A Global Learning Program Parody

LEARN OT YOMIT (OIS YOIMIS) WITH THE ORTHODOX UNION

 

First It was Daf Yomi, then Nach Yomi; OU Webcast of New Torah Learning Cycle Begins Purim.

Torah is for every Jew; make it yours with Ot Yomit online. We look forward to learning with you!

One who learns from his fellow a single chapter [of Torah], a single law, a single verse, a single statement, or even a single letter, must treat him with honor. (Pirkei Avot)

For a single letter of the Torah is worth more than the entire world and than all the mitzvot (Talmud Yerushalmi, Peah).

The last century and this have seen amazing innovations in Torah learning.

In 1923, Rabbi Meir Shapiro introduced the idea of Daf Yomi, the study of one page of Talmud a day.

In 2007, the Orthodox Union began to promote Nach Yomi, the study of one chapter of Tanach a day.

Now comes Ot Yomit, the study of one letter of the Torah a day.

WHAT COULD BE EASIER?

The OU’s Ot Yomit program opens up Torah learning even to those who are able to study only on a very basic level. No previous learning is required; just the willingness to devote yourself to a daily regimen of spiritually rewarding and inspiring Torah knowledge.

If Daf Yomi or Nach Yomi is too challenging for you, this is something you can really do! The Ot Yomit cycle takes slightly longer than either of these two older programs to complete, but learning the entire Torah letter by letter is entirely achievable. Never let anyone tell you it is not so. Just be sure to take the time to read each day’s selection at your own speed—as with any course of study, the more time you spend with the text, the more you will get out of it.

Reading the day’s letter may take you so little time, you’ll want the thrill of studying it again and again!

And as with any other daily study program, those who commit to Ot Yomit must keep the goal in mind. By always focusing on the day you will complete your learning, nothing will deter you from maintaining your daily schedule.

A LETTER A DAY—YOU’LL HARDLY NOTICE THE TIME GO BY

There are 304,805 letters in the Torah—each one precious and important in its own individual way. That means that by committing to spending just a few moments a day to study the letter, anyone can complete the entire Torah in only 834 years. And the OU will provide you with an online calendar so you never lose track of where you are. (Plans to distribute a printed calendar had to be abandoned because of the weight.)

The Ot Yomit program is scheduled to commence on Purim. The first cycle will conclude in 6606 (2846), at which point the second cycle will begin. If you miss it this time around, you might want to wait for the start of the second cycle so that you do not lose out on even one letter.

THE ADVANTAGES OF OT YOMIT STUDY

No longer will anyone be able to say, in the words of Pirkei Avot, “When I have time, I will study.” Who does not have time to study one letter each day?

Many people find it difficult to retain the knowledge they have gained from Daf Yomi and Nach Yomi, given the limited time available to review each day’s lesson before the next arrives. With Ot Yomit, review (chazarah) is built in. By the end of the initial week, the first letter studied—the bet of the word bereishit—appears again, as the first letter of the second word, bara, to be pored over and analyzed anew! And as you study, you will discover that this happens time after time, sometimes even with the same letter appearing two days in a row!

Ot Yomit has been specifically designed by a team of master Torah educators for today’s brief attention spans. You will develop study skills that will inspire and guide you for seconds at a time, for the rest of your life.

THE SIYUM—A FULFILLING MOMENT

What a monumental feeling of achievement you will have when you make a siyum on the entire Torah, just 834 years from now, joined by millions of other Jews around the world (and through the centuries) who have doggedly persisted in learning day after day in order to reach this goal.

A grand siyum is now in the planning stages, with major arenas and convention halls around the world already booked for that date! Leading roshei yeshiva, inspirational speakers and star singers are being lined up. It will undoubtedly be the event of the millennium—and you can be a part of it! Not only you, but your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, great-great-great-grandchildren, great-great-great-great-grandchildren . . . ad dorei dorot!

HOW TO SIGN UP

While most OU programs are provided free of charge, Ot Yomit will need the attention of OU staff members for centuries to come. Therefore, we are asking all who join the program to help maintain it. You will be privileged to join this outstanding learning program for just 10 cents per day. Please don’t forget to include the full amount, $30,480.50, with your registration.

And here’s something unique to Ot Yomit—you can sponsor a letter in memory of someone not yet born!

From Orthodox Union, here.

במקום הסכמה… הרב יוסף ליברמן נגד הקונטרס בענין כיסוי השיער

(ניתן למצוא את הקונטרס המדובר להלן כאן באתר Hyehudi.org.)

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והנה תגובת המחבר שליט”א:

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לכבוד הרב יוסף ליברמן שליט”א,

תודה על מכתבו!

ראשית אשיב על סיום מכתבו, ואודיעו שחלילה לא אחזור בי חינם כלל ועודני מפיץ הקונטרס בכל עת בס”ד (ויהי רצון שאזכה להפיצו ברוב עם במירון בל”ג בעומר הקרב). וכבר אמרו ז”ל “לא תגורו מפני איש — אל תכניס דבריך מפני איש”.

