A TV crew from South Korean paid a visit to Ponevezh (Ponovitch) Yeshiva in Bnei Brak in order to film and learn about the study of Talmud. The yeshiva has well over one thousand Talmidim, and is one of the leading Lithuanian-style yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel today The film crew interviewed students and Rabbis in the Yeshiva about their experiences learning Gemara and other Jewish texts.
“The reason why we came was to see the real Talmud. Jewish people are known for [a high percentage of] Nobel prizes. The Korean people are curious about how Jewish people started and why Jewish people are so smart,” the Korean journalist told Channel 10 TV. The TV crew also interviewed the yeshiva’s Rabbi Meir Volk.
I’ve also noticed a high level of traffic from google.co.kr, South Korea’s version of Google. It seems that thereis a large number of Koreans searching for terms such as Hebrew grammar, Hebrew vocabulary, and Hebrew lessons etc. Koreans realize that in order to learn Chumash, Talmud, and other texts they need to understand the language. I’m sure there isn’t a large amount of books written to help people who speak Korean learn Hebrew, let alone material specifically written in Korean. I’m interested in seeing if we could start a joint project to help more Koreans learn Hebrew.
