Testimonials - Halacha Mastery Program

The Halacha Mastery Program is a separate track of study and not aligned with regular WebYeshiva.org courses. It is for students seeking advanced learning. To apply CLICK HERE. The following are testimonial from graduates of the program.

“I chose to become a student in the Halacha Mastery Program because I did not start keeping mitzvot until adulthood, and now that my wife and I have two little sons to instruct, I want to get a more thorough education in the things I need to know so that I can teach them.

For aforementioned reasons, it’s also really hard to schedule learning in traditional settings because life is really unpredictable right now, so a web format was very appealing to me. I have to say that having WebYeshiva over the last year has been truly wonderful.

I learn well by listening, and I have been able to get through a great deal of material in a short time just by hearing many shiurim via audio, on my own time while I am commuting or putting an infant to sleep or whenever else. I appreciate about the core shiurim how thorough and clearly organized they are; one really gets the sense that one is getting exposed to the whole evolutionary history of the halacha and understanding what makes the poskim tick.

I especially appreciate that the material is taught in such a way where one doesn’t feel like the instructors are trying to hide all of the complexities so as to ensure obedience to a uniform code; on the contrary, I think the instructors go out of their way to tell you everything you would need to know to make your own best arguments *against* the mainstream halacha if that’s what you wanted to do, even though that wouldn’t be the course they themselves would recommend. I am really grateful for this.

Additionally, there is a huge amount of other material besides the main series of shiurim that is really interesting and easily accessible. I am learning so much more than I had ever imagined I could during the busiest years of my life to date, and I’m very glad for the opportunity.”

– Dr. Jeremy England, Boston

“When I turned 40 I looked at my life and wanted to see what pieces I should add to it. As I looked to redouble my efforts at my learning I found the Halacha Mastery Program which seemed like such an opportunity. Although I have attended amazing Modern Orthodox schools growing up, there was never a focus on halacha and to be honest, I never wanted to focus on halacha before. But now it spoke to me.

Furthermore, I didn’t really have any interest in learning halacha as a “yes you can” or “no you can’t” kind of way. I wanted to understand the underlying concepts and how they relate to each issue and each question, and often how they interrelate. In that there is beauty. It has been wonderful to learn online at this level at a time when I was ready to engage in it in a more mature way than I would have when I was younger.

The Halacha Mastery Program teachers have been amazing and always available to help me piece together the halachic pieces of the puzzle. The more I have learned halacha the more beauty I have found in our halachic process.”

– Karen Wasserstein, Silver Spring, Maryland

“WebYeshiva provided me with the convenience that I was looking for in a supplemental learning program. The flexibility of choosing to learn live with the faculty and interact with classmates or listen to the archived version gave me a real incentive to sign up for as many classes as I could handle. The quality of the shiurim are excellent, and the faculty are all engaging presenters, thus keeping the interest level on a high frequency. For anyone looking to add to their personal growth through an independent learning program, I highly recommend WebYeshiva.”

– Dr. Bernie Kastner, Jerusalem, Israel

“I chose the program because I had been learning gemara in Rabbi Brovender’s shiur since the beginning of web yeshiva, and when it was announced, it looked like a really interesting program. I was already very familiar with web yeshiva, so I was comfortable with the setup. The setup is (or at least was initially) unique among onlne programs in that it effectively simulates a live classroom. It’s possible to ask the teacher questions either by voice or through chat, and to interact with the other students through chat. It even has an advantage over the live classroom, in that one can go back to the archives to review what happened in class, or to catch up on a missed class. My routine was generally to attend the live class, listening and asking questions, then sometime during the week, to go back and listen to the archived class, taking notes. This was a very effective way of reviewing for me. The other advantage is that one can attend class from any location in the world, as long as one has internet, so that one is not geographically constrained. Also, I discovered that I really like learning halacha 🙂“

– Beth Ben-Avraham, Philadelphia

“Biking beside the NYC Hudson river, my commute to work is generally accompanied by a lecture on switching on an incandescent bulb on shabbat. While some bikers ride to the music of Adele, I ride to the responsa of the Noda B’Yehuda. Thank you WebYeshiva for carrying our tradition into the 21st century, where the internet is my bread, headphones my clothing, and lack-of-free-time (to sit and study) my economic reality.”

– Zachary Aryeh Amsel, New York

“It’s been great having the opportunity to be kovei’a itim (have set times) for learning halakha in the spare moments of my busy professional schedule. I am tremendously grateful to Webyeshiva for making this opportunity available to me and so many others.”

– Dr. Stu Halpern, New Jersey

“It’s a very convenient program because you can do it whenever you want from the comforts of your own home and there’s a lot of advantages to that. I try to be online during the live shiur because you want to participate in the chat and interactions but if there’s a case where I can’t be there live, it’s easy to access the archives.”

