My Book Update

You may have received an email or read a post here in the past about my book. I just wanted to share where it is up to and some of the developments that are going on around it.

With tremendous help from Hashem, I have just completed a full five years of podcast-shiurim on the parsha. I started five years ago with Parshas Pinchas, and I have merited to put out an audio shiur every week since then. I am grateful to Hashem for the opportunity to share words of spiritual encouragement and personal growth with between 400 and 500 who download the shiurim every week. One of the nice things about this number is that I do not send anything out - all of those who download it choose to do so, so this number reflects a pretty accurate picture of how many people are listening each week.

For a while already, I have wanted to take some of the best lectures and put them into a book form, in order to reach a broader audience. To this end, all of the shiurim on Bereshis (five years worth!) have already been transcribed from the audio.

I recently had a meeting with a publishing imprint called Mosaica (http://mosaicapress.com/). I sat with Rabbi Yaacov Haber and Doron Kornbluth, both of whom have had a lot of experience in publishing their own successful material. What they basically do is help the author self publish and produce the best possible product, both from a literary standpoint, as well as graphically.

What was nice about this meeting was that they both felt that there is a lot of potential in the type of material that I have been presenting on the podcasts, and it is the type that can appeal to a larger audience. I also felt encouraged because they felt strongly that the material in the book would be complemented by my music, as well. There is a lot of potential for me to use the personal growth material and integrate it with music to create a unique presentation for a live audience, as well.

One of the things I have learned throughout the last five years of putting out podcasts is the power of small pieces that add up. Whether it is the seforim I have completed in five minute podcast increments, or finishing the Torah five times by consistently putting out the twenty or so minute podcasts each week.

I believe this is a lesson for the Jewish people as a whole - each one of us has something to give to the greater good. When we are each doing our part, it adds up to something amazing and great. No part is insignificant - all of us are needed for the greater good of the revelation of Hashem in the world.

On this note, I would like to ask you to join with me in creating this book. The expenses of self publishing are very great. To start the project, $5000 is needed. To complete the project, another $5000 to $10,000 is needed.

This would seem like a daunting number, but I have already seen the outpouring of support from people from an appeal I recently made on my podcast. To me, a five dollar donation is just as important as a five hundred dollar donation. If two hundred people give $25, I will have already reached the amount needed to start the project moving forward. I am gratified to have received donations of $5, $10, $20, $36, $100, $170, $250, and $500.

To me the amount isn't as significant as the sense of encouragement that people believe in the message of personal growth and spirituality, that it is a message that needs to spread and take root amongst the Jewish people today. There are so many challenges facing the Jewish people in our times, and I believe that the more we go back to the spiritual roots of the Torah, the more we will succeed in the world today, on all levels.

Please join me in this effort.

I greatly appreciate your support.

Thank you,
Ari Goldwag

the following can be used to donate, as well as the donate button on my website

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=5UPDNYC8HPP3S