Jerusalem – Nitzotzos shel Kedusha is the name of a multimedia Hebrew-language company that attempts to provide healthy, educational entertainment for religious children. In the past, the company has produced several genre of films including musicals, adventure, nature, parshas hashavua and documentaries that are suitable for the religious public. The popular films included “Every Jew is Gold”, “The Cantonists Decree”, “Elisha Baal Kanafayim” “A Treasury of Parables”, “Mitzvos Train”, etc. The company has over 80 films under its belt, which can be accessed and viewed at its www.nitzotzotonline.com web site.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Now the company has come up with a new multimedia idea whose goal is to facilitate the learning of gemora. Yigal Hushier, the general director and a Chabad chosid, says that the series is not only for the religious, but anyone who wants to learn gemora including children, baalei tshuva and curiosity-seekers. The film attempts to convert the gemora sugya into real-life situations that takes place in both ancient and contemporary times, bringing the topics to life and making them more relevant. His hope is it will deepen the learning experience for those who are studying the gemora text.
“Anyone who watches the film will know how to behave in certain situations,” Hushier said. “If he finds a lost item, he’ll know how to deal with it and if he has to return it or not.”
The first of the series is on the first chapter of “Hamafkid”. In the film, one of the students discovers that in order to return a DVD stolen from a store, he must return it and notify that owner that the device had been returned. The film has been reviewed and approved by educators.
Hushier said that he feels a strong sense of responsibility for the new series, which requires a high level of accuracy and research. During one scene, when he realized that one word of the script was unclear, he stopped filming for close to two hours until he was able to arrive at a solution.
“This is pivotal to us,” Hushier said. “We can’t make the slightest mistake. It is of utmost important that what we say be exact, because this might affect the rest of the viewer’s life.”
Hushier says that he writes the scripts of the films together with his wife. They allow for some “violence” in their films for excitement and to make clear who are the bad guys, but generally keep it at a minimum. “We have enough what to sell without that,” he explains. Slang is avoided in the films, and religious individuals dressed in religious style are portrayed positively,.
Hushier believes that teaching gemora through visual means is another stage leading to the Final Geula, about which it was written that “studying would be done visually.” He hopes that his films will become popular with Talmudei Torah.
“The visual media which heaven has given us is so we can transmit holy knowledge in the most concrete manner possible,” Hushier believes.
This is a worthy effort but they should focus on the issues and problems that yinglach will confront in contemporary life; not some arcane scenario of a donkey wandering in the marketplace with two conflicting marks or a whether someone made hefker on a pile of potatotes sitting in the corner of a field. There are ways to make the talmud relevant to contemporary life and issues regarding midos for the internet, after-school activities and perhaps even financial dealings for a post-Madoff environment. They should also involve non-Rabbonim and chinuchim to make the teachings more interesting for both boys and girls, since the girls typically get overlooked in these efforts.
MI KIAMCHO YISROEL!!!
This is why we have a jewish state! take that you neturei karta bufoons!
In galus we have really silly bad uneducational frum videos but in eretz yisroel we use the technology medium to teach children talmud! BAruch hashem!
This puts on a red light! I smell a rat here…. We always knew that Torah is Torah and films are films… this is the problem of our generation… Certain things gotta be self understood! There is a term Havdalah! and I mean the literal definitioin of this word.. come on jews! know your boundaries. Use the fifth Shilchon Aruch to know what yes and what not… This makes absolutely no sense at all!
If I would see Rav Katz or Rabbi Goldberg this wouldnt scare me as much.. But “HUSHIER” doesnt sound too good.. 🙁
Till this generation children learned very well without these videos. They are not needed!
Sounds great to me!
As my mashgiach told us, I can’t wait for Moshiach, when we will have 24/6 TV with live coverage straight from the Beis Hamikdosh; on another channel will be Gemora shiurim (we sort of have that already on the net); and on another channel will be latest Torah chiddushim! etc etc
Will BMG hook up video screens now so the new videos can be shown?
I’m glad there are those using modern technology to further learning. To all those Luddites who feel this is “modern”, as a previous poster alluded, so is electricity. God gave us technology to use for good. Can anyone imagine a greater good than making learning accessible to all? (Note: Before any such production is used to teach, it MUST have rabbinical over sight, supervision and Hasgocho rating.)
I think it is a great idea and I will hopefully have the opportunity to enjoy viewing the program. I think the new learning tools are excellent. I am a few daf from completing Mesechte Megilla learning with the Artscroll English Gemarah. It is the first time I have actually learned with Artscroll and I think it is the greatest tool. I cannot tell everyone how much I have enjoyed learning with it. I never realized how informative it can be if you read the notes and really think about the sugyas and take your time. After I finish I will learn the mesechte next year with the daf yomi tapes and really learn the daf. Excellent tool ! Thank you Shottenstein Mishpucha and everyone supporting the project.
rav shach Used To Say That We Have To Bring People Closer To Torah Not The Torah Closer To People!
We are in an age of “reiyah” (vision), everyone needs things to be visual, especially as we are very close to Moshiach’s coming where the whole world will see g-dliness. So it’s only appropriate that we utilize every technological advancement in this realm of advancing yiddishkeit and Torah.
In Bereishis Rabbah 16:2 it’s stated: “The world was not worthy to use gold. Why then was it created? For the sake of the Mishkan.”
So too everything that was created was meant to be utilized in a way that reveals g-dliness. Just like we now use the Radio for Torah shiurim, so to should we most definitely use video technology for spreading Torah. For what else otherwise was it created?! As it says in Pirkei Avos 6:11, “All that g-d created in this world, was only created for his glory” i.e. it was created that his glory should be revealed through it, whether from just making a brocho on water, to illustrating a case in gemorah on video, all this reveals g-d’s glory and intent of it’s creation.
This is the problem with people not talking Loshen h’kodesh (Hebrew), that it takes for the kids very long to understand Gemara, Chumis and rashi etc. Versus an Isreali kid who nows the language starts quite ahead in the game. So I think this will help our kids. Cant wait when my kids will go on the street and will say ” that’s Thuar, Tuma, Sheini etc. GOOD LUCK
Do they have any videos like these in englsih?
The point of the torah is to work hard to learn it and understand it. People will now substitute these videos for Torah learning. It is a terrible thing. In addition children will end up looking at other not nice pictures to.
Another point sometimes these videos turn around the point they focus on the interesting parts of the show so the children should like it and they leave out the point!
This is a great idea! People have different learning styles and visual learning works well for many people. Maybe some of the people who fall out of that little box of acceptability in various Yeshivos and families, will now be able to learn better and keep on the proper Derech, instead of being ostracized.
Here is hoping they have this available in English! If I understood Hebrew so well I could have been a better student.
The probem is that nowadays most kids have no concept of how an animal does damage. We dont see animals walking down the street. This causes a problem with comprehension for many students and if we ignore it they will be the next off the derech crowd.
Is playstation coming out with a chezkas habatim game? And what do they have in store for habah al yevimto?
is there gonna be a tziur of steeling drugs, then he uses said item and he wants to return them but he’s totally loaded, so does he have da’as. also is it stealing cuz maybe by steeling them he’s saving someone else??