There’s a Bar Mitzvah Maamar App

By Gaby Silver

Preparing for a Bar Mitzvah can be a hectic yet exciting experience. From preparing the Torah reading and organizing a party or Kiddush to drafting speeches, buying outfits, there is a multitude of details that require attention.

It’s easy to see how it can be difficult for the Bar Mitzvah boy and his family to find the time to focus on the spiritual significance of the milestone. With so many distractions, how is a 12-year-old boy in today’s world to properly prepare the Maamar, let alone learn it in a truly convenient, engaging way?

Rabbi Menachem Sabbach, who is the Managing Director of Bar Mitzvah Online in Melbourne, Australia, has observed this dilemma repeated over his many years as a Bar Mitzvah teacher.

An accomplished Baal Koreh, Sabbach leveraged his extensive knowledge and experience in a variety of Torah reading styles, including Ashkenaz, Sepharadi, Yerushalmi and Chabad, to mentor hundreds of boys of all backgrounds through this momentous life event.

He has merged his passion and acclaimed abilities as an instructor with his experience and expertise in the digital world via his outstanding online Bar Mitzvah tuition service, barmitzvah-online.com. This initiative has helped dozens of Jewish boys all over the world prepare for the big day from the comfort of their own homes.

This experience has highlighted the many challenges faced by boys in preparing the Maamar. Rabbi Sabbach realised that there was a need for a more sophisticated, technological and hands-on approach that would make it simple and convenient for the boys of today to learn and review the Maamar in between formal classes.

Rabbi Sabbach hit on the idea of an ingenious Bar Mitzvah Maamar app that will revolutionize the way boys learn the Maamar. The app is packed with features that give boys the tools they need to learn and say over this vital piece of Chassidic wisdom.

These include:

* Full, vowelised text and audio versions of the Maamar in both Hebrew or Yiddish.
* Outstanding English translation with in-depth explanations to aid understanding.
* Option to learn the full text, by paragraph, or linear text.
* Built-in record feature allows boys to hear and test themselves, or forward audio files to a teacher of family member for assessment.
* Automated notification of the number of lines learned, and number remaining to complete the Maamar by the Bar Mitzvah date.
* Ability to bookmark current place in the text.
* Daily study reminders.

The Bar Mitzvah Maamar App has already been used to great effect by numerous Bar Mitzvah boys and has received high acclaim from leading respected authorities, such as Rabbi YY Jacobson, Dean of theyeshiva.net, who described it as a technology that “will help Bar Mitzvah boys not only learn how to say over the Maamar accurately but also enable them to understand and internalize its profound message, of how Hashem, in His most intimate and transcendent “space,” craves for a relationship with every bar-mitzvah boy.”

Parents are thrilled at the positive impact that the Bar Mitzvah Maamar App has had on their sons. One delighted father in Melbourne, Australia noted that the App “serves as an incredible tool to provide the perfect resource for the Maamar. It is clear, user-friendly and very practical. Most importantly our son loved it!” Another praised the App, saying that “It removed a lot of the tension and stress for both me and my son with the useful features.”

The Bar Mitzvah Maamar App is available in Hebrew and Yiddish, with built-in audio, translation, explanation, daily reminders, Linear, Paragraph, and Complete version of the Maamar and PDF versions. It is now available on iTunes with a version soon coming to Google Play.

For more information visit www.BarmitzvahMaamar.com.