Baruch Hashem over the years I’ve sent out these Parsha Ponders emails I’ve managed to translate a piece from every parsha from the sefer Be’er Yosef. I decided to compile and improve the pieces, and publish them into a sefer. My first book Parsha Ponders wasn’t something professionally done. It was two clicks on Amazon to get printed. I want to properly publish this sefer to give the original the honor it deserves. The manuscript is now complete and I’m in touch with Mosaica Press to get it printed and put in seforim stores across the globe.
The bottom line is I need to raise $16,000 USD to pay for all the expenses in publishing a sefer. I’m requesting you to think if you know anyone else who might be interested to help. These things only succeed through word of mouth.
Any amount is appreciated; at the same time, if people want to dedicate the sefer leilui nishmas or any other dedication, the larger the donation, the larger the dedication will be displayed. For those who are interested, Mosaica has a non-profit they run which will give American tax receipts for donations.
If interested in pledging an amount, please fill out the form below. Otherwise, if you know anyone who might be interested, please send them a link to this page. Thank you.
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The sefer: It is my favorite sefer on Chumash, written by Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant zt”l, of Yerushalayim. It is a treasure trove of unique insights on the Parsha. The simplest questions, often left unaddressed by earlier authorities, are given the most profound yet intuitive answers.
It’s a tremendous shame that this sefer hasn’t been made available to a wider audience. Even many fluent Hebrew readers aren’t familiar with it. They don’t realize that it’s a sefer whose insights Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbauch zt”l himself would go in person to hear from the author. The former even writes that he suggested the author put these powerful lessons to print.
The translation: I have translated one piece per parsha from the sefer. The goal of this English sefer is to provide a taste of the real thing to those not fluent in Hebrew, and to give exposure to the original to those who are. To make this work more readable to the average beginner, it was chosen to not be a literal translation. Concepts are embellished and explained, and difficult terms are given their proper context. Some ideas are expanded to provide more closure for the reader. This work should be looked at as a springboard to encourage those who are interested to see the original inside.
I’ve sent the manuscript to a number of gedolim. I’ve so far received a haskama from Rav Zev Leff, Rav Yisroel Reisman, and words of blessing from Rav Aharon Feldman and Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz. I hope to receive more soon. I’ve also been in touch with the Be’er Yosef’s grandson, and he has given his consent to this project. He hopes to write a michtav bracha for the sefer in the coming days.
The costs: Your donation goes towards covering the following expenses: editing, typesetting, graphic design, and book printing. The plan is to print 1000 books.
Haskamos: Here are the approbations/words of blessing I’ve so far received for the book.
For more information, please email contact@parshaponders.com