New Website Aims to Be Virtual Gemara Chavrusa

In time for the upcoming school year an exciting new website has been launched.

Gemaraacademy.com is a newly developed website that was made to cater to Bochurim who will be learning Mesechta Shabbos this upcoming year.

Gemara Academy was designed to be a personal Chavrusa that a student can use at his own pace. The classes can be paused, rewound, or played over again. It can be used to prepare for the next day’s class or for Chazarah of the previous day’s class.

The website will have classes on the Gemara and Tosfos on all the parts that Yeshiva Bochurim will be learning. It will be updated as the year goes on.

A student will no longer find himself wanting help with Gemara and not having access to that help.

Gemara Academy was developed within the context of teaching Gemara in a classroom. Rabbi Chananya Hoffinger has been teaching at Hamesivta of Ocean Parkway for 7 years and experienced firsthand the difficulties that come up when learning and teaching Gemara.

One of the most common difficulties is the vast expansiveness of the Gemara that makes it so hard to stay focused and see the structure of the Gemara. Another challenge is the feeling that we often have of not knowing what approach and method the Gemara will use in the current Sugya.

As a result Rabbi Hoffinger created a system of teaching using PowerPoint presentations that use flowcharts that show exactly which tools the Gemara uses in each Sugya and the larger map of the Gemara.

Because Gemara is a study of the Mishna it therefore uses the same tools over and over again. Since in the process of analyzing a teaching the same tools are always used. As a result after a very short time the student begins to become more familiar with these tools that the Gemara uses as he sees them used over and over again within the visual context of the flowchart.

One of the important goals of Gemara Academy is that the student appreciate the text, and not that the text be replaced with a visual based class. As a result each flowchart is exactly parallel and mirrors the Gemara that it’s teaching. In addition each PowerPoint presentation of the Gemara also has the Gemara text so that the student can become familiar and comfortable with the text.

Gemara Academy seeks to accomplish a number of things:

1)      Show the map of the Gemara so that the student can see the bigger picture and not become lost in the details
2)      To enhace familiarity with the style and tools that the Gemara uses
3)      To show through the flowchart how the ideas in the Gemara are developed
4)      To exactly mirror the text so the student comes to appreciate and become comfortable with the text

This will hopefully lead to students becoming more independent in their learning. As they master the style and tools the Gemara uses, they will feel more empowered and able to approach a new piece of Gemara and learn it on their own.

This system of learning was used this past year in Hamesivta and it had tremendous success. At the end-of-the-year banquet in Hamesivta, student after student got up and spoke about how much they grew in their learning this past year.

14 Comments

  • Medical Professional

    sounds great. I was sad to see that the Chitrik academy, which was similar never expanded.

  • declasse' intelelctual

    Any information about how it will work and how to sign up for participation, schedule and enrollement?

  • Chananya Hoffinger

    The classes will be uploaded onto the website on a regular basis and will keep up with the Yeshivos.
    There’s no need to sign up, you can just go to gemaraacademy.com and it’s all available.

  • Absolutely Amazing!

    Thank you, Rabbi Hoffinger for making this available to the public at no cost! This is a brilliant program which can help every Talmid (and his father) succeed. As a Michanech I can appreciate how valuable this can be especially for the students who tend to get distracted and overwhelmed by a page of small black print. Unbelievable how much work must have gone into this! Better than a private tutor to bring clarity to the Daf in such an organized, interesting way!
    May the Zchus of all the Torah learning resulting from this site stand you in good stead! Yasher Koah in the name of all the Rabbein and Talmidim who will benefit from this marvelous innovation! A real first, never seen before! Hope you keep expanding!

  • Citizen Berel

    This is really A+ stuff. Seriously, anyone can make videos and flow charts, but these are really something special.

    Really, check them out and keep an open mind and you will see that there really is something unique here.

  • WOW!!

    This is amazing material! in nice short videos!!! it’s nice to see that people dont have to watch a shiur on a blatt of gemera just to get to a tosfos they dont know, but can click on each piece individually!!!

    keep it up!

  • Can I purchase a dedication

    I noticed some classes included dedications. How would I dedicate a class in honor of an event?

  • Chananya Hoffinger

    Right now I am focusing on creating PowerPoint presentation, making the videos and uploading them. With time there will be an option for dedications.

  • Chananya Hoffinger

    In response to requests there will now be PDF files of the flowcharts attached to the classes that have flowcharts.
    Your continued feedback will help shape this project.

  • Chananya Hoffinger

    I hope that in the near future there will be an option to donate or make a dedication.
    Currently I’m using the time to create the PowerPoint presentations, make the videos, and upload them, as well as making and uploading the PDFs of the flowcharts.

  • Henny Chanina

    What Rabbi Chananya Hoffinger has done is unbelievable work which will help any boy who wishes to learn and truly understand Gemara. It is clear, concise and well made. He has put hours and hours into putting this together with a full heart and desire to make it available for all. Kudos to him!!!