קרוב לודאי שלא תשתדל להבין את תשובתי לדבריך, כשם שלא עיינת בקונטרס, רק קראת זעיר שם (כדמוכח מדבריך), אך כדי שלא יוכל כ”ת שליט”א להפטר בטענה שלא השבתי, אכתוב בקיצור.

הנה אתה בא אלי בפטומי מילי בלבד, ואנכי בא אליך בחז”ל וראשונים אשר חרפת. “אוי לדור שכך עלתה בימיו” שהרבנים חושבים ש”התורה מתחילה” מהן, עי’ הוריות ב’ ב’ “דטועה במצוה לשמוע דברי חכמים”, ולעולם “ערבך ערבא צריך”. מנהג שמיקל נגד הגמרא יש לבטלו, וכן בהרבה סוגיות מתגלה “עון אבתם (ויקרא כ”ו מ’)” ב”מנהגן של ישראל כשרים”.

במ”ש על “שימש ת”ח” ו”הוסמך להוראה”, הרב עצמו אפילו לא עיין, אך היו כמה וכמה ת”ח שעיינו, וגם אחר העיון לא היה בידם להשיב על גוף הטענות מגמרא וראשונים כלל, רק השיבו רובם בגערה מעין דרך כ”ת, א”כ אין לך הסכמה גדולה מזו שדברינו אמת לאמיתה של התורה (ועי’ ש”ע יו”ד רמ”ב ג’)! ועוברים על אמרם ז”ל חולין ו’ ב’ “מכאן לת”ח שאמר דבר הלכה שאין כו'”.

ומ”ש ולא מעופפות כו’, עיין חלק ראשון בעיון, בפרט ה”הבהרה” בסופו.

וגבי הח”ס שנהיה כאילו “דת יהודית” וכו’, באמת דברי חז”ל לא משתנים לעולם ע”י מנהג מרוצת הדורות, וכונת רש”י “דרך בנות ישראל” דכשמצאו חז”ל שמצליחים לקיים הדבר ולעמוד בו, וגם ידעו שהדבר כשר ונצרך באמת, עשאוה כחובה. וכאן הדבר מנוגד לגמרא שבת, כמו שנתבאר בפנים הקונטרס בחלק שני, ואין להפוך הקערה. וכל כונת הח”ס שם לעורר (לפי דעתו), בפרט בשעה שהדור זלזל במנהגים (עיין למשל המג”א שהביא שם). וכן עשה ביו”ט שני, ועוד כידוע, ואכמ”ל. קלתא בחצר הוא דעת הירושלמי, והלכה כהבבלי.

ומ”ש ובלא כו’, אדרבא, גילוי נשים נשואות בר”ה דאז וגילוי פ”נ (ועוד) דא”א בר”ה האידנא טעם אחד להם, היינו הכיסוי בבית, וכמו שנתבאר בקונטרס בחלק שני. וגבי הגברת הקדושה ראה בחלק ב’ ריש עמ’ 20. ואין כאן “קולא” לגלות בבית, עי’ חלק שני עמ’ 7, ועי’ עמ’ 11 שם, ועוד.

יותר מזה א”א להעלות עבור כ”ת שליט”א על הכתב.

ויהי רצון שנזכה לשוב בתשובה שלמה במהרה. באהבה רבה, המחבר

Mass Media: Entertainment, Not Information

Michael C. Jensen

Social Science Electronic Publishing (SSEP), Inc.; Harvard Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS, Karl Brunner, ed., Martinus Nijhoff Publishing Company, 1979
Abstract:

Controlling the political process that threatens the free enterprise market system is a major social problem. This problem will not be solved until we develop a viable positive theory of the political process. Such a political theory will not be complete until we also have a theory that explains why we get the results we do out of the mass media.

This paper is a first step in the development of a formal analysis of the behavior of the press (a term I use as a shorthand reference to all the mass media, including not only newspapers but news magazines, magazines, radio, and television).

I argue that the mass media is best understood as producers of entertainment, not information, and that the theories and facts that people absorb from the media are a by-product of their consumption of the entertainment value of the news. In addition, peoples’ intolerance of ambiguity causes them to demand answers to questions; including those that are unanswerable. As a result the media is generally in the business of providing simple answers to complex problems whose answers are unknown, and it must do so in an entertaining way. Complex answers, even if correct are not acceptable to consumers of the media, and therefore are seldom provided.

To explain the anti-market bias of the media I argue that we must understand the family environment in which people are raised. I outline a theory of the family that is based on the notion that all exchanges must be balanced if two or more parties are to continue in relationship. The family is characterized by the absence of quid pro quo exchanges, and I argue that this occurs because it is inefficient in such relationships to keep the books balanced on a transaction by transaction basis. As a result, the family is organized around non quid pro quo exchanges, and this causes people to erroneously believe that such exchanges are the appropriate way to organize large groups or even societies. This element of consumer demand helps explain why the press is generally biased in its presentation of market vs. collectivist solutions to problems faced in modern societies.

I examine the rewards and penalties that the media and its sources can impose on each other to explain why and when the media will protect some sources of information and why they attack others. Finally I analyze the entrepreneurial aspects of journalism, including the media’s interest in helping to manufacture crises.