Bar Mitzvah Tutor - Kol Kore Ashkenaz
Professional Torah Reading Trainer for
Torah & Haftorah
Age Level: 9-Adult
Media: CD-ROM
Version: Windows 95 and higher
See also:
Bar Mitzvah Tutor - Kol Kore Sephard
ISBN: 1-931711-04-6
About - Bar Mitzvah Tutor - Kol Kore
Ashkenaz
If you're thinking of reading your Torah
Portion or just learning "how to read
the Torah or Haftorah" this is for you.
No more cassettes to wind and rewind...
No frustrations trying to find the right
place...
Now just click and study!
Kol Kore's method is fun... and it
works! Kol Kore is endorsed by the
Israeli
Ministry of Education and leading Torah
Scholars.
This is tomorrow's technology today!
Features - Bar Mitzvah Tutor - Kol Kore
Ashkenaz
-
Includes Israeli Ashkenaz
Pronunciation and Ashkenazi
Pronunciation
-
Fully recorded interactive reading of
Torah Blessings
-
Fully recorded interactive reading of
Cantillations (Taamim)
-
Fully recorded interactive reading of
all Torah Portions...
-
Fully recorded interactive reading of
all Haftara Portions...
-
Fully recorded interactive reading of
all Torah Holiday Readings...
-
Words are highlighted IN HEBREW AND
ENGLISH as cantor reads...
-
Special features increase reading
accuracy and fluency...
-
Full control of learning unit size
from a single word to a full Aliya...
-
Easy repetition of hard to pronounce
words - just click the word...
-
Torah is displayed in Special Torah
Font or conventional Font...
-
Cantillation and Punctuation are
displayed or removed from screen by a
single click...
-
Ability to show text in large easy
reading fonts...
-
Ability to view Torah exactly as the
actual Torah Scroll looks...
-
User editable colors for various parts
of the scroll...
-
Ability to hear each word Chanted and
pronounced in clear Hebrew...
-
Ability to hear each word chanted as a
Musical Note...
-
Special glyphs for Shevva Na and
Kammatz kattan
-
Easy to use software.
-
Works in all versions of Windows NO
ADDITIONAL software or hardware to
buy!
Reviews - Bar Mitzvah Tutor - Kol Kore
Ashkenaz
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich - Jerusalem Post
(7/1/2002) wrote:
Kol Kore Bar Mitzva Tutor, a CD-ROM in
Hebrew with English translation, by
Kol Kore in Bnei Brak, distributed by
Torah Educational Software
(www.jewishsoftware.com), requires
Windows 95 and up and a Pentium 133 Mhz
PC or better, for boys (and girls) of
pre-bar mitzva (and pre-bat mitzva)
age, or any adult who wants to polish up
reading of the Torah.
Rating: ***** FIVE GRAPHIC STARS
My first job, at the age of 17 in my
native New York, was to prepare Jewishly
ignorant 12-and-a-half-year-old boys for
their Bar Mitzva. Since these boys
didnıt know a word of Hebrew or even the
letters of the Alef-Bet, I was pleased
if they learned merely how to read text
and were able to
memorize the blessings for the Torah
readings and ecstatic if they
developed some fondness for or curiosity
in their Jewish heritage. Learning how
to chant their Torah portion and Haftara
was out of the question.
This excellent teaching program would
not have replaced me, as users have to
know how to read Hebrew to benefit from
it. But anyone who can read the language
(that means all Israelis, secular and
observant) and is willing to invest
hours of study in preparing for his Bar
or Bat Mitzva would benefit from this
piece of software; the more-diligent,
well-motivated child could make a
convincing performance on his day of
man/womanhood even without any input
from a knowing adult.
The developer is justifiably concerned
that someone who wants to save money
would buy a disk for his child and then
lend (or sell) it to a relative or
friend with a Bar/Bat Mitzva coming up
something they could not do with a human
Bar Mitzva tutor. Thus the company
reminds users through the the printed
manual that ³to our dismay, some people
think that using a program
without paying for it is not theft. This
is NOT SO. This program is designed to
help fulfil a mitzva. There is nothing
more strictly forbidden than a mitzva
that is the result of a sin.² But the
developers impressively add:
³If you know of any person who needs
this program but cannot afford it,
please write to us, and we will be glad
to accommodate.² Not only is there a key
code on the diskıs crystal case, but you
also have to call in or e-mail the
company to obtain an additional code,
which is suited only to the
computer from which the message is sent.
The disadvantage here, for legitimate
purchasers, is that they canıt use the
program they purchased on a new computer
unless they explain this to Kol Kore.
And anyone who doesnıt formally register
for the pass-key can use the program
only three times; only after getting
this do you have unlimited access.
Once you pass this hurdle, go to the
Portion of the Week determined by your
Hebrew birthday. One had best consult a
rabbi or another expert so that you
donıt make a mistake and end up studying
for months, only to learn that youıve
learned the wrong one.
The user-friendly program lets you pull
down the Book of the Torah menu to
choose one, and then the section within
it that you need to study. There are
many options to suit the learning
environment to you, most importantly the
cantillation style. Choose among
Ashkenazic-Israeli style (mostly
commonly used among Ashkenazi modern
Orthodox); Sephardic-Jerusalem style;
and
Ashkenazic-Ashkenazi style (most often
used among haredim who speak
Ashkenazi-style Hebrew). Sephardi Jews
are a bit shortchanged, as there are
nearly a dozen different Sephardi
styles, but would be impossible to fit
them all onto a single disk. You can
also choose the font styles, sizes, an
ordinary or ³parchment² background to
the text, any of a dozen colors aside
from white as the background and colors
for the letters and the size of the
reading unit. You may also decide that
you want to display the text with the
vowel and cantillation marks (as they
appear in a printed book) or without (as
in the actual Torah scroll), to hear
voice of the baıal kore (person who
sings the cantillation) or to mute the
sound completely after youıve learned it
well enough to do it yourself. You can
also pause at any time in the text.
Learn the cantillation marks, which are
in a different order and contain a
different set of symbols depending on
Ashkenazi or Sephardi modes, for the
Torah and Haftara by watching the
highlighted words and hearing the reader
chant them repeatedly. The blessings
before and after going up to the Torah (aliya)
and preceding and following the reading
of the Haftara. Also available on the
disk are special readings for the
Shabbat before a Rosh Hodesh that falls
on a Sunday, a Shabbat that coincides
with the new Hebrew month, the special
readings before Yom Kippur, Pessah,
Purim, and other holidays. Any verse can
be translated into English with a click
of a button on the screen.
Work hard at this, at your own pace and
whenever you have time, and all thatıs
left to do is buy a new outfit, write a
speech for the festive dinner and
prepare to collect all those presents.
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