Rabbi Sholom Raichik said that 1,000 years ago, before education became mainstream, the average Jewish child was literate and the average non-Jewish child was not. That’s why he wants to keep Jewish learning alive, which he has achieved through Project Torah at Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County.
Raichik brought Project Torah — a program held by various Chabad centers across the United States — to Chabad of Upper Montgomery County in 2019. Project Torah 2024 began on July 14, following a Shabbat family dinner on July 12.
In what has become Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County’s most popular program — Project Torah had 50 participants in 2023 — a group of rabbinical students stays at the Gaithersburg synagogue for two weeks every summer to teach one-on-one and small group study sessions of Jewish texts.
“Talmud is basically the largest repository of Jewish knowledge,” Raichik said. “How many people have never ever opened up a Talmud and actually studied? How many people out there … never actually opened up a Torah text and actually studied inside, bring in some commentaries. What does it say? What does it mean? Where does the story of Egypt begin? We’re people of the book.”
The five rabbinical students, who are 22- and 23-year-olds, arrived from Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York, to Gaithersburg on July 12 in preparation for Project Torah 2024. Raichik said they had all attended yeshiva since the age of 6 and are part of the Merkos Shlichus — “roving rabbis” — program, which sends rabbinical students to small Jewish communities around the world.
“They’ve been through proper studies, and they simply want to have an opportunity to sit and study with someone,” Raichik said of the rabbinical students, who hail from New York, Connecticut and Sydney, Australia. “It’s a great opportunity for them.”
Participants range in age from teenagers to senior citizens with varying levels of Jewish education: “All shapes and sizes. I tailor it to that person.”
Topics covered in study sessions include Jewish texts such as the Torah and commentaries, Mishnah, Talmud and Kabbalah, as well as Torah ethics, Chasidic philosophy, Jewish history, Jewish law, prayer, the Holy Temple and Hebrew reading. Raichik said participants can choose a topic of focus that is not listed as well.
Study sessions are personalized so that participants can choose a time slot from the available times — mornings and evenings Sunday through Thursday. Participants can also request different times.
“Everything is personalized,” Raichik said. “We put up hours that are general. If somebody comes and says they want to learn at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we’ll find them someone. If they want to learn at 11 p.m., we’ll find them someone, no problem.”
Raichik added that sometimes husband and wife duos study together with a rabbinical student. Each free study session, which provides participants with coffee, tea and cake, is designed to be informal as well as educational.
“We’re not going to give somebody 20 years of education, but we want to give them a taste of that learning,” Raichik said.
Project Torah 2024 kicked off with about a dozen participants, most of whom are involved with Chabad Lubavitch of Upper Montgomery County. Raichik said there were five or six tables with people sitting and studying at each.
“It’s a beautiful sight,” Raichik said. “[It’s] very encouraging. You hear the sound of studying, and it’s like sweet music to the ears.”
Raichik said Project Torah often serves as a stepping stone for members of the community to become further involved in Jewish learning. Chabad of Upper Montgomery County offers small-group classes and one-on-one study opportunities throughout the year.
“A lot of these people that are doing so have started with this program,” Raichik said.
“A lot of people have a very rudimentary Jewish education, where they learn some basic structure of Jewish life and Jewish history, but they’ve been very limited to any exposure to actual Jewish studies,” Raichik said. “That’s what we’re trying to do: widen the person’s horizons.”
He said Project Torah is not solely about the words on the page, but a deeper understanding of the text and learning more about “something of Jewish nature.”
“It’s not just five books of Moses; it’s Jewish studies,” Raichik said. “Start from the first line of the Torah: ‘In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth.’ What does the Torah actually say inside? It’s not about learning something you can read in a book. Study something you’ve never learned before.”
