TorahLive Mishpacha Feature

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80 MISH PACHA 2 Sivan 5772 | May 23, 2012

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uttheBox

Rabbi Dan Rth insists that he neverwanted to be the star o any show. So why dothe popular educational videos produced by hiscompany, Torah Live, oen eature Rabbi Rothgoing to the ends o the earth, literally, to bringTorah concepts to lifeor todays generation? Theanswer, he says, can be ound in a commentary on

Pirkei Avosthat ew people have read

byYonoson RosenblumphotosOuriaTadmor,Yitz Russek, Torah Live Archives

80 MISH PACHA 2 Sivan 5772 | May 23, 2012


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2 Sivan 5772 | May 23, 2012

Were you very involved in theatricals in high school?

I ask Rabbi Dan Roth, ounder o Torah Live, as we sit

late at night in his underground lair just outside Jeru-

salems Ramat Eshkol neighborhood. The room has

the look o a airly luxurious bunker, in which Rabbi

Roth could hold out or several days, while completingone o his Torah Live videos. In addition to a shower,

ridge, and treadmill (along with a pair o gym shoes

indicating that it gets used), there is a long desk, w ith

two computers, which serve as t he command center

rom which the Torah Live production team is coor-

dinated.

Earlier in the week, I spent a couple o hours watch-

ing Rabbi Roth give a presentation on hilchos brachos,

employing his ull array o computer-generated visual

aids, at Machon Yaakov, a yeshivah or mature baalei

teshuvah. His enthusiasm was inectious and the en-

ergy level at top gauge throughout so much so that I

considered my deduction about his thespian past to all

into the category o Elementary, my dear Watson.

But Rabbi Roth looks puzzled by my question about

his acting experience. The image I have o him as a stu-

dent in Londons Hasmonean School is very ar rom

his own memories o his youth.

Actually, I was a painul ly shy youngster, he tells

me. My mother was a single parent ater my parents

divorce,andwe wererequentlyinvitedoutorShabbos.

I can remember beingterried toenter peoples homes,

and oten stayed outside or the entire meal.

At 12, Roths mother bought him a rst-generation

home computer, and he quickly ound solace or his

loneliness in spending hours on the computer teaching

himsel computer languages rom magazines. Even-

tually, I was spending so much time on the computer

that my mother had to declare it o-limits. But theinterest in computers did not abate. Ater complet-

ing A-levels, Roth won a place at Londons Imperial

College, the rough British equivalent o MIT, to study

computer science.

He deerred admission, however, to learn at Yeshivat

Kerem bYavneh in Israel. He was initially miserable,

missing the creature comorts o his posh London

home and his car. But by the end o the rst year, he

had caught the learning bug, and gave up his place in

Imperial College. For the next 12 years, he learned in

the Mirrer Yeshivah and in several kollels, with a pri-

mary ocus on halachah.

Until the age o 30, Dan was a airly conventional

yungerman, who had as yet given no indication o the

dynamo he would become. He had still not ound his

calling in lie, and elt himsel drying up in his learn-

ing. Meanwhile, he aced continual amilial pressure

to get on with earning a living.

He had always elt a particular attraction toPirkei

Avos, and began studyingAvosintensively on Erev

Shabbos and MotzaeiShabbos. He wanted to make

Pirkei Avos the ocus o his iyun (in-depth) learning,

but hesitated to take such a radical step.

As he wavered about whether to remove

himsel rom the amiliar learning track,

Roths then-neighbor Rabbi David Orlosky

gave him a piece o advice that would change

his lie. It says ben shloshim lkoach, Rabbi

Orlosky told him. That means that by the

age o 30 a person should have gained enough

knowledgeohimsel toknow whereheshould

ocus his eorts. Only by doing so can he bring

out his koach[strength].

Rabbi Orlosky gave his younger riend a

mashalbased on one o his seminary students.

That particular student held a black belt in

karate, and she could break bricks with her

bare hands. That power derived not rom any

superhuman strength, but rom her ability

to concentrate all her strength on one point.

You need to do the same, wa s Rabbi Orlo-

skys nal advice.

