Rabbi Yosef Simon created a safe harbor for Torah newcomers
That’s why Rabbi Yosef Simon opened Toras Dovid. Because someone had to step into the breach to help those who’d committed to Torah Judaism yet found themselves adrift
Classically trained singer and musician Alex Gershoni grew up in Manhattan feeling that some of his extended family members — the ones who were frum — possessed something special that he lacked. And so in his late twenties, he decided on a whim to go to a shul and check out Jewish observance. He was impressed by the people he met and interested in the way they lived their lives, and before long, he became a shomer Shabbos Shlomo Aryeh.
Upon his engagement two-and-a-half years ago, Shlomo Aryeh told his then-fiancée that he really wanted to invest in some full-time learning. But he couldn’t just enroll in a kollel — he had precious little Hebrew background and no learning skills. He knew about yeshivos for beginners in Eretz Yisrael, but Shlomo Aryeh’s future wife wasn’t keen on moving so far from her Brooklyn-based family.
Yet Shlomo Aryeh, for his part, realized that “You can only go so far trying to learn Gemara with an English translation.”
Create a free account to keep reading.
