By COLlive staff
As the summer comes to an end, many young bochurim will be entering or returning to Mesivta their parents enrolled them and beginning a new year of challenges and accomplishments.
Many will feel burdened by what is expected from them, but some will be entering without the butterflies in their stomach – thanks to preMesivta Online.
The new learning program developed and directed by Rabbi Mendel Polter, former Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Menachem Mendel Lubavitch of Monsey, has already declared successes since its debut a few months ago.
“We were very fortunate that our son could benefit from Rabbi Polter’s classes this summer,” said Rivka Benhiyoun, a mother of Chicago. “He was eager and happy to grab his Gemara everyday to participate in the class and later on review by himself.”
Another couple from Chicago, Dovid and Esther Rena Grossman, said they were “thrilled with the high level of learning, individualized attention, professionalism and utilization of technology that PreMesivta embodies.”
Geared for both youngsters who are enrolled and those who do not have access to a yeshiva, students can join one of three evening time-slots allotted according to age and level (with some flexibility to accommodate different time zones).
Together, they get the focused benefit of an energizing and motivational Gemara session and also gain from Rabbi Polter’s special methods of explaining and conveying skills and material, developed over more than a decade of highly successful Gemara instruction.
“Getting these skills now, before the stress of Mesivta begins, is so incredibly crucial,” explains Rabbi Polter, the experienced and well-known mesivta educator who personally leads the sessions.
“The lack of Gemara skills is a silent killer, and by the time you realize it, it’s really too late,” he says. “Bochurim need to be very capable in Gemara in order to feel comfortable in the mesivta and yeshiva environment.”
According to Rabbi Polter, if bochurim can be sure to gain these skills early on in their school career, they will be much happier in the upper grades and avoid many of the problems plaguing the current generation.
“If you’re in 7th grade, why wait until the pressure begins?” he asks. “This is the prime year to work on Gemara language and textual skills without having to work so much with the commentary.
“And if you’re in 8th grade, you have just one more year to get those skills under your belt. This program can be your ticket to a successful yeshiva journey and everything else that follows.
“For 9th graders, you are already in mesivta and have the challenges of learning that mesechta. Wouldn’t it be great to master the text and be part of what is going on in yeshiva? With preMesivta Online you can do so like never before.”
And apparently, long-distance supplementary learning does the work.
In feedback received to date, parents said the personal and focused nature of this type of learning appears to be perfect for this type of specific skills training.
“Unlike hiring a well-meaning local guy to sit with your child and go over his work, signing up with Rabbi Polter gives you access to 10 years of carefully developed and tested Gemara instruction methods,” said a coordinator for preMesivta Online.
“Rabbi Polter is truly a master Gemara teacher, a rosh yeshivah teaching in your own home for a very reasonable fee,” he added and noted that PreMesivta also offers sessions for schools and groups, private sessions, and continuing education sessions for professional teachers.
For more info, visit premesivta.com or call (845) 202-1109
is this the same rabbi polter that is single handedly saving lubavitch? this is amazing keep it up kol hakovod!!! yelchu machayol el chayal!!!!!!!!!
this program looks intresting but im worried about the costs of the program. is there a way that i can get alittle help with the financial part of it due to my struggles as of late? thx
I spy Avraham, keep up the great work!
Z P
I was a student in this gemara program and i am pre mesivta age and i found that Rabbi Polter made the learning, interesting, fun, and he is very enthusiastic. He explained it well, and made the gemara come alive for me. Thanks!
as a former talmid of rabbi polter i can say that his method of doing things is by far better then any other.
This is not another yeshiva opening on the contrary this is a program that will help your son stay in my and for a minimal price have a online gemara support system in the comfort of your own home that is exactly who it is for?
just means more and more pressures on us parents. what’s wrong with our kids staying here in CH all the way thru mesivta? I get it that the out of town kids need to go somewhere, but because all the ‘good boy’s/ learners ‘ leave my son wants to too, but we can’t afford to send him away! oh well , mesivta Here will have a ‘ good boy/ learning ‘ staying right here coz I’m not blindly following, because even if we could do it financially, kids of 14 /15 in my opinion are too young to leave home… Read more »
Zal Bachurim abselutly invited to the 930 class they will learn the yeshiva shnaim ochazin Gemara Rashi tosfos like never before and have their best year of learning ever.
If this program does what it says it does this could change everything including so many of our kids going off.
If you read the many testimonials on the web site from current teachers students mechanch like rabbi markowitz and other leading Lubavitch figures they all seem to agree that rabbi polter and pre mesivta does have a clue , bc most boys that are in need of help in Gemara, or their parents would not write a testimonial like that on me and you or many others also look at his teacher testimonials + this does not seem to be A lesson or 2 rather a year of lessons or even more if the boy wants to move to the… Read more »
I agree with #1. Why aren’t the students be better prepared before they get to mesivta. Or why can’t the mesivta’s themselves help these kids. Most parents can’t afford to pay for extra tutoring etc.. on top of tuition, summer programs (mandatory by most mesivtas) etc..
They are not ready to understand it, but they are ready to get familiar with the language aspect of it, the reading, the punctuation, the translation, that is much better taken care of when the child is younger, not older.
Zal Bachurim abselutly invited to the 930 class they will learn the yeshiva shnaim ochazin Gemara Rashi tosfos like never before and have their best year of learning ever.
what about zal bochurim who are behind???
While well presented and sounds great, i really don’t get it. All these advertised programs – pre mesivta camps or like this newest one, preparatory learning, don’t really make sense to me. Skills, complicated learning, pressure, preparing for the challenge – i really don’t have a clue here. From my lomg time experience in Chinuch, I am pretty confident that the organizers of the program don’t have a clue either. It sounds more like a remedial program for the weak students. Do you really think that a few lessons puts them in a higher level? As a teacher for many… Read more »
From my experience , kids begin to learn gemoro in 4th grade are not ready to understand it , so why not to do it later, does anyone know? is it the reason for premesivtah?
a mom from Oholey Torah
I do not understand why cheders and day schools don’t do a better job of teaching the boys gemara. If everyone knows this is the “silent killer” for boys entering mesivta, why aren’t the schools doing something about it?