Avos and Adversity Dan spent thenext year learningPirkei Avos and writing

a commentary in English. A hundred-page

manuscript on the rst two chapters was

presented to his grandmother on the oc-

casion o her 80th birthday at a gala am-

ily birthday party at Kibbutz Lavi. He had

poured all his energy into the work, and

elt that he had a concrete achievement

to show or his eorts. That satisaction,

however, was short-lived.

The pain is still evident as he relates the sto-

ry to me. I had become close to Rabbi Reuven

Leuchter, spending many hours together driv-

ing him to the center o the country, where he

served as a mashgiach in a yeshivah. I oered

him my manuscript, and eagerly awaited his

response. When it came, I was devastated.

You can do better, Rabbi Leuchter told

me. You need to put yoursel, your thoughts,

into the work, not just translate and organize

the commentaries o others.

The verdict could not have been more pain-

ul given all the hopes and energies invested.

TORAH ON LOCAwill go anywhere or shoot. (L to R) To thethe flming o Sukkot:lining up or kashrus Greenspan at the Jer

But, in retrospect

everything that ca

A constant the

talks to Roth is th

comes our greate

setbacks are oten

us toward our mis

to Rabbi Leuchter

kindergarten put h

supposed to, and a

late and ar rom

drove past a bus sto

and oered him a

today only becaus

my manuscript.

As painul as R

was, Dan accepte

years writing his o

with the goal o d

relevance o Chaza

appropriately nam

or the Twenty-Fir

He assumed that he could make tas enthusiastic about Avos as h

His frst class ended all such illus


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2 Sivan 5772 | May 23, 2012

He sums up the key lesson learned rom

throwing out his original manuscript and be-

ginninganew:Thecommentariesarethereto

guide us and protect us rom misreadings and

uninormed interpretations. But the words o

ourSagesonlybecomepartouswhenwehave

pondered and grappled with them ourselves,

and applied their insights in the context o

our own lives.

The publication oRelevancedid not silence

his amilys demands or him to take up a pro-

ession. And as can happen with any major

project, Dan experienced a letdown ater its

completionand anagging questionabout what

to do or an encore.

Rabbi Leuchter provided the crucial clue:

Analyzewhatyoulearnedaboutyourselwhile

writing your seer. Take time to think about

what character traits you discovered.

Dan thought about that question a lot. I

discoveredthatIhada gitorpresentingdeep

Torah ideas in a way that was accessible to a

wider public, without dumbing them down. I

also discovered that I had a capacity or teach-

ing mysel new skills, and that I enjoyed doing

so.ThoughIhadgottentopmarksonallmyA-

levels,they wereall inmathematicallyorientedsubjects. I had never concentrated on writing.

To writeRelevance,I studied the classic works

onstyle,such asStrunkandWhite andTheChi-

cago Manual of Style. And nally, I ound out

that I enjoyed researching a topic rom every

possible point o view.

He began teaching a class or at-risk teen-

agers at Ohr Somayach. He assumed that he

couldmakethem asenthusiasticaboutAvosas

he was. His rst class ended all such illusions.

He could not get the students to pay attention,

much less show enthusiasm or the material.

To reach his students, Dan decided that he

had to nd subjects that were o interest to

them, not just to him. And more important,

that he had to nd a way to do so in the idiom

o21st-centuryteenagers,with attentionspans

o about ve seconds, and whose preerred

method o absorbing inormation is vi sual.

He conded to the head o the Ohr Somay-

ach program that he was going to use his long-

dormant computer skills and modern tech-

nology to create a contemporary multimedia

presentation.The i nitial reception was skepti-

cal, even dismissive.

But buoyed by his ability to recover rom

Rabbi Leuchters initial criticism, Dan was

not discouraged this time. Indeed, the nega-

tive reaction gave him a deep insight into the

process o sel-discovery:

Haveyoueverhadanexcitingnewideayou

eltpassionatelyabout,only tohave itknocked

down by a riend who said it will never work?

Naturally, the riend is not going to eel as

strongly as you do its not his lie calling.

When you share your plans with others and

they brush them aside, dont lose heart. On

the contrary, realize thats the best sign that

you have ound your unique mission in lie.

The very act that you eel so strongly and oth-

ers are unmoved is an indicator that this task

belongsdavka to you.

