For those privileged to have known Rav Avrohom Yaakov Pam zt’l – and particularly for those who merited to have been his students during the more than six decades that he taught at Mesifta Torah Vodaath – the memory of this quiet, unassuming and yet towering gadol b’Torah remains ever fresh, and his example still serves as a beacon of inspiration.

But even those who never met the man Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky zt’l called “the Chofetz Chaim of our time” can share his Torah thoughts and his perceptive insights into human nature, through his teachings, which have been lovingly adapted by Rabbi Sholom Smith, a devoted student of Rav Pam.

A “vort” is a much beloved tradition in Jewish tradition. Brief and yet full of substance, short and ultra-focused, it is the perfect vehicle to give over a Torah insight, an ethical idea or moral teaching. In this collection of “vorts,” based on Rav Pam’s shiurim, and arranged according to the parashah, we can almost hear the voice of this master educator and Torah scholar: perceptive and sensible, humane and wise.
A book to treasure and read over and over again, A Vort from Rav Pam gives us a chance to share the insights and wisdom of one of the generation’s greatest teachers.