Professor Robert Aumann, Nobel Prize Laureate (2005)
Center for the Study of Rationality at Hebrew University
למידע כיצד לתרום נא לחצו כאן.
For information on how to contribute, please click here.
י' מרחשוון, תשע"ב
Dear Rav Hillel,
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you again and being introduced to AlHaTorah.org. While a bit daunting at first, the site impressed me as being a product of unusual erudition, pedagogical skill, and painstaking effort. You have clearly invested your formidable learning and teaching experience in this creative venture, which has the potential to serve as a significant resource for teachers and students alike, and, in time, could revolutionize the teaching – and learning – of Limudei Kodesh.
While I am no longer on the “front lines” of day school education, I would be happy to advise you if you feel I can be of help. Incidentally, while we did not discuss it, a Hebrew version for Israelis is certainly a desideratum.
B'hatzlacha
Shimon
Rav Shimon Altshul
Director
The Ludwig and Erica Jesselson Institute
for Advanced Torah Studies (RA)
Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan 52900
December 31, 2020 / 16 Tevet 5781
We have been using ALHATORAH for the past few years in several of our Chumash classes. This year with the transition to online learning, most of our teachers and students have been using ALHATORAH in their daily Chumash lessons.
ALHATORAH is easy to use and contains power tools for sophisticated and active Torah learning. My students are able to find and study from a multitude of parshanim. Their independent work as a result has been enhanced, as now they can access commentaries that were not easily available online in the past. Students are able to use tools such as the concordance, BDB, Tanakh Lab to find parallel texts and similar phrasing within different biblical texts.
My students know that I love learning with ALHATORAH and I'm so thrilled that they are becoming lifelong learners and gaining skills because of this phenomenal online learning website.
December 27, 2017 / 9 Tevet 5778
Dear AlHaTorah.org,
Some of us have been waiting years for technology to catch up to teaching. By this I mean that databases are certainly a valuable tool, but Tanakh teaching is all about interacting with the text itself, exploring it, analyzing it and doing the same with its commentaries. AlHaTorah is one of the few online resources I have encountered to aspire to do that in a meaningful and educational way.
The ever-growing list of resources on the AlHaTorah websites, from the concordance and dictionary to the analytical tools to the expanding work on commentaries, are all invaluable aids for teachers to use for their own preparation as well as enabling students to become more independent learners. Some of the information, such as the description of the commentaries and their methodologies are simply not available elsewhere in a form that is easily accessible to high school students. The concordance is a book that students have heard about but seldom been able to use on their own, and certainly few of us have ever had a class set that all students could look at simultaneously. The parshah topics that are explored and carefully summarized are masterful collections that students can learn on their own if necessary, making just the right combination of a helpful crutch combined with an impetus to learn the texts in their original. The Mikraot Gedolot text preserves some of the authentic and aesthetic feel of the printed page together with the flexibility of contemporary hypertext, allowing students to feel at home in both worlds. Using art as a form of parshanut has always been an interest of mine, and I think it is not only a valuable teaching tool in its own right but can also speak to the particular learning style of a specific group of students whose needs have not always been addressed coherently.
I can tell you that today alone in my classes at Ma`ayanot, I experienced the following: a student asked me the meaning of a difficult word in a pasuk we were learning, and rather than give her the answer I directed her to the dictionary where on her own she discovered the root, the possible meanings and was able to decipher the nuances of the verse herself. Another student loved her first real encounter with art as parshanut that we did in class, and I was able to direct her to the treasure trove on the site for her to explore on her own. In another case, I was able to find and present a particular commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in books or in other databases. I cannot say that these are all daily occurrences, but neither can I say that I would have had as rich a day without access to the website.
In short, this venture has wonderful potential for helping give a contemporary feel to learning Torah for a generation of teachers and students who are as fluent and fluid with technology as they are with texts. The educational community and the community of learners look forward to your continuing contribution to Tanakh study – להגדיל תורה ולהאדירה.
With best wishes,
Rabbi Jay Goldmintz Ed.D
July 12, 2019 / 9 Tammuz 5779
Dear Rav Hillel Novetsky,
I am sending you a note with Hakarat Hatov to thank you and your family and everyone that works on AlHaTorah. When I first saw it, I wondered if it was just yet another website with a digital version of Torah. However, once I started taking advantage of the amazing tools and resources, it became clear that this is a unique and much needed site. I have been using your site for several years now and it is an incredible learning and teaching tool. I am especially grateful for the incredible new tools you keep adding in the Mikraot Gedolot and the advanced concordance and search functions.
