SECOND OU NACH YOMI CYCLE TO BEGIN NOVEMBER 12; SIYYUM ON OU RADIO, NOVEMBER 11, TO MARK CLOSE OF FIRST 742-DAY PROGRAM
First there was Daf Yomi, then there was Nach Yomi, and now there is Nach Yomi again. Following its first 742-day cycle in which it became the most accessed page on www.ouradio.org, drawing more than 300,000 page views around the world since it debuted on November 1, 2007, the second cycle will begin on November 12, 2009 and continue until November 23, 2011.
Besides the hot spots of intensive Jewish learning, participants in the program have logged on from Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Guatemala, Ireland, New Zealand, Peru and a host of other locations on the globe. Nach Yomi is a companion to the OU’s new Shnayim Mikra program, which began with Bereshis, and provides commentaries of each aliyah in a Torah reading, and in its first week drew over 1,500 responses on OU Radio.
Nach Yomi is a project of the Orthodox Union’s Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. It is not to be confused with Daf Yomi, the daily cycle of Talmud study which lasts for more than seven years, and is taught by Rabbi Moshe Elefant, also with a large worldwide audience on OU Radio.
Rather, the program is the daily study of the second two parts of the Tanach triumvirate – Neviim, the Prophets, including Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the others; and Ketuvim, the Writings, which include Psalms, Job, the Five Megillot and Chronicles. The cycle begins with Joshua 1 (“It happened after the death of Moses, servant of Hashem…”) and concludes with II Chronicles 36 (“may Hashem his God be with him, and let him go up!”).
To celebrate the conclusion of the first cycle, the Orthodox Union will present a siyyum, a party celebrating the conclusion of a course of study, featuring OU Executive Vice President Emeritus Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, which will be webcast on OU Radio on Wednesday, November 11. Rabbi Weinreb, who was one of the most popular Nach Yomi presenters, will be joined by other teachers from the program. (The siyyum, to be held at OU headquarters in New York, will actually be recorded on Wednesday, November 4. A few openings are still available for those who want to attend.)
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, Associate Director of Synagogue Services, administers the program and also provided daily written synopses, which were collected in book form as The Nach Yomi Companion. Rabbi Abramowitz said that the original daily lectures would be repeated for the second cycle of Nach Yomi, along with new material.
“It is no surprise that the program is so popular,” Rabbi Abramowitz said, as he worked in his office attending to the details of the second cycle. “The learning is substantive, but it doesn’t require Daf Yomi’s seven-year commitment. Also, the books of the Bible are more accessible than Talmud study, regardless of a person’s prior education.”
Rabbi Steven Burg, OU Managing Director with responsibility for programming, agrees. “Nach Yomi and Daf Yomi are a terrific pair, and taken either singly or jointly, stimulate the mind, provide structure to one’s study of Jewish texts, and give rise to a sense of gratitude that the OU has brought together such brilliant teachers to staff its learning programs. We are pleased to do so.”
As in the first cycle, the programs may be downloaded to an MP3 player. A schedule of the second cycle is available on ou.radio.org/nach, or by contacting nach@ou.org.