– Israel Friedman, Israel

“I enrolled in the Halacha Mastery Program because I wanted to gain a stronger foundation in my halachic thinking and it was very successful in helping me achieve that. The teachers were very engaging and I learned a lot of halachot I did not know before. More importantly, I learned how halacha is built up from the chumash, through the Gemara, into the Rishonim and down to today. I now have a grasp on the halachic mind and how it works regarding every day questions and activities.”

– Pál Hegedűs, Hungary

“The combination of the specific teachers and the flexibility of the technological platform was an unbeatable choice. Even though I had no experience with long distance learning I loved the idea that I could participate in shiurim in real time and see people and interact with the teachers and the students. If I couldn’t attend a particular week I could make it up the next day through the archives. This program is in the halachic mainstream, yet encourages one to develop a personal ideology and application of those rules.”

– Professor Adam Cohen, Toronto

“While I have spent a lot of time learning things like Gemara and Chassidut this program gave me the opportunity to study halacha in a more formal setting. Learning interactively online has been a good experience and the two biggest advantages are the convenience of being able to do it from wherever you are located, and the archives. If you are unable to attend you can watch or listen to a class the next day and if so desired, go over the material again and again.”

– Nathan Davidovitch, Denver/Israel

“What really attracted me to the Halacha Mastery Program was learning with a goal in mind. It wasn’t about learning the halachot to become a Rav but learning what you need to know to run a house. I have a family and we have questions that come up all the time about Shabbos or kashrut. Unfortunately, coming from a day school background you don’t really get such in-depth understanding. Among other things, the topics being covered in this program were very much related to things you needed to know as a parent in the home. Yes, you should have a Rav to call when you need but it’s also nice to answer your own questions.”

– Avi Noam Taub, Israel

“The Halacha Mastery Program gives you insight from all the various sources which lead to a certain halachic ruling (psak). In this program I have learned to understand how to track a specific topic (halacha) through all the sources from the Torah to the Rishonim through the Acharonim.

It is intense work but worthwhile and I learned to enjoy learning halacha along the way. Also, this program shows you that halacha is not black or white. The Rabbis who teach are amazing. If you like an intellectual Orthodox approach to analyzing halacha this program is for you.”

– Shalom Meir, Belgium

“Anyone committed to fully observing halacha should take it upon him/herself to understand halacha and be able to reasonably respond to halachic questions and situations as they arise -which is exactly what the Halacha Mastery Program prepares you for. It offered a wonderful opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of my knowledge and understanding of halacha within a structured framework suited to someone with a full-time day job.”

– Jeffrey Green, Be’er Sheva, Israel

“The Halacha Mastery Program provided an online platform for learning practical halacha at an advanced level. It was an opportunity for me to engage in very meaningful halachic learning online in live and interactive classes with excellent and amazing teachers. Learning halacha at the conceptual level allows one to travel throughout the generations and I enjoyed the creative thinking and problem solving the rabbis brought to situations throughout time.”

– Allan Goldenberg, Michigan

“I loved the WebYeshiva program for a few reasons. First, it afforded me the flexibility to commit, on my own time, to doing the work, while pursuing a career in mental health. It was great being involved in an engaging, meaningful, and goal-oriented learning regimen that complemented the rest of my schedule and lifestyle. Second, the teachers. The teachers combined scholarship and craftsmanship, love and care, as well as engaging, accessible cutting-edge material. It was a joy to get to know the teachers and to build relationships with them.”

– Noah Tile, Michigan

“The standard of the lecturers throughout the program was excellent and the review and preparation classes were invaluable. The greatest challenge for me personally was assimilating all the information into daily life but the program also showed me that halacha is not a dead subject but a living organism that adapts to meet modern times.”

– Brian Sopher, Netanya, Israel

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Halacha Mastery Program. I found it intellectually and spiritually stimulating and engaging. The teachers were all excellent, and I especially benefited from the digital mode of learning (remote) and the versatility of the program, by using the archives which allowed me to create my own learning schedule and fit my studies into my already hectic professional and family life.”

– Daniel Rose, Modi’in, Israel

“I very much enjoyed the program. The teachers are all excellent. With the online format, regardless of where I might have happened to be, I could participate in the class. For the courses I missed, or simply wanted to review again, everything was recorded so that I could do that at my leisure, or on demand. How cool was that! Although I enjoy learning with a Chevrusa in person, I also enjoy learning on my own, so the self-study aspect of the program worked well for me. But it really comes down to all the great teachers who teach in the program. Just excellent, all of them!”

– Saul Orbach, Efrat, Israel

“I have been learning Torah for over 50 years. The experience of learning via Webyeshiva was one of the best I have had. The range of topics was wide, the standard of teaching was first class and the organization of the material was professional. The fact that I could access the archived material meant that my learning could be flexible and there was always something for me to learn at all times. I am very proud to have completed the Halacha Mastery Program and would thoroughly recommend it to all serious learners.”

– Dr. Jonathan Lieberman, Manchester, England