Hot off the press: “A Drop in the Ocean” – new book by Michael Freund
Shavei Israel is excited to announce that Founder and Chairman Michael Freund has teamed up with Rabbi Moshe Lichtman to write “A Drop in the Ocean: A Daily Dose of Eretz Yisrael.” The book is organized like a “Daf Yomi” – the worldwide daily Talmud study program – with one exception: in “A Drop in the Ocean,” the study material is all about enhancing one’s appreciation for the Land of Israel.
“The idea for this book came to me when I was considering the growing number of daily study programs that now exist, which cover everything from the Talmud to the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah to the works of the Chafetz Chaim,” Freund explained. “These undertakings have proven tremendously successful in elevating Jewish knowledge among the public. By taking large and otherwise daunting works, and breaking them down into daily doses of intellectual and spiritual nourishment, such initiatives have enriched Jewish learning and observance.”
But, Freund noted, “what was lacking from the bookshelves in many English-speaking Orthodox homes was a similar daily study program centered around Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel], one that could be used by teachers and students, rabbis and laymen, to enhance their own appreciation for our nation’s Holy Land.”
Freund approached Rabbi Lichtman with the concept for a book and the result is now available for purchase at the Shavei Israel bookstore.
“A Drop in the Ocean” is meant to be used daily, rather than as a book that you sit down and read over a Shabbat afternoon. The daily sources are culled from the Torah, Talmud, Midrash and more. And for just $25 a copy, it’s not only inspirational – it’s a bargain to boot.
Rabbi Lichtman has semichah (ordination) from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and Yeshiva University. He also holds an master’s degree in Jewish Education, made aliyah in 1991 and has taught in several yeshivot and seminaries. He is best known for his landmark translation of Eim HaBanim Semeichah and for his highly popular “Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah.” He also translated Simcha Raz’s biography of Rav Kook, “An Angel Among Men.”
“I pray that many of my fellow Jews in the Diaspora who take the Torah and its commandments seriously, who value the words and insights of our Sages, and who seek to live lives of meaning and purpose, will be inspired by what they read within these pages,” Freund said. “And perhaps even more importantly, that you the reader will take a look in the mirror and ask yourself one simple yet straightforward question with unembellished honesty: as a religious Jew who strives to serve G-d, where is it that I truly belong?”