Jewish religious teachings have taken the Internet by storm.
In just six months, one Chabad rabbi’s online broadcast has had viewers logged in for a total of 5 million minutes, according to information from a news release from Chabad-Lubavitch, an Hasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism.
Rabbi Joshua B. Gordon, executive director of Chabad of the Valley in Encino, Calif., began hosting the broadcast, in which he delivers a “daily dose of Torah and Tanya simply, entertainingly and with healthy doses of humor,” the news release states. The Torah is the book of Jewish scripture based on the Five Books of Moses, while the Tanya is the core text of Chabad Chasidic philosophy.
Classes delivered via computer are no novelty, but the commitment of the viewers, and the sheer number of comments they leave – and their passion for his class – are a standout.
Pretty good for a newbie on the net, but Gordon’s 40 years of Torah teaching experience has helped polish the delivery of his topic, which is pretty basic.
Gordon reads the few lines of the Torah portion that correspond to the day of the week, along with Rashi’s commentary. Then he reads the daily portion of the Tanya. With those, he covers two of the three components of the CHITAS, a cycle of daily study and prayer promoted by the past two Lubavitch Rebbes.
According to some of his followers, Gordon has quite a knack for communication in simple terms.
“Listening to Rabbi Gordon is like hearing your father or grandfather tell you a fairy tale,” German Zeidner, who grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel, and never studied Torah formally, told Chabad-Lubavitch in the news release. “He uses modern terminology, examples from every day, so you can really absorb what he is saying.”
Zeidner learns daily with Gordon now, via the web in his living room each day.
And Zeidner is not alone, as many others have logged in each day to hear the online teachings of Gordon, who had been teaching in a classroom prior to the online class, which came about with some covert recordings.
Daniel Aharonoff began attending Gordon’s class after hitting a difficult time with his business and going into a state of depression.
“Going to class kept me centered and gave me food for thought,” Aharonoff said. “I cannot explain how much it helped me.”
Aharonoff decided more people than the 25 who attended Gordon’s classes each morning after services needed to hear the message, hence the recordings. Armed with a pocket digital recorder, Aharonoff captured Gordon’s teachings for a year. He suggested Gordon go online with the classes.
“On my (60th) birthday, I committed to undertake a mitzvah I had never done before,” Gordon said.
“What I am doing is very much my father’s legacy to the family,” Gordon said, referring to his father, Rabbi Sholom Ber Gordon, who was among the first Chabad representatives in the United States. “It is from him that I inherited my humor and my passion to teach.”
Before each class, Aharonoff or another community member sets up the lights, checks the camera, the software and the audio and drops a clip-on mike at Gordon’s spot at the U-shaped table.
Hollywood lights and California sunshine filtering in through the French doors light the spacious room. The daily class attendees remain off camera, and very quiet throughout the class, some munching on the scrambled egg-and-bagel breakfast served most days.
The live and archived lesson has no fancy name, no catchy bumper music, but Gordon has fans from Buenos Aires to Germany, from Laredo, Texas, to Toronto, Canada.
Jayne Shapiro, president emerita of World Alliance for Israel Political Action Committee and a member of the national executive committee of AIPAC, joins Gordon from her Beverly Hills home or wherever she finds a computer when she travels.
“I had a Tanya for years at home and was very frustrated. I couldn’t grasp it,” Shapiro said in the release. “Rabbi Gordon’s explanations really open up the Tanya and the Torah. He has an incredible way of bringing it all right to you.”
HOW TO WATCH:
Click on the Daily Chumash link on COLlive.com’s homepage (on the left-hand side) or click here
Rabbi Gordon!! Thank you sooo much! We are on Shlichus in Germany. We watch nearly every day. My older kids watch very often as well. We learn a TON!! Cant thank you enough for making this huge effort. We are very grateful
Amazing work Rabbi Gordon!
“The Torah is the book of Jewish scripture based on the Five Books of Moses, ” Ha, it’s only BASED on it? But the author gets credit for getting most of it right.
Two great things come together to make this happen… Rabbi Gordon and Chabad.org. There are so many other online classes on chabad.org that I really enjoy and learn so much from.