In the News
Innovative Master Torah Learning Program
as featured in the Jewish Press
Mastery of Shas has become a practical reality for everyone, as proven daily by over 700 regular learners from the U.S., Israel, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Venezuela, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and Australia, who participate live and via Internet in Rabbi Meir Pogrow's groundbreaking Master Torah program.
"After multiple extensive tests, I can say that the kinyan of the participants in Master Torah's Shaklah V'taryah Shas shiur is astounding," said Torah giant Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman. Master Torah's Shaklah V'taryah Shas enables thousands to master an amud of Gemara a day via Internet, at www.mastertorah.com. "This program shows that everyone can and should have an expectation to review, master and retain what they have learned."
Master Torah's impact is profound. "In our beis medrash, these people have developed a very impressive yedias haShas. They developed their ahavas haTorah and it has changed their personalities," said Rabbi Elimelech Kornfeld about Master Torah participants from Ramat Bet Shemesh's Gra Shul.
"I can't say it made a difference in my life - it made the difference in my life," said C.P.A. Chaim Beinash, who regularly attends Rabbi Pogrow's shiur.
Rabbi Pogrow founded Master Torah after observing how, despite years of yeshiva education, so few could command even a fraction of the material. "Master Torah is here to change that - for Shas, Mishnah and Rambam," said Rabbi Pogrow, who delivers a 5:30 a.m. shiur in Ramat Bet Shemesh to a 50-strong crowd of professionals and businessmen. He commutes regularly to Austin, Texas, where he heads a kollel outreach program.
The live shiur is posted on the Internet half an hour after delivery. Learners can also download review schedules, exams and test answers.
Together with renowned Torah educator Rabbi Zev Leff, Rabbi Pogrow was the featured speaker at the annual convention of International Association of Jewish Outreach Programs in Baltimore, MD, that took place on January 18-19, 2008.
The secret to Rabbi Pogrow's successful program is consistent and systematic review. Participants spend an hour reviewing his half-hour shiur on the amud. They also commit to an additional 45 minutes daily review of the morning amud, the previous days' amud, three amudim from a previous perek, and two dapim from previous tractates.
"Whole kollelim together download, watch and review the shiur," said Rabbi Pogrow.
The powerful combination of Internet accessibility and Master Torah's adaptability constantly generates new learning curricula. Recently, a school principal and several businessmen with a morning kollel in Queens asked Rabbi Pogrow for a pshat Mishnayos shiur so that they could complete the Mishna in two to two-and-a-half years. The new shiur supplements the 520 hour-long Iyun Mishnayos shiurim, already posted online.
Currently, Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz, general editor of the Schottenstein edition of the Talmud, has 25 baalabatim from his shul in the Master Torah program.
Using the same proven formula, Master Torah's Rambam Mishneh Torah Program, a basic introduction to all of Torah, allows mastery of over 15,000 halachos.
But Rabbi Pogrow's ultimate vision for Jewish education begins with young children, based on the blueprint laid out by the Jewish Sages. "We are out to prove that Chazal's advice for Talmud Torah - namely Chumash at 5, Mishnah at 10 and Gemara at 15 - is timeless, and will produce 18-year-olds who know Shas," said Rabbi Pogrow. Under the tutelage of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt"l, Rabbi Pogrow himself memorized the Mishnah by age 12 and completed Shas for the first time by 17.
In September 2009, he plans to launch a Master Torah school in New York that will exponentially expand what pupils can accomplish. Graduates would approach 100 percent retention in both limudei kodesh and secular studies. Not only will the same successful methodology used for limudei kodesh be applied to secular studies, but limudei chol will be integrated into Torah studies.
January 22 , 2008
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