Winter Registration Now Open!
With over 40 different classes each week to choose from, at all hours of the day, in every time zone, you won't want to miss out on WebYeshiva's Winter Semester, beginning October 18th.
Join hundreds of students from all over the world who have already discovered meaningful Jewish learning conducive to their schedule, at the premier center for live, fully-interactive, online Torah learning!
Whether you decide to take one class a week or several classes a day, with topics in Halacha, Chumash, Gemara, Jewish Philosophy, Chassidut, Prayer, and more, you can tailor your learning schedule to suit your own needs and interests.
Click here to view the full schedule of classes
Make Jewish learning an integral and accessible part of your life. Visit www.webyeshiva.org/shiurim.php to start choosing your classes.
Serious Torah for Serious Learners
In addition to our regular classes this coming Winter Semester, WebYeshiva will be offering a new series of "Matmidim" classes, intended for committed students.
Four new, daily Gemara classes will be beginning this Winter Semester, which starts October 18th. Based on a vision for a more serious, yeshiva-like focus, WebYeshiva will be offering both beginners and advanced classes in the evenings according to North American time zones, and beginners and advanced classes in the evenings according to European and Israeli time zones.
The Matimidim classes will include both standard classes 3-4 times weekly, as well as private student-teacher tutorials on a rotational basis, with the aim of helping dedicated students to deepen their commitment to Torah learning and to progress in their scholarship.
Based on the same model, a Matmidim class just for women, in Oral Law, will take place three days a week with additional tutorials.
We hope that this new model will encourage students to increase their level of commitment to their learning as much as they are able, and to take advantage of the wealth of resources available to them through our technology and outstanding teachers.
For more information, and to register now, click here.
Spirituality for Beginners
Take the opportunity to introduce yourself to the rich heritage of Jewish learning at a level and pace that's right for you.
Designed for thinking adults who are interested in finding more meaning in their Judaism, Torah 101 at WebYeshiva uses advanced videoconferencing technology to enable you to learn with outstanding teachers from the ease and comfort of your own computer.
Starting October 13th, we'll be beginning a series on The Spiritual Core of Judaism. The class will take a deeper spiritual and intellectual quest into the heart of traditional Judaism. Teacher, Michael Levin, will focus on the "big picture" that many people who are interested in learning about traditional Judaism crave - the spiritual core of the religion that underlies all of the practices, studies, and beliefs.
The class takes place Tuesday nights at 9 PM Eastern time. For more information, and to register, click here.
Take part in any of WebYeshiva's live, fully-interactive, online classes in Gemara, Chumash and Tanach, Machshava, Chassidut, Halacha, and more, all for free this Elul. The upcoming semester, which begins August 30th, includes over 40 hours a week of classes designed to help get you ready for the High Holidays. Visit http://www.webyeshiva.org/shiurim.php to see our full range of classes, and to register now!
Torah 101 at WebYeshiva gives thinking adults the opportunity to explore the richness of their Jewish heritage through live, fully-interactive, online classes. Starting September 1st, Torah 101's team of expert educators will explore some of the fundamental ideas and concepts in Judaism, at a pace that is both comfortable and engaging. For more information, visit http://www.webyeshiva.org/torah101
Beginning August 31st, take part in a daily class designed to help you increase your Hebrew language skills in a short amount of time. In just one month you'll acquire the basics you need to begin to read and comprehend, and prepare you to join WebYeshiva's regular Hebrew classes in the fall. You'll learn the fundamentals of the language necessary to begin to read and understand the Bible, prayer book, and classic Jewish texts in the original Hebrew, without the crutch of translations.
