About MyTorahCoach

I first read from the Torah on my Bar Mitzvah. My parents found me a coach, a wonderfully patient woman named Lois, who taught me both the Torah and the Haftarah trop. With a lot of practice and her guidance, I was able to stand up in front of my community on the day of my Bar Mitzvah and read. I made mistakes, but I did it. I remember feeling very proud and extremely relieved when it was over! 

It’s been a long time since my Bar Mitzvah. To put this in perspective, I learned at a time when music was still recorded on cassette tapes. You really didn’t have a choice if you wanted to learn to read from the Torah. You needed a coach.

I still believe this is true. 

We live in a time where you can find every word of the Torah and every Haftarah online through YouTube, personal websites, Chabad, and more. You can find many different styles of trop cantillation based on different traditions. 

But if you want more—if you want more instruction and insight—you generally need to look closer to home. If you are lucky, you will be able to lean on people in your community—like your Rabbi, Cantor, or others. However, and with the greatest respect to these people, what you are likely to find is that their methods of delivering lessons have not evolved much since my pre-Internet Bar Mitzvah (although they probably use MP3s instead of cassette tapes). And you will be limited by the time they have available. 

I built MyTorahCoach to do two things. The first was to make high quality coaching accessible to everyone. The second was to modernize its delivery. Technology allows us to do both. As people are proving in every sector of the global economy, the real power of technology is bringing people together to share knowledge and experiences, and in doing so to promote learning and understanding. I hope you find MyTorahCoach up to this challenge.  

About Jonathan Deitch

Jonathan Deitch began reading from the Torah at the age of 13 and never stopped. He is now into his fifth decade of leyning, having chanted Torah and Haftarah countless times on weekdays, Shabbat and the High Holidays. A pianist from the age of 6 and a professionally trained singer, Jonathan has combined his many years of experience and musical talent to create MyTorahCoach. An American Jew raised in the conservative movement, he now lives in Paris, France with his family and is a member of France’s only bi-lingual (and tri-lingual) synagogue, Kehilat Gesher.