Behind This Blog

How This Began

Bar Mitzvah Project

If I should start anywhere, I guess I should start with a little background.

My family hasn't always been frum (orthodox). When I was 12 years old we became "officially" frum (religious). 

We have many family and friends of the family who are also Jewish but are conservative or reformed Jews. Whenever we would go to a bar or bat mitzvah, I would always pay attention to what the rabbi(s) would encourage the child to do after he or she preformed their part. They would always suggest that they take on some kind of mitzvah to be their "Bar/Bat Mitzvah Project". The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Project would be something like giving tzedaka, assisting the elderly, aiding disabled children, volunteering, lighting Shabbos candles, saying daily prayers, or even learning from the Torah. This would be a great way to begin their adolescent years on the right foot while performing chesed (kindness as well). Especially since they would be coming off of this religious "high" from their Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

So I would always listen to see what the rabbi(s) would say and see if maybe I could do that too.

During that period of time, several of my family members would call me up and want to hear a little bit about the Parsha (weekly Torah portion). For example, they would be going to a rabbis home for Shabbos lunch or a class during the week and they wanted to be prepared a little. They would call me and I would literally just go through the "My First Parsha Reader" (a very novice set of books on the parsha -intended for 3-9 year olds) with them. This was most frequent with both my dad's dad and my mom's mom, and two of my uncles. In fact, one of my uncles and I even established a time to learn together every week over the phone. We would learn Fridays for maybe 20+ minutes for close to a year. I honestly, loved learning with him (and them).

E-mails

A good friend of our family (one of my dad's former wrestlers) bought me a HP laptop for my bar mitzvah. I loved it. I had already loved typing, writing, organizing, etc. So this was a really special gift. Now, at 13 years old, right after my own bar mitzvah (in May of 2010) I took on my own "Bar Mitzvah Project). What I did was, I would write a summary of the weekly Parsha, have my dad edit it for spelling and grammar (because I was a sixth grader), and then email it to my family members. This way they would be able to go into the Shabbos knowing what the parsha was about.

It was a big hit, -they loved the emails! Every week there were all kinds of questions and challenges thrown my way. It really kept me on my toes and I loved it. But most of all I LOVED the fact that my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were LEARNING TORAH!! That was the best part!

Newsletters

Interestingly, as the following weeks went by, some of my rebbes (Hebrew teachers) and community members had heard what I was doing and were intrigued. They told me that they thought I was doing something very commendable. In fact they even asked me if they could get the summaries too! That was way too cool -when my own teachers wanted to read my writing.

After about a year, my dad suggested that I start writing a dvar Torah instead, -just a little insight on the Parsha instead of a summary. So I did. I started writing short and sweet divrei Torah.

In no more than 2 years' time, I had been emailing my divrei Torah to over 70 email addresses and printing out copies for my school and 2 different shuls. I even opened up a blog to archive them. (Yes, this blog).

People from all over what to read them!! Not just read them, but even sponsor them!! People were reading them to their families at the Shabbos table. People would forward them to their friends. I can't tell how cool it was too me. But now, I was starting to realize that I had a big responsibility in front of me to keep up the emails. Each year, and each grade of school that I reached, I had to produce more and more advanced material. (Meaning, my writing skills and the content itself had to mature along with me.)

"DIVREI MAV"

The name "Divrei Mav" came from one of my dear friends. He is a local rabbi who receives my emails as well and is a huge fan. He would always discuss them with me and one day out of nowhere he starting calling me "The Divrei Mav". Which was really cute! (Famous religious commentators were often referred by their most successful works).  :)

Before long, this endeavor evolved into:

100+ email addresses, 5 shuls, 2 schools, 1 blog. 

Rabbis, doctors, lawers, businessmen, accountants, secretaries, authors, store owners, presidents, food companies, travel agents....you name it were getting involved with it!!

I was, Baruch Hashem able to keep it up for a solid 3 years. Right up until I went away to yeshiva/high school.

Hiatus

In yeshiva/high school I wasn't living at home full-time any more and didn't have access to the computer. Nor did I have the time to research material for a vort (essay of Torah discussion).

I did try to keep it up though. I would do the research during my breaks, type it up in the computer lab, have my principal email it to my dad for editing, then have my brother send and print them out. But as I'm sure you can imagine, this complicated procedure didn't last long. 

So I discontinued them. 

I honestly, didn't think people would even notice. But I received many phone calls, texts, and emails from people wondering, "What happened?!" 

The Return

Currently, I am post high school graduation and am between things. I have some more time on my hands and want to stay particularly productive with my time. I figured, it would probably be a good idea to start writing again.

Mission

"I want to provide an opportunity for Jews of all backgrounds to see the beauty in Hashem's Torah and to learn a lesson that will help them grow closer to Hashem (as Jews). I pray that this will be that opportunity."

So, please, spread the word! My goal is to reach out to as many individuals as I can and inspire them to grow.

Also I strongly encourage you to leave questions and comments, either on the blog itself or to me directly. Your feedback is extremely important to me and can help ME grow as well.

I hope that you and your family enjoy them!!!

All the best!

-Mav