Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

NEW YORK — The Religious Zionists of America has undertaken a groundbreaking partnership with Amazon.com to make its “Tzurba M’Rabanan” text available in English throughout Amazon’s entire distribution network. This latest venture follows the dramatic growth of the contemporary Halacha learning program, which has seen a near doubling of interested participants and increase in weekly learning groups across North America this year.

The “Tzurba M’Rabanan” learning method encompasses the full range of sources pertinent to any Jewish law, including the Tanach, the Gemara and commentaries which range from the times of the Tanaim through to modern day Poskim. The Lax Family Series makes daily learning of Halacha through “Tzurba M’Rabanan” more accessible for the diaspora, through its assembly of both written texts and publishing with translations in English. Participants are presented with the original texts, color coded translations and bullet-point summaries to maximize their individual comprehension and mastery. The text is presented in an efficient way, similar to Daf Yomi, making each lesson possible to learn in just a few devoted moments daily. The program also pays special attention to the latest in Halachic issues, including an entire written volume devoted to COVID-19, and topical podcasts and videos to tackle current societal trends.

Through its new partnership with Amazon, the texts will become easily accessible by an even wider audience and can be printed based on each order. Previously, ordering a Tzurba text required the user to plan further in advance or risk a longer wait time on delivery as most printing presses tend to print in batches. Now, Amazon will custom-print and ship each edition at the time of the customer’s confirmed order. 

Amazon’s facilitation of the entire publication process will not only enable individuals to quickly order the entire standard seven-volume series with a click, but will additionally provide the option to customize each text to include only those Halachic topics and chapters that are desired. This one-of-a-kind personalization is anticipated to massively improve the way yeshivas design yearly curriculums, providing schools with the ability to create a custom textbook for use in individual classrooms or specific grade levels. Several Jewish day schools are already in the process of customizing their Tzurba textbooks, with many more joining in upcoming months as preparation for next year begins. Those interested in purchasing a standard Tzurba text through Amazon can visit https://rza.org/TzurbaAmazon where they will be redirected to the appropriate page on Amazon’s site. Those interested in purchasing a customized text can email Tzurba@rza.org to learn more.

“Over the last year, it’s been incredible to watch the rapid growth of ‘Tzurba M’Rabanan,’” said Religious Zionists of America Executive Vice President Rabbi Ari Rockoff. “With such significant growth over a short period of time, it’s been challenging to keep up with demand and the momentum of learning that so many of our weekly Chaburot country-wide are experiencing. With that in mind, we are thrilled to partner with Amazon, whose publishing and distribution network is better equipped to keep up with demand while our team works to further grow the network of learning opportunities. 

“We’re thrilled that an added benefit of this partnership will be the ability for yeshiva day schools across the country to develop customized Halacha’textbooks’ for their various grades by selectively choosing topics to include based on age and level of understanding. For too long, teachers have relied on self-made handouts that can vary in content from one another. Utilizing a sefer that has been tailored for each student’s grade level will ensure all classes are learning the subject matter consistently,” added Rockoff.