The need or each person to discover what

is special about him, and thereby what is his

unique mission in lie, is central to Roths

worldview. He provided me with pages o ci-

tations rom contemporary Torah thinkers

Rav Shlomo Wolbe, Rav Shimshon Pincus,

Rav Nosson Wachtogel (quoting advice he

personally received rom the Choetz Chaim) discussing this topic. Among the quotations

he shared was one rom my biography o Reb

ShragaFeivelMendlowitz.Everypersonin the

world, Reb Shraga Feivel taught, senses an ob-

ligation to ulll the special task or which he

wascreated.Thatsenseo callingmayhaveno

logical explanation and be incapable o verbal

expression, but it gives a person no rest. Just

as animals instinctively do that or which they

werecreated,sotoo,manisinstinctivelydriven

to ulll his task.

Money Talks Shortly ater his night-marish rst class at Ohr Somayach, Rabbi

Roth decided to produce a video entitled

Wealth, which ocused on the mitzvah o

maaser kesafm. Money and how to get it,

he reasoned, was one topic that interested

all his students. And maaser kesafm, which

Chazal describe as a key to gaining wealth,

provided the link to Torah. (In truth, the

video dealt much more w ith how to live

without the constant desire or more, and

without resentm

with greater mat

Dan started with

tionteamothertha

he had to learn e

line seminars s

programs and su

photography, and

put together a poli

Though a debut

notice. Rabbi Roth

justashehopedthe

pated in a game he

in which viewers h

ent orms o incom

kesafm or not. Co

putthevisuals and

a student at Neve

Roth that he had h

Over the past v

videoshaveappear

has expanded to i

videosdealtwithm

little-studied area

Keilim,Yichud,Me

Yitzchak Berkovit

askedsheilos); someas o halachah, in

greatdealtoclariy

Species;andothers

year rom both a h

o view Shabbos

The latest Torah

Esther,was produc

to Purim, ater a r

Rabbi Roth with t

duce an illustrated

screen during the

to hisposek, Rav B

Thelatternotedth

attentive or the e

age-old concern, a

producing beautiu

the problem has o

when many begin

understand the H

seconded by Rav Y

language, Rav Berk

ningMegillah, co

with a verse in bot

Whenyou share

your plans

withothers andthey brush

themaside,

dont loseheart.

On thecontrary,

realizethats

the bestsign thatyou have

found yourunique

missionin life

MINDSET FOR THE 21ST

CENTURYRabbi Roth taught himsel six sophisticatedcomputer programs, scriptwriting, photography, and acting to make his videos relevant


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86 MIS HPA CHA

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42accompanyingillustrations,wouldsucceed

in helping so many who would otherwise nd

it difcult i not impossible to ulll the

mitzvah o Kriyas Megillah.

Three more videos are currently in various

stages o production on jealousy, social re-

sponsibility, and the Jewish contribution to

employerand employeerelationships.The lat-

ter is o special meaning to Dan, as it has been

dedicated by his amily to hiszeideh, ChaimSchreiber. Schreiber at one time owned the

largest urniture manuacturing company in

Great Britain, with 8,500 employees, and was

an iconoclast in the eld o labor relations. He

abolished all time clocks in his actories, de-

creedthatworkersshould receiveextrapay or

holidays,whenthey wouldneedmorecash,and

canceled a stock issue when the government

reused to allow him to give shares to all his

workers, on the grounds that it constituted a

prohibited pay increase during a government-

imposed wage reeze. The BBC devoted a hal

hourtoa documentaryon hisuniqueapproach

to labor relations. The ability to hearken to a

dierent drummer is one that Dan appears

to have inherited rom his grandather.

The Torah Live videos have proven to be a

dvar shaveh lkol nefesh. Talmidim in Mirrer

Yeshivah andyeshivahleitin training courses

or uture mechanchimhave been as excited

by them perhaps more so because they have

some sense o what is involved in the selection

and presentation o material as those with

little or no background. Rabbi Roths ability to

alwaysndan excitingmannertopresentcom-

plex material works or Jews at all levels.

Soar Rothhaspresentedthe videosto audi-

ences in over 50 cities worldwide, and various

Torah Live presentations have already been

translated into French, Spanish, Hebrew,

and Russian.

