Torah Live is pleased to announce the release of the Teacher’s Version of our Jealousy: The Ultimate Drive Presentation. Available in our store now.

With gratitude to God, we are delighted to announce that Blessings: The Ultimate Acknowledgment (Teacher Version) is now complete. This informative, clear, and entertaining presentation provides over 6 hours worth of teaching material and comes with an instructor’s guide and workbook.

To receive a free sample of the presentation, please write to info@torahlive.com. The full version is available here.

Thank you to the following people for their generous support in making this presentation possible: Jeremy and Ruthie Finn, Alan and Yvette Goldberg, Philip and Suzie Goldberg, Jake and Devorah Greenberg, Peter and Janice Sugarman, Graham and Belinda Calvert, Ben and Natalie Rosenfelder, Daniel Lyons, Bruno and Karen Serfaty, Shulie and Ahuva Meyers, Danny and Tova Fluss, Berele and Tammy Morris.

Want to share this special moment with you…

The mezuza presentation was given in Russian in Moscow by Sara Katz AND in Hebrew by Shmuel Rind to elementary school boys – both on the same day!

 Sara Katz sent me the following note via Skype:

Rabbi Mayer Friedman, principal of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School of Staten Island, was visiting Israel this week and popped into the Torah Live headquarters (pictured above) to check out the material he has heard so much about. He enjoyed what he saw so much that he purchased 6 presentations: Blessings, Charity, Anger, Materialism, Mezuzah, and Pirkei Avos. To find out about licensing material for your school, write to info@torahlive.com.

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

Artscroll is now distributing Torah Live products in USA and has sent an e-mail featuring our mezuzah DVD  to their 40,000+ customers. Lehmann’s is our official distributors for Europe, and Feldheim, Shankis, Mannys, Galpaz are taking care of Jerusalem. With God’s help, we hope to have enough Torah Live presentations to line the entire wall. To find out about stocking our products, write to info@torahlive.com.

Having given TWENTY FIVE Torah Live presentations, Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft is the official TL speaker record breaker. Rabbi Tugendhaft comments, “Rabbi Dan Roth’s material is so clear, contemporary and engaging – how could anyone not be thrilled to be a part of this unique ribuy kvod Shomayim!”

Rabbi Dan Roth in the Judean Desert filming Torah Live’s, “Sukkos: The Ultimate Shelter.”

Hamodia featured a front cover in-depth article about Torah Live. The response to the article has been totally overwhelming, with letters, e-mails, and phone calls coming in from Netanya, Antwerp, Los Angeles, Manchester, Waterbury, Cheshire and more. If anyone has any skills, manpower, or services they can volunteer to help us keep up with the new demand, please write to info@torahlive.com.  Click here to enjoy the full color article, gratis. [PDF 1.7MB], or click here for the text version at Hamodia.com. Don’t forget to leave us your comments here, below.

Torah Live proudly presents a must-see magical
multimedia look at the secrets of this mystical mitzvah.

Click here to purchase on Amazon.com
Free gift wrapping available until July 25th.

More video segments from the DVD:

Overview:

Visit our home page for 3 more great mezuzah videos, including the exciting and powerful conclusion.

Rabbi Ginsbury reports that Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks was “blown away” by the Torah Live material. The Chief Rabbi invited Rabbi Roth to his office to show his staff what Torah Live has managed to accomplish and would like to work with Torah Live to create a video for Yom Kippur that would be sent to the nation. We are honored to be able to work with the Chief Rabbi. Hodu L’HaShem Ki Tov!

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.

Today was one of the most thrilling days of my whole life and marks a new era for Torah Live. Although we’ve given the charity presentation [click for video overview] many times with incredible results, this was the first time participants had the opportunity to really live the topic by first spending the morning learning related sources. You can see the results for yourself by clicking on the play button in the above video. Why not let your students enjoy the Yom Iyun experience? They will thank you forever. Satisfaction guaranteed! Write to yomiyun@torahlive.co.il

Comments from the students:

“It’s very hands-on and gives a real life appreciation and clarfies the concepts.” – Avi Silver

“I thought it was incredibly interesting as well as practical” – Teddy Freedman

Torah Live is delighted to announce that Rabbi Akiva Gilbert has joined our team of lecturers. Rabbi Gilbert completed the The Jerusalem Kollel three-year Rabbinics and Jewish Outreach Program in 2004, and currently resides and teaches in Johannesburg, South Africa where he co-founded the Outdoor Jewish Experience, the “OJE,” to help Jewish college students enhance their Jewish identity.

Rabbi Simon

Torah Live is privileged to expand its team of presenters with the recent addition of  the talented Rabbi Rashi Simon, Founder and Director of Kesher, an outreach organization in Finchley, who licensed the mezuza presentation this past week. Rabbi Simon says “We are looking forward to utilising the lucid and informative—not to mention hi tech—educational material expertly assembled by Rabbi Roth and his team at Torah Live.”

Torah Live got its first media coverage in the Jewish Press–America’s largest independent Jewish weekly with over 50,000 copies circulated each week. Click here to read the article.

Rabbi Roth hosted a workshop at the Torah Umesorah Convention, entitled “Torah Live: A New Generation of Presentations”. It was enthusiastically received, as was the Torah Live booth on the convention floor.

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.

Photo by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

Torah Live has been graced with words of approbation from Harav Mendel Weinbach, Rosh Yeshivas Ohr Somayach. To view his letter, click here and for his video message, 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 is pleased and privileged to announce that Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits Shlit”a has accepted the position of President of Torah Live. To view a video message from Rabbi Berkovits, click here.