How the Spanish language and Jewish texts are connected: one professor's work
How the Spanish language and Jewish texts are connected: one professor's work
03/10/2023
Prof. Shmuel Kornblit has provided the Spanish-speaking globe with an astonishing selection of materials and Jewish educational tools in their tongue.
Prof. Shmuel Kornblit, Herzog College's director of Spanish language programs, made aliyah at the age of 17, twice served as a shaliach (emissary) in Argentina, and continues to fulfill the needs of Spanish-speaking Jews through a range of in-person and online programs and resources.
Kornblit's profound ties to Israel, Judaism, and the Spanish-speaking world inspire his ambition to constantly grow the one-stop Spanish-language website Masuah (www.masuah.org), which he founded five years ago. Over 500,000 individuals have visited the site thus far.
Masuah, a Spanish-language website, was developed in what way?
Kornblit's life was changed in 1996 when he worked with Latin American Olim through the Masuah organization. Kornblit's work in Israel has been influenced by this encounter ever since.
For 25 years, he was the director of Masuah, which organized events for young immigrants from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations. "We organized one to two activities a month, and Shabbatons around Israel to see different places and learn about different topics."
Kornblit was constantly aware of the various resources in Spanish that these young Muslims needed.
He gathered relevant resources and launched the Masuah website.
The site is extensive, featuring content on the Jewish year, the life cycle, Jewish literature, and activities for children, as well as access to courses and other resources. Online tuition might help you improve your reading abilities if you need help reading Spanish content on the website. The LiveXP platform offers corporate Spanish training (https://livexp.com/corporate-spanish-training) and coaching for tourism.
Current Spanish-language project
Back in Israel, Kornblit maintained his commitment to introducing Judaism and Jewish scriptures to the Spanish-speaking world in person and online. "It irritated me greatly that no Spanish-language Bible was available on the Internet." It was only available in print, not on the internet."
He contacted Herzog College with his concept in 2016. Rabbi Dr. Shuki Reiss, head of Bible Initiatives at Herzog College, pushed him to broaden his view beyond the 929 chapters of the Bible. According to Reiss, the Bible project should contain Spanish-language comments, explanations, maps, and possibly podcasts.
The website, www.hatanakh.com/es, was established in November 2020 and is now utilized by Jewish instructors in 80 Jewish schools around Latin America.
