Spreading the Word

Not long ago, as I was exiting a morning minyan, a young avreich rushed after me. I did not know him, but apparently my Mishpacha photo is not yet too outdated to be used for purposes of identification. He wanted to tell me about his new project, and was smart enough to share how much he enjoys visits from my son Yechezkel to repair his major appliances.

And what is that new project? Nothing less than creating a virtual reality introduction to all the korbanos, through which those wearing special headsets can actually participate in all stages of bringing the korban.

At a subsequent meeting, I asked my new friend, Mordechai Twersky: Why? What drew you to this idea? He acknowledges that the project, V-HaReinu — Virtual Holy Reality, which will probably cost upwards of half a million dollars to bring to full fruition, is not an obvious one for him: “I’m not a Kohein. I’m not a bechor [Rav Chaim Kanievsky ztz”l held, following the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh, that the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash will return to the firstborn]. I’m not an expert in Kodshim.”

What he is, however, is good at putting disparate parts together. He knows that there is a kollel in Bnei Brak working on a 14-volume compendium on the laws of the Beis Hamikdash. He has a religious friend, Eliezer Ben Hamou, who works in a unit that prepares virtual reality training materials for the IDF and who has animated much of the avodah of the Temple. Putting all these elements together, he has already authored nearly 30 virtual reality scripts.