I have given many classes based on your source sheets and commentary sheets with an amazing list of references / sources. Showing students your commentator timeline and even using the Shas Gadol to easily explain a section of Gemara is invaluable.
Checking the study topics every week before Shabbat has really enhanced my thinking about the Parashah far beyond what any weekly Devar Torah or Parashah sheet can do. My kids now all now that before asking me for help with their school assignments they should first ask AlHaTorah!
Thank you for providing this incredible and unique resource,
Ronnie
November 29, 2011 / 3 Kislev 5772
To Whom It May Concern:
I was extremely excited recently to have the chance to preview a new web resource, AlHaTorah.org. In a world which is, Baruch Hashem, rapidly becoming inundated with Torah internet resources of varying degrees of accessibility, it was a true pleasure to find a site that brings together so many aspects of limud Torah and technology in an utterly unique way.
As a school principal, I am constantly on the lookout for resources to share with teachers seeking to prepare lessons; for parents looking to understand what their children are learning; and for students preparing Divrei Torah. AlHaTorah.org provides a go-to source for all three.
Even those who are able to utilize the classic sources in the original will benefit from this site, as it brings together a range of perspectives and sources that would take a stack of books and sources to otherwise collect. I am particularly intrigued by the social media potential in the site, which would foster dialogue on topics of Torah between students of all ages and backgrounds.
I see AlHaTorah.org as a resource with remarkable potential for myself as a student of Tanakh, for the teachers under my supervision, and for the parents and students in our school community. I am excited to watch the site and its influence grow in the months and years to come.
Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin
Principal
North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School
Great Neck, New York
כ"ז תשרי, תשע"ב
Dear Rabbi Novetsky,
Thank you for taking the time to show me the prototype for the Torah Website project you are working on. As a growing learner, a teacher, and an administrator at a Jewish day school, I must tell you that I was enthralled by the potential of this project, and my only disappointment was learning that I can’t start using it, and recommending it to others, tomorrow. By the nature of the relatively small market for Jewish studies, finding substantive, broad, and sophisticated resources for Torah learning and teaching is a big challenge. While our secular teachers have been able to bring the collective knowledge of great experts into their classrooms and lesson preparation, Limudei Kodesh teachers are much more limited. I have no doubt that if the breadth that you brought to Shemot Perek 18 would be available for the entire Torah, it would have an immediate impact on the kind of learning that could take place in our classrooms.
The structure that you developed in your prototype is comprehensive, but organized in a way that is not overwhelming. The availability of accessing primary sources allows for serious learning and inquiry for independent learners, as well as teachers for use in classrooms at all levels. The modern scholarship and references to the arts will allow students with multiple talents, interests, and passions, to find their path to relating to our text. The web 2.0 tools embedded into the site will allow for conversations to take place that could potentially create an interactive global beit midrash that, as far as I am aware, does not yet exist.
If such a resource were to exist, we would certainly be prepared to pay an annual subscription fee to make it available to our staff.
If there is anything I can do to help you bring this project to fruition, please let me know. This is something that is worthy of real investment (and something that, in my opinion, should eventually be able to sustain itself). Of course, if you visit the US, I would be happy to have you present to our staff, so that their input can help you further develop this.
Rabbi Binyamin Krauss
Principal
SAR Academy
655 West 254th Street
Riverdale, NY 10471
ט"ו אדר ב' תשע"ד
March 17, 2014
Dear Rabbi Novetsky,
As a department chair at the Ramaz Upper School, I am consistently on the lookout for materials that can contribute to curriculum organization and expansion. The clarity, structure and comprehensiveness of alhatorah.org is a teacher's dream. I have directed many new, as well as veteran, teachers to the site for its helpfulness in its step-by-step unpacking and analysis of a topic. With the overwhelming amount of content that is available for the teaching of any given piece of text, as well as the lack of a standardized "textbook" such that is available for secular studies, we have benefited enormously from the site's honing in on the few central axes upon which a course can be built and guiding its readers/teachers/students down the often complex road of commentators and analysis. I have used the site to prepare new courses as well as define, clarify and develop previous courses.
In addition, over the past few years, interdisciplinary learning has become an integral component of the Jewish Studies' curriculum at the Ramaz Upper School. Involved coordination with the Art, History and English departments has become a central part of the method in which we encounter various texts in Torah and Navi. AlHaTorah.org, with its references to interfaith and interdisciplinary thought in many of its topic presentations, has been an invaluable source. In particular, my students enjoyed a spirited discussion and analysis of the sale of Yosef in art and the contrasting images that depict the sale.
