Masada College in Australia just signed up for NINE Torah Live presentations: Kashrus, Blessings, Success, Mezuzah, Charity, Chanukah, Wealth, Sukkot, and Anger.

Lisa Cohen (Head of Kodesh) and Ryan Basserabie (Teacher) pictured above skyped with Rabbi Roth at midnight their time (!) to see samples of the Torah Live material.

“We want a program that will grab our students and this will grab them! It’s a real winner,” said Mrs Cohen. “We are excited to be first school in Australia to benefit from this amazing program.”

To find out about bringing the Torah Live to your school, write to info@torahlive.com

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

Here are some pictures from the reading of the megillah at Mathilda Marks Kennedy Jewish Primary School, with Torah Live Stunning Megillah slideshow.

Mrs. E. Chody, Jewish Studies teacher at the school, comments, “It was fantastic! Really added, thank you so much.”

Above are pictures of 350 students enjoying our Purim material in Aussie.

Ryan Baserrabie wrote, “The megilla went down brilliantly. i have never seen the kids so engaged and quiet. Inexplicable success. “

Will post more Purim pictures soon as I get them!
Dan

Nicky Newfield of South Africa, founder of Jewish Interactive with her husband Jonathan on a Skype call with Rabbi Roth. “We are excited to collaborate with Torah Live,” said Nicky, “as we are both passionate about making Torah alive using the 21st century technology.”

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.

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.

Yes, that’s Torah Live in Russian! Torah Live materials have now spread to the former Soviet Union, with teachers using the material to teach a new generation of Jews thirsty to learn more about the Torah that their grandparents were forcefully detached from.

Mrs. Sara Katz from Moscow wrote:

I work for Torah mi-Tzion in Russia in the field of outreach with students and women. I was very impressed by the videos of Torah Live. I think that’s exactly the way of working with people who yearn to have Torah presented to them by means of modern technology.

Mrs. Katz and her husband have licensed 3 presentations (Mezuzah, Brachot, and Kashrut) and are already considering more. Besides being our first Russian presenter, Mrs. Katz is also Torah Live’s first woman speaker. Welcome on board!

If you know anyone that wants to sponsor the translation of Torah Live material into Russian, give us a holler in the comments below, or email to info@torahlive.com.

Rabbi Reuven Epstein delivered the Ultimate Shelter lecture at Congregation Shaarei Simcha in Staten Island, New York. Rabbi Epstein writes us that

Class was a tremendous success! They loved the presentation and were asking for more. The Halacha aspects of the video, combined with the entertaining segments, presented the community with an inside look at the market of the Daled Minim, from the harvest through the selection process. It made my job as a presenter easy while educating the crowd from beginners to the more advance. Thank you Rabbi Dan Roth for the wonderful work you do. Wishing you much Hatzlacha in your future endeavors educating Klal Yisroel!”

Rabbi Nate Segal, rav of the shul, joined the audience for the entire presentation despite his famously frantic schedule, for which we are very grateful. He was very impressed and told me Rabbi Epstein that he would like to see an ongoing series of Torah Live presentations. He said he would definitely recommend this to other communities around America.

Comments from the audience:

Very educational… very clear explanation of the Halachos… great visual effects
-Elliot Strusman

I should’ve bought my Esrog after I saw this great video
-Yoshi Bender

The video was extremely informative, I learned a lot from it and now know what to look for. I look forward to seeing more presentations from Torah Live.
-Scott Pere

Rabbi Alexander Coleman offered the Torah Live Sukkot presentation at Eitz Chaim in Philadelphia, with great success. If you’ve used Torah Live materials in your community, we’d love to hear about it and share photos. If you’d like to get started with Torah Live, check out our store or send a note 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!”

In the words of one of the attendees of Rabbi Burnham’s Torah Live lecture in Detroit, “The Torah Live material is well researched, compelling, and speaks to today’s generation in a relevant and meaningful way.” Enjoy these photos from the event, and get in touch to bring Torah Live to your community.

Rabbi Yakov Vann, Rav of the Calabasas Shul just outside of L.A., presented the Mezuzah DVD to his community this summer. “People were awed by the fact that Torah can be presented in such a state of the art, sophisticated manner,” he said. “It is incredible to be able to teach such a complex area of halacha in a way that both beginners and advanced students grasp something on their level. It’s really bringing the greatness of Torah to the community.” Buy your copy of the Mezuzah DVD today, here.

An exciting series of Torah Live lectures is being offered in Detroit entitled The Jewish Success System. The multimedia presentations designed by Dan Roth and his team, are Anger, Living the American Dream, and Crossing the Finish Line.. For more info, call (248) JUDASIM (583-2476) or send an email to Rabbi Burnham - leiby101@yahoo.com.

Rabbi Leiby Burnham recently joined the Torah Live team. He works with the Theodore and Jean Weiss Partners in Torah Program of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah and runs Jewish educational programs at the Wayne State, and Oakland University.  He h received his rabbinical training at the Sh’or Yoshuv Institute and his Masters in Social Work at Wurzweiller.

Other than studying and teaching, Rabbi Burnham loves snowboarding, talking “the market,” and playing basketball. He lives in Detroit with his wife (an ICU nurse) and their three daughters, Orah, Shifra, and Rachel.

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 Yosef Tropper deilvered the Crossing the Finish Line presentation to yeshiva students in Baltimore.  50 people attended and the audience was great!

Rabbi Roth’s presentation in Manchester on charity-giving was enthusiastically received and warmly reviewed in the Jewish Tribune. The Tribune said,

In his shiur billed as “an interactive audio-visual presentation”, Rabbi Roth, who is also a lecturer at Jerusalem’s Ohr Somayach, really did interact with his audience [....] This, accompanied by an original use of audio-visual technology, provided them with an entertaining and informative insight into the topic.

To read the full article, click here (pdf).

In keeping up with ever growing demand for Torah Live presentations, Rabbi Roth recently spoke in London and Manchester.

Rabbi Dan Roth gave a presentation at Aish Toronto. More on Aish Toronto at their website, here.