helping spread Torah Live material to the Spanish speaking world. We look forward to keeping you informed of exciting developments soon.

Enjoy this video produced by Torah Live at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. It is a segment of the upcoming series of presentations on kashrut. Sign up on our connect page so we can let you know when the full presentation is available.

We wanted to give you an inside peek at the graphics development process for Torah Live presentations. The images below are three stages in creating an animated “instructor” who will serve as an on-screen assistant to the live teacher in the classroom. Please let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Rabbi Roth and the film crew made a trip to the Jerusalem Zoo to capture video and images for our upcoming Kashrut Presentation. All in a days work for Torah Live!

Torah Live conducted a video interview with Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits about common ma’aser, charity, questions. Below are some of the questions addressed. The answers will be released as part of our upcoming Charity DVD.

1. The Sages teach that the poor man does more for the rich man than the rich man does for the poor (Vayikra Rabbah 34:8). How are we to understand this?
2. God has no lack of resources. He could easily have created a world of universal wealth, wherein everyone was wealthy and no one was poor. Why did He not do so?
3. David from NJ sent e-mail: “Last night two pleasant gentlemen came; I realized that they had both come just a couple of weeks ago for the same causes; I guess they were making a return trip through the community. I politely pointed out that I had recently given and chose not to give a second time. Is this wrong?”
4. Again from David: “Many men come with letters from doctors and rabbis. Not infrequently the expiration date on the note has passed. It is rude to point it out to the petitioner? And it is wrong to refuse to give for this reason? I’d feel crummy to do this, but then why do our communities feel the need to include these letters if there’s not some kind of contractual basis to it?”
5. Maimonides writes that whoever sees a poor man ask for help and does not give him charity, transgresses a negative commandment as it says: You shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your destitute brother (Hilchos Matnas Aniyim 7:2).
   1. Does this apply to mail solicitations, or flyers?
   2. How does it apply to a busy thoroughfare, or during davening, when one is sometimes besieged by a throng of collectors?
6. Do I have to answer the door to the charity collector in the middle of spending time with my family?
7. The Talmud (Bava Basra 9a) quotes Rabbi Elazar as saying, “Greater is the person who influences others to give charity more than the one who gives themselves.” What is the rationale behind this?
8. Someone defaulted on a loan I gave them. Can I deduct the amount from ma’aser?
9. I sold my apartment to buy a bigger one. Do I need to give ma’aser on the proceeds of the sale?
10. I saw a charity collector in shacharis and intended to give him, but he never came over to me. Do I need to find him and give him the money?
11. I have been giving a certain organization money for 3 years running. Does this now become a chazaka, or can I switch to give other causes?
12. If I used to give x dollars a year to tzedakah, but because my income has halved, I now give half x, should I halve my former donations to each tzedakah, or may I maintain the former level to favored causes and give nothing or nominal sums to the rest?
13. I have outstanding debts. Do I need to give ma’aser?
14. Can a doctor who sees poor patients for free count his time as a charity donation? The same goes for any professional service, such as tutoring.

People don’t believe the Ultimate Shelter video [view the video here ] was really shot in the desert. They say it had to have been “Photoshopped” or digitalized in! So here are the pictures to prove that I really sat in my armchair on the edge of the cliff! I must admit though, I was really scared! The wind was so strong it blew the sukka down the cliff. Thank G-d Bentzy and Daniel, our jeep drivers, were equipped with rope to drag it all back up. One things for sure: I ain’t going back to Egypt to shoot a Pesach film!

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski gave generously of his time to review several presentations. Of Torah Live, he said, “Using the state of the art technology, it has made working on the traits necessary for spiritual growth accessible to young and old, in a way that is educationally unprecedented.”  For a video of his encouragement and words of blessing, click here.

Rabbi Noach Orloweck gave a warm blessing to Torah Live -

Torah is best taught in the language of the student and today one of the foremost languages is the ability to show Torah in a way that is live before people’s eyes. I have only seen a few excerpts, but I believe that Torah Live can be called, “a new vessel filled with old wine.” The medium may be new, but it is full of Torah, showing people the beauty and simplicity of even the most complex laws.”

Click here to watch the interview and here to read his words of approbation for Torah Live.

Torah Live interviews Rabbi Moshe Fluemenbaum of HaSofer for our upcoming mezuza presentation. [Update: The Mezuza Presentation is complete, and being enjoyed by audiences around the globe. Click here for video clips.]