On March 17, Kol Haloshon USA celebrated four years of providing free Torah shiurim to the public. It was 4 years ago, working with Kol Haloshon Eretz Yisroel staff, that the teleconferencing system was set up here in America. The first maggid shiur was Rav Mordechai Silber of Congregation Toldos Yehuda of Stutchin. Since then more than 150 maggidei shiurim have recorded their shiurim LIVE or have donated their taped shiurim for the listening public. All LIVE shiurim are automatically saved into their archive and the archive grows by more than 75 shiurim daily.

The shiurim are recorded in a variety of languages including English, Yiddish, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Russian and most recently Farsi.

Initially, the phone system started with the shiurim archive from Eretz Yisroel and the UK, both of whom were recording for a number of years. Since then, more than 50,000 USA shiurim have been recorded LIVE or manually uploaded into our archive. Each evening, the LIVE shiurim recorded in Eretz Yisroel and in the United Kingdom are automatically downloaded and added to our archive. Similarly, shiurim recorded here in the US are automatically transferred to Eretz Yisroel and  the UK. Thus, all the shiurim we add are enjoyed worldwide.

The full archive now exceeds 180,000 shiurim and represents the largest collection of audio shiurim  in the world. In all, more than 500 maggidei shiurim regularly speak on Kol Haloshon. All these shiurim and their accessibility 24 hours a day has affected the lives of thousands.

Kol Haloshon USA now averages more than 10,000 calls daily. More than 500,000 hours of Torah have been learned in the past year. The learning goes on day and night. There are more than a minyan of listeners every moment, day or night, from erev Shabbos to erev Shabbos. The shiurim have inspired many. There is a story of a boy who didn’t seem to fit in yeshiva. He went from yeshiva to yeshiva in Manchester until no yeshiva would accept him. One day, someone recommended that the boy listen to the shiur from a certain Rav who spoke on Kol Haloshon. The boy was so inspired by the sincerity of the Rov, he flew to the US and joined this Ravs yeshiva and has been blossoming ever since.

Kol Haloshon provides support to mothers who are up late in the middle of the night with their kids. There are many, many shiurim geared especially for women. We have a special section on Tznius with organizations such as Bnos Melochim, Kol Kevudah, Peninim and Ateres all contributing excellent shiurim. We also host many speakers from the Leah Neiman Ahavas Yisroel hotline. We also have shiurim for seminary girls as well.

For those who learn Daf Hayomi, Kol Haloshon has a large selection of Daf Hayomi shiurim each day. In English, we have Rav Moshe Goldberger, Rav Dovid Hofstedter, Rav Mechel Schiffenbauer, Rav Kalmen Frisch, Dr Menachem Rubin, Rav Moshe Meir Weiss, Rav Yisroel Dovid Weinfeld and Rav Dovid Grossmans Daf Yomi shiurim. In Yiddish, we offer Rav Leizer Horowitz, Rav Shmuel Dovid Friedman, Rav Avraham Chaim Steinwurzel, Rav Leibish Goldberger, Rav Meir Feldbrand, Rav Leizer Horowitz, and Rav Yehoshua Krupenia Daf Yomi shiurim.  Recently, we started a Daf Yomi shiur given in Farsi by Rav Dovid Zargari of Los Angeles.

Stuck in traffic, at the airport, or in line at the supermarket with nothing to do, Kol Haloshon provides a wealth of oppurtunity. There is something for everyone, even children. The Kol Haloshon archive contains shiurim in Tanach, Parshas Hashavua, Gemara and Daf HaYomi, Halacha, Musar and Chassidus. There are categories for women and children, shiurim in Yeshivos and for Hespedim.

Kol Haloshon is run entirely by volunteers worldwide who recognize the importance of spreading Torah learning. They are joined by the exceptional Kol Haloshon maggidei shiurim who donate their shiurim for free for this holy task.

Kol Haloshon also operates several self service ATM (Automated Torah Machines) kiosks where users can pick and choose the shiurim they want and have them copied to MP3 players or create audio and MP3 CDs. In Eretz Yisroel, there exists a network of more than 200 Kol Haloshon kiosks. Most shiurim on the phone system are available at the kiosks. There are certain exclusions. The ATM kiosks are also refreshed daily and the latest shiurim are made available each night.

In order to distribute shiurim to an even wider audience, a web site was established last year where most of the shiurim are available for download in audio MP3 format all for FREE. Also, in using technology to its fullest, we have also started to record the shiurim in video format and that is available in playback on the web site or can be downloaded for later viewing. Most recently, enhancements were made to deliver audio and video shiurim in LIVE streaming format. You can even subscribe to RSS feeds and podcasts to get the shiurim automatically delivered to you when you connect you ipod device to iTunes.

All of Kol Haloshon activities are sponsored by a single anonymous donor whose entire goal is to increase Torah learning. He encourages listeners who enjoy the shiurim to donate to directly to the maggidei shiurim. Pledges of donations can be made on our web site or on the Kol Haloshon comment line at (718) 701-5157. Kol Haloshon will direct you how the donation can be made directly to the Rav.

The number to hear the shiurim on the phone is (718) 906-6400. There are also local access numbers for Monsey and Monroe and in many other countries such as Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Australia, South Africa, and France. The Kol Haloshon website can be accessed at http://www.kolhaloshon.com.

For more information about Kol Haloshon, for the local access numbers, or to obtain, via email, a schedule of our Live shiurim, please call (718) 701-5157 or email us at [email protected].

(Written exclusivly by Kol Halshon for YWN)