Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

A New Yad for the Bar-Mitzvah Set

A ceremonial yad, or Torah pointer, is a traditional gift for a bar or bat mitzvah. But a new technological innovation aimed at helping children learn their Torah and Haftarah portions represents a new kind of competition for this classic ritual item.

Sound It Out: The Magic Yad software application captures handwritten notes and links audio to them. (click for larger) Image by JEFFREY KORN

In contrast to ornate sterling silver or intricately carved wood, the Livescribe Pulse smartpen is a gray metal stylus that features digital recording technology. Teaming the smartpen with Magic Yad software empowers the device to function as a portable “hi-tech tutor” that records, stores and plays back more chanting than any potential bar or bat mitzvah might ever need: 200 hours in all.

“This is the only method that allows the student to point to exactly where he or she wants to study and practice recorded passages,” Magic Yad president and founder Alan Greenfield said.

The Magic Yad system relies on Torah and Haftarah portions that are printed in special booklets and that include tiny patterns of dots that the stylus recognizes with a camera. When touching a mark, the Magic Yad’s cantor, Gastón Bogomolni, chants each individual phrase aloud in perfect pitch — eliminating endless rewinding and fast-forwarding.

Greenfield, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who is a 30-year veteran of the technical industry and lives in Needham, Mass., conceived of the application and hired a company to write the software. A volunteer with Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters, Greenfield thought of the idea while helping a frustrated 12-year-old boy prepare for his bar mitzvah. “None of the old methods, cassette tapes or even MP3 files work this way,” he explained.

Students can also record their own chanting, instantly compare both versions and play back audio in slower speeds to finesse pronunciation and cantillation. And like a traditional tikkun (a traditional book for Torah readers), the Hebrew practice texts appear both with and without vowels and trope/cantillation marks. (Currently, English transliterations are not available.) At www.Livescribe.com, retail prices begin at $170 plus $100 for each Torah or Haftarah portion, the price some families pay for a celebratory cake.

Greenfield operates Magic Yad together with his wife, Claudia, who manages public relations, and Alan Warshaw, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based technology consultant.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.