David Y. Block Circulates Handy Guide to the 613 Mitzvot for Struggling Students of Torah

To many of his peers, David Yehuda Block is a successful journalist for the blind, as well as an ambitious filmmaker and writer. He has penned over 1,500 articles featured in major publications like The Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times. Throughout the course of his career, he has interviewed superstars such as Kobe Bryant and David Sanborn. He has made about eight documentaries to date and has even won film festival awards for some of them.

On the other hand, his schooling wasn’t just limited to journalism. David was also a student of the Aish HaTorah Yeshiva based in the Old City of Jerusalem. During that time, he struggled immensely with learning the mitzvot and realized the urgent need for a study guide to help today’s students of Torah.

Unable to find a proper one, he decided to write it himself. The process involved studying some of the mitzvot each week with a partner. After 11 years, he officially published it for the benefit of anyone else who had the same challenges as he did.

Titled “Understanding the 613 Mitzvot,” the book offers a brief and succinct overview of each mitzvot, providing a fairly up-to-date commentary on each one and how they apply in the present day.

David has been dedicating publishing efforts to get the book further into circulation, having it featured at various book fairs and also through his own website. Given how difficult it can sometimes be to get decent study guides for Torah, he hopes doing so will put more guides into the hands of young Jews everywhere.

Copies of “Understanding the 613 Mitzvot” can be ordered via Amazon.

To learn more about David Y. Block, visit www.blindfilmmaker.com.

“Understanding the 613 Mitzvot”
Author: David Y. Block
Published date: October 29, 2021
Publisher: Independently published
Genre: Judaism

Author Bio

For over 30 years, David Block has worked as a documentary producer/director and a freelance journalist. He is also legally blind and has been that way since birth.

As a freelance journalist, he has over 1500 articles published in a variety of publications such as, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jazz Journal International, Runner’s World, Running Times, Runner’s Gazette several times. In addition, he has been published in dozens of local magazines, newspapers and websites. During his extensive career, he has interviewed high profile athletes, celebrities, government agents, and musicians such as Kobe Bryant, Bill Cosby, Joe Frazier, Florence Henderson, Lee Majors, Sarah Palin’s parents – Charles & Sally Heath-, David Sanborn, McCoy Tyner, and Grover Washington, Jr. He has never shied away from difficult assignments and never missed a deadline.

To date, he has made nine documentaries, many of which have been televised and screened at film festivals; some have won film festival awards.

In December 2017, David Block earned his Masters’ Degree in Journalism at Temple University, Philadelphia. In April 2016, the Journalism department at Temple University awarded him the Lori Schipper Scholarship for Distinguished Achievement in journalism.

In 2020, David Block began teaching journalism to night school students at Main Line School Night. The job lasted for three years.

In 2021, David Block’s first book, “Understanding The 613 Mitzvot,” was published. It took him 11 years to write and complete this challenging book.

His book was on display at the 2023 Los Angeles Times’s Festival of Books.

David Block’s triumphs do not stop here. In 2023, Reader’s Magnet published David Block’s second book, “Born Blind: The Traumas and the Triumphs.” In October, 2024, it was discussed at the Miami-Dade Author Series. In March of the same year, the book was presented at the London Book Fair.

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