Happily, OU Torah has been around for many years. In that time, we’ve been privileged to launch dozens upon dozens of series featuring some of the most acclaimed teachers on all aspects of Torah. This presents something of a quandary for newcomers, and even for longtime users: “There’s so much material, how can I possibly know which shiurim are right for me?”
This is a great question! There are a lot of subject areas one can study – parsha, Daf Yomi, Nach, Mishna, halacha, machshava and more – with many, many different series in each category. There’s a host of different speakers, each of whom has his or her own unique style. Some classes are delivered before a live audience, while others are recorded in a studio. There’s text, audio and video content available. And, of course, some subjects or approaches are more beginner-friendly than others. It’s not immediately apparent from a series’ name or description whether a given shiur is necessarily going to be up your personal alley. (As the saying goes, “The world don’t move to the beat of just one drum. What’s right for you may not be right for some. … It takes Diff’rent Strokes to move the world.”)
You can absolutely browse the OU Torah web site or app (for iOS and Android) and try out new series – in fact, we encourage it! – but to make things easier, we are proud to present Something Different from OU Torah. This series serves as a sampler of some of the numerous shiurim from which you can choose. Each five-minute episode presents a freestanding Torah thought for your day, plus it serves as a springboard to introduce you to topics with which and speakers with whom you may not be familiar.
As of this writing, Something Different has featured three shiurim: Lessons in Chinuch from Parenting and Being Parented by Rabbi Shmuel Silber; How to Have an Open and Honest Rendezvous With the Almighty by Rabbi Steven Weil, from the series Rabbi Weil on Tefillah; and Only Hashem Knows What is Good from the series Daily Emunah by Rabbi David Ashear. As a special bonus, Something Different is also available as a podcast, currently on Apple Podcasts and coming soon to other platforms! (Because of its podcast nature, Something Different is currently focusing on audio content, of which there is certainly no shortage, but who knows? We may start running audio excerpts of video shiurim or dramatic readings from text divrei Torah – anything is possible!)
So check out Something Different for a brief Torah thought and, again, who knows? You may discover a new favorite shiur!