About Us
Our purpose for creating 90-Second Nach is to help every Jew build a living relationship with Hashem, the Torah and Eretz Yisroel via the holy Sefarim of our Nevi’im and Kesuvim (Nach); the heartbeat of our past, present, and future. With Hashem’s help, we share two clear pesukim a day via WhatsApp or Email (and housed online here as well), with the perfect amount of color and context to make learning Nach enjoyable and meaningful.
90-Second Nach makes daily Nach learning simple and consistent. The goal is to help more Jews touch Nach every day, while staying on course and true to the accepted translations, meanings and the various mefarshim while deepening our connection to Hashem, the Torah and to create an appreciation for Eretz Yisrael.
The Format: One sheet a day, six days a week. Each sheet covers two pesukim beginning (Menachem Av, 5785) with Sefer Yehoshua.
The sheet contains:
- A short background box at the top of the page that gives readers a quick reminder of what happened in the previous two pesukim which keeps the "story" moving and the reader up-to-date.
- The Hebrew text of two pesukim with nekudos along with literal translations laid out in "layman's terms" so that they are easy for all ages and backgrounds to understand.
- An "In Other Words" box with an expanded (yet concise) color commentary and added context of the pesukim.
- An "A Little Something Extra" box at the bottom of the page that contains something extra and something different each time. This includes various mefarshim, Gemaros on the pesukim, maps, pictures and other tangential information related to the pesukim on the sheet.
- Each sheet will be emailed in the morning hours in the United States, get posted on the 90-Second Nach WhatsApp Groups and get posted on this website for available download.
Check out a Sample Sheet.
A note on sources and accuracy
Each sheet draws directly from sefarim, ongoing learning, research and time spent with the classic commentaries. With the exception of the Hebrew text with their nekudos, nothing is copy and pasted; everything is "hand-written" from scratch by the author. If any informational errors are ever found on the sheets, they are unintentional and the author's alone; please reach out so they can be corrected promptly.
Eli Wolbrom lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his family after making Aliyah from Staten Island. As a hybrid offshoot of his morning seder of Nach coupled with his passion for the Mitzva and lifestyle of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel, Eli started 90-Second Nach to succinctly deliver – what he views as – an under-emphasized category of Torah to the fingertips of the masses. Eli wanted to be sure to notify his biographer to disclaim here that he is not a rabbi; he's merely a student of Nach and someone who enjoys using his day to learn various categories of Torah (while working at night). A small circle of chavrusas, friends and family quietly (unlike Eli) continue to inspire the work and help keep the project running behind the scenes.
A Conversation with the Founder
If you don't already know Eli, his hobbies include making very average coffee videos, filming gorgeous views, sights and sounds of life in Eretz Yisroel (but somehow posting them in terrible quality) and typing faster than autocorrect can think (typos included at no extra charge). He runs a fairly large (though as he has his “reads” off; he does not actually know how large) WhatsApp status which serves as his (too) personal journal while being a rotating collage of short Torah, snapshots of life in Eretz Yisroel, nostalgia and humor, the odd personal note and the occasional NGL Q and A lightning round that often mimics an MMA fight.
Since Eli loves Q and A, he was kind enough to answer a few questions:
1. What place in Eretz Yisrael first made Tanach feel "alive" for you, and why?
From the onset of making Aliyah, I have been profoundly connecting – wherever I go – with something that I can think of from the Torah. The first place that really hit home was going to Mitzpeh Yericho and viewing the exact spot where Yehoshua and Bnei Yisroel crossed into Eretz Yisroel for the first time. My Nach chavrusa and I, upon reaching Perek Gimmel in Sefer Yehoshua, went out to the mountains overlooking Yericho in order to learn those pesukim with its actual location in view. It was overwhelmingly impactful.
2. Which pasuk do you return to when you need chizuk?
I love Sefer Tehilim and Perek 91, Yosheiv B'seiser is my personal favorite and one I connect with most often. I say it multiple times a day and have it hanging next to my front door. If I need to choose one Pasuk from there, it would be 91:10 and if I could choose any pasuk in Nach it would be (i) Tehilim 20:8, which is not only one of the most important pesukim for chizuk here in Eretz Yisroel but is also the pasuk for my name and (ii) the famous Zecharia 8:4-5, which describes what Eretz Yisroel will look like during a renewed, redeemed and rebuilt Yerushalayim. While walking the streets there and seeing them packed with children running and playing, I cannot help but get choked up as I think of the Nevuah in those pesukim coming to life.
3. Which commentator most shapes how you read Nach today, and what did you learn from him?
It's impossible to learn anything from Tanach (as well as Mishna and Gemara) without Rashi. Nearly every pasuk gives vital context into the pesukim. So Rashi has to be the most important commentary. I also have a very strong affinity towards anything Ramban and love the commentary from the Abarbanel and the Malbim (especially on Mishlei).