Visit www.webeyeshiva.org/ulpan for more information, or contact [email protected]
Go to: http://www.webyeshiva.org/shiurim.php to view the full range of classes being offered this fall, and to register now! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 30, 2009 For further information contact David Golan Jerusalem, Israel [email protected] Jerusalempedia – The free Jerusalem Encyclopedia http://jerusalempedia.com This comprehensive site invested site, requests to be the most wide data bank on the net about Jerusalem. Already now, adjacent to his launching jerusalempedia.com includes information on more than 3000 terms, values, sites, events, people and history. Language English, and it turns to all religions. The biggest Jerusalem content encyclopedia on the Internet. Jerusalempedia.com is a site that offers a full range of terms related to jerusalem. Our Mission is to create the most comprehensive and definitive source of information available on Jerusalem anywhere. We are in the process of compiling the world's most comprehensive source of inter-related encyclopedic information sources covering every subject of Jerusalem to our visitors. Thank you, Daniel Frank +972-52-6068705 Site Owner
Rabbi Mordecai Scharf in Efrat, Israel runs a special program called Project Nefesh for "at risk" teens and young adults. He and his wife Shoshana, have been taking in these special people for 35 years and giving them an alternative home when parents and/or educational institutions have been unsuccessful in keeping them on a successful life path. These individuals often struggle with social and/or emotional issues-sometimes, but not always, caused by abuse or existing professionally diagnosed conditions. Project Nefesh works with American psychiatrists and psychologists in conjunction with an American-Israeli social worker to provide the best care outside of their parental know-how.
The program is unique as each person is brought in like a foster child and they instantly become part of the family. Daily and Shabbat meals often include extended family and teens/young adults are always encouraged to take part in family outings and simchas.
Project Nefesh treats each "case" with sensitivity, respect and personalized attention as each individual is different and their needs vary. At no time is the teen/young adult forced to do anything he/she is uncomfortable with as far as employment, religion or otherwise, but is encouraged and supported to try and take steps in the right direction, at their own pace, to make an improvement from his/her beginning status.
Currently, the Scharfs are looking for two new candidates between the ages 15-24 as two young adults who have recently "graduated' out of the program will be returning to their families to begin life anew. They maintain a maximum of six teens/young adults (primarily boys) split between two homes. Some stay for short periods of time, but some have stayed for up to 4 years. There is also a separate home for girls run by Project's coordinator which can accommodate presently up to two girls also of the ages 15-24 years. We are looking to fill these places also as it is a new addition to the program.
This is not a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, so we do not take in individuals with related conditions.
Please contact Daniela Syer [email protected] for more information on how to get your teen/young adult started.
*Please note that it is preferable that the candidate want to live in Israel. We can also provide assistance to those interested in making Aliyah.
Our sages have taught us that one who grieves over the destruction of Jerusalem will merit to see its rebuilding. Join Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Rosh Yeshiva of WebYeshiva, and Rabbi Yitzchak Blau on Tisha B'Av, Thursday, July 30th, for two sessions of live, fully interactive Kinot and Tisha B'Av shiurim in memory of former WebYeshiva faculty member and beloved teacher, Rabbi Jay Miller.
(Please register by clicking here).
First Session
9:15-11:30 AM Israel time
Explanatory Kinot Service with Rabbi Brovender
Rabbi Brovender will explain the themes of the various Kinot, with a close examination of the text and ideas. What was the historical background of the Kinot? Who are the authors of the Kinot? What themes in the Kinot resonate in modern times?
12:00-1:00 PM Israel time
Aggadot HaChurban with Rabbi Blau
Rabbi Blau will take a deeper look at the Aggadot HaChurban (stories dealing with the destruction of the Temple) including Bar Kamza, R. Zecharya and the Biryonim.
Chatzot in Jerusalem is at approximately 12:45 PM
Second Session
5:30-7:00 PM Israel time
Second Explanatory Kinot Service with Rabbi Brovender
Rabbi Brovender will explain the themes of the various Kinot, with a close examination of the text and ideas. What was the historical background of the Kinot? Who are the authors of the Kinot? What themes in the Kinot resonate in modern times?
All texts and materials will be provided online by WebYeshiva.
Both sessions are free and are open to WebYeshiva students and to the public.
JERUSALEM-You need a wife, a husband, or perhaps just a job. You want a baby, maybe. Your favorite uncle has cancer, and you are hoping you can do something, anything, to ease his pain.
Batya Burd is betting even the believers among you haven't a prayer. Or rather, you haven't the time - and the access - to deliver the sort of prayer she has in mind.
