To all former, current, and future clients and friends: We are living in an era of great paradox.  On the one hand we have burgeoning yeshivos and unprecedented Torah learning, while on the other hand our children seem unhappier than ever and we are witnessing throughout Jewish communities around the world, boys and girls dropping out of Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs, schools rejecting our children, suicides, gender changing, and abuse. The list goes on.

We are supposed to be a holy nation and a light unto the nations.

How can this be?

In recent years, our gedolim have strongly blamed the internet for this tragedy. Certainly, it plays a big part, but I would like to suggest two more causes that should not be overlooked.

Let me explain.

Far too many bochurim have lost interest in learning Torah.  The text doesn’t speak to them in a meaningful way.  From my experience as an  educational consultant  specializing in kriah, often this is because they don’t have a good grasp of the literal meaning of the text itself.  Correcting this involves getting back to the issue of reading itself starting with the teaching of the Aleph Beis to enable our children to read effortlessly and fluently. I meet too many students – boys and girls – who can’t do that, even after years of Torah study in prestigious Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs.

We must get back to teaching letters and nekudos as in previous generations and in accordance with our Mesorah; first students must be taught to attain fluency in letter identification, followed by the vowels in “Kometz, Alef, Aah.

Unfortunately, far too many children today are taught to read phonetically, through sounds and pictures. This might be the modern approach utilized in secular schools, but it’s not our method. Phonics may work for teaching English whose alphabet contains vowels and consonants, but it doesn’t work for Limudei Kodesh – the Aleph Beis itself lacks vowels. Vowels are placed under the letters in primary grade kriah texts. Because phonics focuses on sounds to identify words, instead of focusing on the letter itself, a student using this method may appear to be reading but is only sounding out the words. He’s not seeing the word on its own.

The Hebrew language contains many instances where the same combination of letters placed in the same order represent different words, as well as words that sound alike but are spelled differently. To read Limudei Kodesh correctly, a student must familiarize himself with the actual words, not only their sound, and learn how to identify them within its context, otherwise reading will remain a constant struggle.

Using new methodologies, such as phonics, to teach Alef Beis is not a new phenomenon. Please refer below for reference clarification.*

The second problem lies in lack of clarity.

Over the years, more and more Yeshivos have begun interspersing Yiddish and Hebrew together with English to create a hybrid language called “Yeshivish” that cannot be understood by anyone outside the fold.  This hybrid is then used to clarify complex passages in Gemara to what are essentially English-speaking students. The reasoning behind this phenomenon is that rebbeim feel they are carrying on a Mesorah. But are they?  Did our parents speak Yeshivish?

As well, Chazal tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu gave over the Torah in 70 languages so that no one could say they didn’t understand the Torah.  From this Chazal, we see that Torah is best transmitted in the student’s mother tongue, the one he most identifies with, and best understands. Many bochurim are unfamiliar with Yiddish; for them it is an imposed, foreign language.  Subsequently, the text’s meaning remains obscure.  They may pick up some vague understanding based on discussions taking place in class – some\ students are very good at improvising and contextualizing –  but the clarity and precision will be missing.  Many struggling bochurim tell me that at the end of the shiur, they feel drained and burned out.  Even when it appears that the student is reading and translating the text into Yiddish, it often doesn’t mean that he understands what he is saying; he’s merely parroting his Rebbe.  Over the years, I’ve had hundreds of students who’ve admitted to me that this is the case.

In one of my presentations, I emphasized how necessary it was to translate words as accurately as possible.  For example, the word, “mitzvah” is frequently mistranslated as “good deed” rather than its more precise meaning, “commandment.” Someone pointed out that, because of this common mistranslation, many Jews may have neglected Torah observance, thinking that if they did “good deeds” they were keeping the essentials of Torah, and following the mitzvos.

Numerous at-risk teenagers told me that they find Limud HaTorah boring.  When a child learns without clarity and understanding, the learning becomes tedious and burdensome and not a joyful experience.  Is it any wonder that many choose to bow out?

How can we stop this terrible trend?

One way is by helping sponsor our organization shaarhatalmud.com, to enable us to train many more rebbes in the methods outlined above.  They, in turn, will reach out to thousands of bochurim in desperate need of our help.  Due to lack of funding, our potential to do this is very limited.

What better time to participate than right after Shavuos when we all accepted upon ourselves the Torah with its inherently implied command to help one another in every way possible. As Cazal say (Shavuos 39a), Kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, meaning all of Israel are responsible for each other.

We are looking for sponsors for the following:

Implement our programs into as many Yeshivos and schools as possible.

Teacher training.

One-on-one learning or group sessions.

Helping contribute towards my forthcoming sefer on kriah and chinuch, which discusses these issues at length, and offers solutions as to how to rectify them. The sefer will include a guide for learning Torah and more. Our goal is to have this sefer in every Jewish home.

Please send this email to as many friends as you can whom you think will help us reach our goal or can benefit from this program.

 Let us not forget the words of Chazal in Sanhedrin 37a “Whoever destroys a single life it’s as if he destroyed the entire world”. Together, let’s focus on building our future and the affirmation of life.  As Chazal also says, “Whoever preserves a single life from Israel is considered by the Torah as if he had preserved an entire world.” 

With your support, we can reach our goal.

Our children are, after all, OUR future!

Thanking you in advance,

To sponsor or to contact us please call:

Rabbi Dovid Abenson 514-739-3629, cell 514-993-5300