What a valuable investment of time and effort by your contributors! יישר כחכם and keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing the site's continued growth!
All the best,
Miriam Krupka
Tanakh Department Chair
Ramaz Upper School
60 East 78th St.
New York, NY 10075
כ"א אדר ב' תשע"ו
March 31, 2016
Dear Rabbi Novetsky,
It is with great honor and thanks that I write this short note to you. Ever since AlHaTorah was launched, I have from a distance watched its growth and its influence. A revolution in Torah studies and a ripple effect of intellectual depth are clearly due to this amazing website. Both lay people who love learning and Torah teachers across the world have benefited and gained from the materials and sources posted. I have watched, firsthand, our teachers prepare materials for different classes from the available original source materials. From the clear fonts to the intricate opinions, all is beautifully designed to enhance the learning experience. As your work progresses and slowly this edifice of Torah solidifies, if there is anything I can do to help in this process, please let me know.
In honor of Torah learning and in friendship,
Rabbi Abraham Lieberman
Head of School
YULA Girls High School
Los Angeles, CA, USA
“It is my pleasure to add these few words of admiration for the AlHaTorah project. Having reviewed the material presented on this website, I can imagine many different and powerful uses for this wonderful resource. Once additional chapters and materials are added I can see it being used both by teachers and students to enhance their study and understanding of Torah. Kol HaKavod!”
“AlHaTorah.org is my 'go-to' site whenever I prepare for a class or a shiur, both for the range material available on both Tanakh and Torah Shebaal Peh and for the ease of cutting and pasting into a document. It is also a site I show to my Jewish Education students for them to add to their arsenal.”
י"א אדר תשפ"א
February 23, 2021
Dear Neima,
Thank you for the incredible contribution you are making to the world of Torah learning with your site, alhatorah.org. When I am starting to prepare a new shiur, one of my first steps is to check whether your site has covered my topic. ALHATORAH's comprehensiveness and its organization have saved me hours of work that could then be invested instead in analysis, and also have brought sources and approaches to my attention that I might otherwise have missed.
Thank you also for presenting ALHATORAH to my students. They commented afterwards that they wish I had introduced you to them even sooner! Your site is enormously helpful to them in their independent research, and I have no doubt that their papers will be better because of the material and tools that your site has put at their fingertips.
Thank you again for creating this phenomenal site להגדיל תורה ולהאדירה.
Warmly,
Dena Rock
Gemara Ramit and Matmidot Scholars Coordinator
Midreshet Lindenbaum
November 14, 2016 / 13 Marcheshvan 5777
Dear AlHaTorah,
I would like to thank you for all the work and effort you have put into your website. There is a wealth of information and I use it all the time. It is my first place to go when preparing a Parasha shiur. I begin by checking the topics already discussed on the Parasha. They are thorough and explain what each Parshan says to answer the posed questions and the anomalies in the text. The notes are also always illuminating and provide material for deeper discussions.
When preparing the shiur, before using an actual sefer, I use the online Mikraot Gedolot. It is easy to navigate and includes a number of not so common Meforshim. The options to choose which meforshim and how to display them also allows the search to focus on the material that I am looking for.
The most recent addition of the Concordance is a powerful tool in order to find similar words throughout the Tanach. I just used it this past week to make a connection between the פרידה of Lot from Avram and the פרידה of the 70 nations from each other!
I also enjoy the historical write ups on the Parshanim and the recent work on the Rashi manuscripts. I used that material recently to give a class on Rav Yosef Kara and how his explanations may have seeped into the Rashi text we currently have in our Chumashim.
Needless to say I am enjoying and always using the site. Thanks again and Tizku L'Mitzvot!!
David
Principal, Maimonides Elementary School
617.232.4452 ext. 311
“Just as the invention of the printing press facilitated the creation of the Mikraot Gedolot which expanded the horizons of Torah study, the invention of the computer has enabled unbounded exposure to the richness of Biblical interpretation. AlHaTorah.org has the potential to make an unprecedented contribution toward the realization of this goal.”
“AlHaTorah is a useful and innovative online Torah resource, ambitious in scope and depth, and always adding new resources and tools. Its interface is easy to use and is helpful both for accessing sources and for comparing biblical passages or analyzing a particular passage. I utilize this website on a daily basis in my research and Torah study.”