4. What is the biggest misconception people have about learning Nach?
That it is not important, that it is "for girls in high school", that it maintains some lesser value than Chumash or Gemara. Nach contains the very essence of who we were, are and will be as a nation. Go into the most elite Yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel and see what our future Gedolim are learning. Nach – its stories, the nevuos and its lessons - is VITAL learning for every Yid.
5. Walk us through your daily workflow for creating a sheet from start to finish.
Love this! Thank you for the platform to make people appreciate me! All joking aside, each sheet takes me between 60-90 minutes without exception. I begin by learning the two pesukim with Rashi, Radak, Metzudos and the Ralbag. I then copy + paste the Hebrew text with nekudos into the template graphic. I then re-write the translation of the pesukim in a clear, concise and easy-to-understand manner staying 100% (to the best of my ability) true to the translations readily used. I then look at maps, gemara, and 3-4 other sefarim I have on Nach to get added context for the pesukim and to see if there is anything vital that needs to be shared to give clarity on the pesukim. I then shift over to the "In other words…" box and begin to write. And edit. And write more. And make the font smaller. And delete. And rewrite. And check for typos. And miss them. I then do the same for the second pasuk. After those are done I move down to the "A little something extra…" box and refer back to all of the resources I had looked up in order to find something interesting, tangential, exciting or otherwise relevant to one or both of the pesukim I wrote about. Sometimes I could spend 45 minutes on this box alone trying to find something worthy of the box. I need to get better at this! Finally – which makes no sense considering I should really start with this – I go up to the top and write a short background on the two pesukim from the prior day in order to lead into the new pesukim. I then go through a series of saving the document all over, sending it to myself and having it ready to share. I try to have a bunch prepared but am really bad at doing that thus far due to the fact that I am very busy and that each sheet takes so long to write. Don't @ me with some AI recommendation. Torah and AI and I are not a great match! This is how it must be done. Homemade cooking is the best!
6. If someone has only five minutes a day, how should they begin with Nach?
This is a layup. If you actually put aside 5 minutes a day to learn Nach from the beginning, you should totally join our group. You will have time to learn the sheets with clarity (even twice) AND to share them with your network thus increasing your zechusim for getting others to learn Torah as well!
7. Which lesser-known Tanach figure deserves more attention, and what can we learn from them?
This is a crazy answer because he's the most well-known character from Nach but Dovid HaMelech. Beyond the famous stories, when you dive into Shmuel I, II and Tehilim, you will be blown away by how incredibly holy Dovid HaMelech was. Especially while living in Eretz Yisroel, you REALLY come to appreciate how amazing Dovid HaMelech was and how badly we need Moshiach ben Dovid to lead us today. In terms of a truly lesser-known figure, Yonason (Yonatan), son of Shaul HaMelech was an unbelievable person. Loyalty, friendship and determination are what come to mind when thinking about Yonason.
8. How has living in Eretz Yisroel changed the way you learn and teach Nach?
In every way. I did not learn Nach in any meaningful way before moving to Eretz Yisroel and, in doing so, it has brought the holy land to life for me while Eretz Yisroel, in turn, brought the Torah to life for me. It is everything. With the right mindset that can only be achieved through living here, one cannot walk or visit anywhere in Eretz Yisroel without thinking about something in the Torah. That has had a monumental impact on my life and they (i.e. the Torah and Eretz Yisroel) continue to fuel each other for me.
9. Which map, site, or archaeological find most changed your understanding of a perek?
I haven't traversed, in earnest, everywhere in Nach OR in Eretz Yisroel but located only 10 minutes from me is the exact spot where Dovid HaMelech killed Golius. The pesukim explain the location and being able to see the valleys, the mountains, the plains and the locations of where Bnei Yisroel were and the Plishtim on the other side is simply mind-blowing. It brought the story in the pesukim to life in the most real way. As an honorable mention, visting the location of the Kever of the Shofet, Shimshon HaGibor, which – as stated in Shoftim 16:31 – is located between Tzura and Eshtaol also blew my mind. The Kever is located way up in the mountains, between those listed neighborhoods and overlooks the Judean mountains with Bet Shemesh in the near-distance. It is a beautiful place to visit, to daven to Hashem and to really see those Pesukim come to life.
10. What is next for 90-Second Nach over the coming year?
B'EH we hope to add an audio version of 90-Second Nach which will be sent out alongside the daily sheets and also hosted on line. We intend to build our resource-rich "Resource" page with incredible content from other creators and authors and have that available to our readership. We intend on working with schools to make sure our sheets are kid-friendly while always maintaining their excellence for the adult crowd as well. We may work with schools on creating a 90-Second Nach incentive program to encourage students to learn Nach. With Siyata Dishmaya only, if our readership grows, we also intend to start new groups to begin Sefer Yehoshua and, upon completion, B'EH, we will potentially make a proper book based on our sheets of the Sefer.