High school and college were a good time for me monetarily. I happen to be a pretty good Torah reader and I can chant a haftarah with the best of them. It was only natural that I worked part time as a bar/bat mitzvah teacher. And boy was that money good. People with Master’s degrees didn’t make as much in an hour as I did.
But I’m happy I got out of the business. The idea of sitting on my couch checking text messages while listening to a 13 year old mess up his portion was just to strenuous. And it’s a good thing I got out when I did. Because there is a new product on the market that is going to put all the bar/bat mitzvah teachers out of business.
The Magic Yad is basically a portable teacher. The best comparison I can make for it would be one of those little kids books where you press a button on the page and a narrator will speak or an animal will make a funny sound. The Magic Yad comes with the text for the kids’ bar/bat mitzvah and when you press the yad on the words, it sings for you.
I think I can speak for everyone when I say that robots are taking over the world. Watch the video and you’ll believe me.
mitzvah
Pronounced: MITZ-vuh or meetz-VAH, Origin: Hebrew, commandment, also used to mean good deed.
Torah
Pronunced: TORE-uh, Origin: Hebrew, the Five Books of Moses.
yad
Pronounced: YAHD, Origin: Hebrew, literally “hand,” this is also the pointer used in synagogue to indicate the section of the Torah or biblical text that is being read or chanted.