The 20th Anniversary Speaker Appreciation Dinner for TorahAnytime, held on Sunday evening, April 19, felt less like a formal corporate milestone and more like a massive family reunion. For two decades, this organization has worked to bring Torah to millions of Jews across the globe, and the atmosphere in the room reflected the weight of that mission.
The evening carried a special significance as it fell on 2 Iyar, the yahrzeit of Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein z”l. His presence was felt throughout the program. A tribute video highlighted over 1,000 lectures he recorded over 15 years, reminding the crowd that his early energy helped build the platform’s foundation. Many in the room remarked that he surely would have been the first to arrive and the last to leave such an event.
Co-founder Shimon Kolyakov described the gathering as “Gan Eden on Earth.” Executive Director Yosef Davis noted the rare sight of so many chashuve individuals gathered in one place. Rabbanim, rebbetzins, and community educators sat side-by-side, not as guests of honor, but as the actual partners who give the platform its life.
A major theme of the night was the organization’s commitment to independence. In the early days of TorahAnytime, the simplest move would have been to host shiurim on existing sites like YouTube. Instead, the founders made the difficult choice to build their own secure, independent platform. This meant funding their own servers, developers, and storage to ensure the Torah remained in a protected environment.
That grit has paid off. Today, the platform facilitates over 18 million hours of learning every year. Last year alone, users accessed more than 40 million classes. But as co-founder Rubin Kolyakov pointed out, the real battle isn’t about the numbers: It is about the “war of Torah” in a digital age. He described the current milchamtah shel Torah as a fight for attention in a world of constant pings and notifications. The speakers are the ones on the front lines of that battle.
The night was defined by the personal stories that usually go unseen by the public: Dr. Meir Wikler shared the story of a man struggling with deep depression and suicidal thoughts who used TorahAnytime content as a literal lifeline to rebuild his stability. Rabbi Yaakov Mizrahi spoke of a young man who started with one random class and eventually became a talmid chacham, building a home based on the values he learned online. Harry Rothenberg, Esq. gave a personal account of how a single short clip helped him dissolve a childhood grudge he had carried for 30 years. Rabbi Fischel Schachter described a bachur who was drifting away from his roots but stayed connected through occasional shiurim until he eventually found his way back.
Rabbi Elazar Meisels noted that this technology has allowed Torah to reach “Jews in the fields” – those who are far from a physical beis midrash but are still searching for a connection to their heritage.
The evening also looked toward the future with several new projects:
TorahAnytime Pocket: This is a safe, offline device for accessing classes. To make it as accessible as possible, the organization is selling it below cost.
TATi: This is an advanced search tool designed to help users find specific topics among tens of thousands of archived hours.
Publishing: The organization is continuing to expand into print, bringing digital Torah back into a physical format.
As the night closed with a historic group photo of the speakers, the sense of purpose was clear. Shimon Kolyakov thanked the crowd with a simple message: “You are TorahAnytime. Without you, there is no TorahAnytime.” He reminded everyone that despite 20 years of growth, they are still just getting started.
By Shabsie Saphirstein