One o the keys to the success o the Torah

Live presentations is the insistence on state-

o-the-art production values. As one o those

attheBrachospresentationat MachonYaakov

put it, It was rereshing to see a presentation

using contemporary images and video, rather

than the usual heimish photography and art-work, which mostbaalei teshuvahcant relate

to or see as poorly produced, which causes

them to quickly question the authenticity o

the content as well.

A New Toolbox for the Class-room Roth is ready and willing to go toany length or an arresting visual. The

Torah Live website, or instance, contains

an amusing clip o him sinking underwa-

ter, astride a camel, or the video on tevilas

keilim (immersion o utensils). In response

to a question as to the most difcult vi-

sual he has ever lmed, Dan whips out his

ever-present laptop and shows me a video

clip o himsel and his production team

schlepping a preabricated succah into the

Judean desert to gain a sense o the barren

and howling wilderness in which Klal Yis-

rael were sheltered by the Clouds o Glory.

But the content is not subverted to the

visuals: the latter are meant to enhance

and clariy the content, and to hold the

attention o the audience. I tried learn-

ing hilchos brachos romShulchan Aruch. I

tried learning romMishnah Berurah. But

neither gave me the clarity or practical ap-

plication that the Torah Live lecture did,

commented one Mirrer Yeshivah student.

Long beore the rst visual eect has been

conceived, Dan has accumulated hundreds

o pages o material touching on a topic. Doz-

enso halachicquestionshavebeenbrought to

RavYitzchak Berkovitsor resolution. Though

Rothmustbattle witheveryoneelse orprecious

minutes with Rav Berkovits, he at least has an

insidelane.Buthealwaystellsme,Dontthink

Imgivingyouextratimeasa personal avorto

you.ImgivingyouthetimebecauseIthinkwhat

youredoingis soimportant.

In a written haskamah, Rav Berkovits adds,

Hashem created technology and gave us the

talent to use it or the sake o getting Klal Yis-

raelto be motivated to learn, understand, and

get clarity. Baruch Hashem, the medium has

been used correctly, properly, and very, very

eectively.

Onlyaterthe preparatorynotebooksare lled

Roth showsmeseveral runningto hundreds

o pagesandhehasdecidedwhataspectso a

topichewantstotackleintheupcomingvideo,

doesDaninvolvethe restothe productionteam.

Becausehehadtolearneverystepotheproduc-

tionprocessinTorahLivesearlydays,heisable

tocommunicatetoeachmemberotheteam in

thelanguageohis specialty.Rarelydotheteam

members have any ace-to-ace contact. The

whole process is overseen rom the computer

inRothsundergroundbunker.

A greatmechanechmight come into contact

with a ew thousand students over a 40-year

career. The beauty o the Torah Live videos

is that each one can be used in thousands o

classrooms around the world year ater year.

And each presentation can be individually ad-

justed to the needs o the particular audience.

Farrom displacingtheclassroom teacher, the

TorahLivevideoprovidestheclassroomteacher

withapowerul newtool.

Ocourse,manymechanchim,especiallythose

o the pre-computer generation, will hesitate

beore attempting an interactive computer-

generated presentation. I they w ish, they can

simplyusethe videowithRabbi Rothdoingthe

presentation.But eachvideo licensedto aschool

comesnotonlywithaull-sizedbookwithsourc-

esor thecontent o thevideo, but with a sepa-

rate operators manual to teach mechanchim

how to individuali

their needs and c

ing is just another

to acquire.)

Rabbi Roths dre

videos being used

andkiruv organiz

end, Roth has had

man and undrai

with the same reli

thevideos,and trav

States,Britain, and

presentationsand d

Torah Live to an ev

across the entire O

RabbiDanRoth

who has discover

while it gives him

with a sense o pu

siasm that I sense

deliver a shiurthe

he eels he was cre

An inside lane with Rav YitzchakBerkovits. Im giving you the timebecause I think what youre doing isso important

Roth is readyand willingto go to anylength for

an arrestingvisual. TheTorah Livewebsite, orinstance,contains anamusingclip o himsinkingunderwater,astride acamel, orthe video ontevilas keilim

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