Burd, 34, who gave up a future as a Toronto corporate lawyer for a pious existence just steps from the Western Wall, has a novel suggestion. For a price, she and her team of 25 [Torah-observant] Jewish worshippers are ready to pray at God's last known address, for that which ails you.
Not just any spiritual whim passes muster at http://www.westernwallprayers.org Forget about requesting heavenly help in winning the lottery. She will politely say no. When prayer orders smack of such vanity, she seeks the counsel of a rabbi on whether to proceed.
But for those whose intentions are deemed genuine, Burd will dispatch a "prayer agent" through the warren-like streets of Jerusalem's Old City on a mission to God. For 40 consecutive days, they will pray on your behalf.
"The idea is not for people to use it like a lucky rabbit's foot. We're serious about this," says Burd, whose spiritual outings [request a donation] from $90 to $720, depending on how many hours and days your shaliach, or proxy, does the praying.
"There are no guarantees, obviously. But when we agree to do a full cycle of prayers for somebody, they need to be involved as well. We encourage them to do some kind of good deed, wherever they are. We're only helping the process. But it is not a replacement for their religiosity."
Burd came by the idea together with her husband Gershon, a Chicago native, primarily because it was immediately after he undertook a similar segulah - a 40-day cycle of prayers at the Western Wall, asking God for a wife - that they first met.
Burd says she "knew something was happening" during the 40 days her future husband trekked to the wall to pray for a partner.
"I felt like I had extra help. My poor husband had been dating for five years and it was not happening for him," she says.
"One of my friends in Jerusalem knew him. She came up to me one day and said, `When you are ready, I know your soul mate.' And finally it happened. We were introduced. And five dates later we were engaged."
What pushed Burd from notion to action in developing westernwallprayers.org was the poverty she saw around her in the Old City, where the Jewish quarter is devotion-rich but cash-poor ...
"It is difficult to see so many people in Jerusalem really living hand to mouth, watching every dime. What they need most is material help," she says.
"At the same time, there are all sorts of people in North America who have so much in material wealth, but are in spiritual need. We're trying to match those needs to each other."
Segulah is a word from the ancient Hebrew with multiple and sometimes mystical meanings, not all of them necessarily flattering. Burd allows that some rabbis dismiss such prayer as less than serious. But she points to a raft of success stories of prayers answered, the most moving of which are posted online. She also acknowledges that occasional visitors to her site leave scathing notes berating the enterprise as offensive.
"We are playing with such tender concepts and people can get so offended. I suppose we're asking people to judge us favorably for a second. Please understand the context," she says.
Rabbi Berel Wein, a prominent Jerusalem-based author and one of several Jewish scholars whose name appears as references on Burd's site, said the motives are beyond reproach.
"I know the family and I know the money goes to legitimate causes," Wein confirmed.
"What we're really talking about is an old established custom. Throughout history, it was common that when people travelled to the Holy Land other people would ask them to pray at holy sites," he said.
"It can't do any harm. The money is incidental. When we pray, in general, we give money to a charity or a cause. This is pretty much the same thing."
Burd describes her own circuitous journey to Jerusalem as a wayward road in search of herself. Raised in Toronto as Lisa Fefer - she later Hebraized her name - Burd studied at University of Western Ontario and Osgoode Law School before climbing to the 44th floor of First Canadian Place to what is today Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada's leading corporate tax firm.
"I had the right car, the right friends, the right job, the right income," she remembers. "But I had a hole inside me this big." ...
Eric Cohen of North Woodmere, NY was just announced as the winner of the Abeles and Heymann Facebook contest.
Eric won two tickets (for him and his son) to an upcoming Met game at Citi Field for giving the best answer regarding Abeles & Heymann meats and how it has changed his life.
http://www.abeles-heymann.com
YeahThatsKosher.com used connections from all over the world and aggregated kosher restaurants open for Pesach (Passover).
By using the powers of social media, YeahThatsKosher.com founder, Dani Klein (http://daniklein.info), was able to receive tips from both connections and random strangers about restaurants open on Pesach.
To view what is open, check out:
http://yeahthatskosher.com/tag/passover/
YeahThatsKosher.com is managed by SocialCity Marketing: http://socialcitymarketing.com
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