Private Tutoring For The Elite

From the New York Times news service:

Financial crises occur. Personal trainers need their access. The All-Star Game can run late.

“I had some, uh, mixed feelings, Seth, about your missing our last appointment,” said Rabbi Stuart Shiff, sitting one morning the other week across the table in a midtown Manhattan office from one of his private students, Seth Horowitz, executive vice-president of sporting goods company Modell’s.

The rabbi thumbed the pages of the Torah on the table. Shiff is one of five rabbis employed by an international Orthodox Jewish organisation known as Aish HaTorah, which offers many services to regular people at its Upper West Side centre. It offers some special attention to those whom its managing director, Rabbi Adam Jacobs, refers to as “very significant people”.

Almost all are accustomed to personal trainers and personal services.

People sometimes seek grounding when times get tough,” he said.

One said he became a participant soon after he married a “very secular” Jewish woman. Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of the Centre for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University in New York, said the Aish programme reflected a long tradition in Judaism of co-operation between the tribes of ancient Israel known as the Zebulun and the Issachar.

“We did classes at Goldman Sachs for years,” said Rabbi Brad Hirshfield, president of the National Jewish Centre for Learning and Leadership.

About Luke Ford

Raised a Seventh-Day Adventist at Avondale College in Australia, Luke Ford moved to California in 1977. He graduated from Placer High School in 1984, reported the news at KAHI/KHYL radio for three years, attended Sierra College and UCLA, was largely bedridden by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for six years, and converted to Judaism in 1993. From 1997-2007, Luke made his living from blogging. Living by Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com), he now teaches the Alexander Technique (moving the way the body likes to move). Lessons cost $100 each and last about 45 minutes. In 2011, Luke completed a three-year teaching course at the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles. His personal Alexander Technique website is Alexander90210.com. Luke is the author of five books, including: » The Producers: Profiles in Frustration » Yesterday’s News Tomorrow: Inside American Jewish Journalism
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