Professor Torah Productions: Our History
In 1985, Rabbi Yisroel E. Greenwald and Rabbi Yosef Kirsch, devout talmidim of the renown mechanech Rabbi Mendel Kaplan zt”l, wrote a lengthy theatrical script detailing the story of Purim. Greenwald, having learned in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn and having likewise studied under such pedagogues as Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum zt”l and rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l, was well up to the task.
The work brilliantly blended the pesukim of Megillas Esther with the interpretations of chazal. Music and sound effects enhanced the project even further and after years of labor and research, The Purim Story was released in 1989.
The project immediately received rave reviews and was hailed by parents and teachers the world over. The Purim Story brought a new standard to Jewish family entertainment, education, and storytelling. After seeing success, Greenwald and Kirsch continued to create more productions, publishing under Kirsch’s newly created ToraVison™ label. Over the next decade the team produced many other full-length recordings, such as:
- Shimshon: The Man Who Saved Yisroel
- Professor Chai and His Torah Zoo
- A Chanukah Miracle
- Torah Zoo Too!
- Match Made In Heaven
- Blastoff!
- Tailor Made
The recordings were extremely effective in conveying their message and imparting the Torah knowledge and ideals that were the impetus for their creation. Words of praise were lavished upon the products by many of the Torah leaders and educators of our day. Furthermore, teachers often found that by incorporating these productions into their classrooms, they were able to inject a new dimension of learning-come-to-life into their talmidim.
The widespread success of this educational approach beckons the attention of parents, rabbeim, and mechanchim the world over. Yet, whilst many forms of Torah education exist, there is a lack of an adequate supply of presentations of this nature. In that vein and to fill that void, Professor Torah Productions was founded.
Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, under the encouragement of Rabbi Moshe Garfunkel shlit”a, Morah D’asra of Congregation Zichron Chaim, and supported by rabbonim and lay-leaders in our city and abroad, Professor Torah Productions is a tax deductible not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization. Our mission is to reach and educate children and families in the ways of the Torah using multiple means of communication and Jewish media.
Make a Donation
Now you can join in our efforts of Torah dissemination and be part of this lofty endeavor by helping to underwrite new productions and spreading this successful form of Torah chinuch around the globe. Consider the merits that you will have and the difference that your funding will make in the lives of thousands of children eager to learn the word of Hashem.