JTutors Featured with Rebecca Lopkin and Rabbi Dr. Joshua Strulowitz on JM in the AM

Well, we heard about um this unique and interesting outfit entitled J Tutors. jtutors.com. Literally the letter J and then t u t o r s .com and this is the uh project of uh run by Dr. Joshua Strulowitz who's the principal at Heichal HaTorah uh along with uh Mrs. Rebecca Lopkin who is a long-time teacher at TABC here in Teaneck, New Jersey. I welcome both of you to J in the AM. Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. So nice to be here. >> Appreciate that. How are things at Heichal? Everything all right over there? >> Great. We've had a great year. >> Rabbi Rabbi Steckler needs to surround himself with good people. He can't do it all himself. Is that the point? >> We definitely need a lot of good people. We always need more but baruch Hashem we've had a great year. >> Yeah, but he's put together a very talented staff. >> What he's done is amazing. What I learn from him every day is uh you can't learn anywhere else. Just seeing how he handles things every day. >> And another one of my favorite institutions is TABC. You've been there how long? >> So this is my 11th year. >> Nice. >> Yeah. >> How's it going this year? >> It's going really well. >> crop of students? >> An incredible [laughter] crop of students. Extremely passionate students. Um I'm the director of performing arts. >> Oh, wow. >> So I direct the after-school program. >> year? >> So we already performed the play. >> What is that? Oh, yeah. It's June, right? >> It's June, yeah. [music] It was actually my daughter as a as a rising playwright and she wrote a play called The Captain's Crawford that she adapted specifically for an all boys cast and it was actually our first musical that we ever did um and it was filled with pirate adventure and sword fighting and it was a a very sweet uh loving story about two brothers who come together after their pirate mother leaves them her kingdom. >> Is that her first effort in this area? >> Um this was uh her first big commission, yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Pretty cool. >> Yeah. >> Maybe it'll be a screenplay purchased by somebody in Hollywood one day. >> We can only hope. >> You never know. >> [laughter] >> Um so, Rabbi Strulowitz and Mrs. Lopkin have a unique project, but I have to assume that somebody has tried over the years. I have to And if not, then you guys are truly revolutionary because there are tutoring services, I'm assuming, all around this country and all around the globe, but this one is geared to our community. Would I be the way to say it? >> Yes, so this is different in a few ways. Yes, geared towards our community. Certainly nationally, there are tutoring sites, for sure. Um and you know, the genesis of this was I've had this idea for many years. As both a parent and educator, I've always found the tutoring space very challenging. Um >> Meaning? >> Meaning you're looking for >> are never good enough? >> Well, it's >> I'm not joking. I'm being serious. >> No, it's it's hard to find a tutor, and you have very little choice. You're looking for a tutor, you post it on a WhatsApp, you post it on Facebook, you ask the school. >> for your kid. >> Right. So, like you get one name, you get two names. And then for the tutors, you know, how do you find students? It's very challenging, and there's been no like marketplaces. There's been no central place to go. It's just been the wild west out there. And so, um I've had this idea. Rebecca is my sister, and we started speaking about this >> What a revelation. >> a year ago, and >> It's a sis- sis- sibling project. >> project. And um we and I I just felt like if we can create a marketplace, just a central avenue, everyone comes to this one site. >> Right. >> Tutors can create profiles. You can search based on price, based on experience, based on subject matter, in person, online. Um right now, the tutoring sites are more like consultants. Like you you say, "I'm looking for this," and they place you with someone. Here, it empowers the parents to choose. You have all these options. We have over 85 tutors on the site, more joining every single day. >> Wow. >> Yeah, from all over the world, from America >> the advantage, and this is why you can say you're the first to do this. You're in an era where this could not have been done before. I mean this this era you literally can grab people from all around the world on their time schedules and on the students' time schedules and you can just make these arrangements and and hope that things you know progress the way you want them to. And some tutoring experience, funny you say all this because some tutoring experiences are really solid and others are very challenging. Yeah. I remember I mean we're going back a few years here. I remember failing a chemistry test in high school, right? >> Wow. >> My parents hired this professional tutor to prepare me for the retest and I take the retest and fail again. My mother decides to take it upon herself to tutor me for the re-retest and I pass with flying colors. So you never know who's good at She was not a scientist but she was passionate enough and knew me well enough to you know to direct me properly. >> Right. So I think that as you know as being a parent of children who've been through school and we're both parents and educators that students have the best experience when they connect to that teacher or in our case that tutor and you really build that relationship. I was lucky though when I was looking for ACT and SAT tutors our site didn't exist yet and I did that whole you know asking friends who did you use and I found this you know great woman who came to the house and she worked with my kids and and it was in a great experience but when my older daughter we were looking for a tutor and we did not have that same outcome and it would have been nice to have been able to say well let me just open the internet and look at this one site and see you know who I can find and listen if if you you try somebody and it's not for you so you try somebody else and it's just that easy. And we're [snorts] trying to really just make it convenient for parents. I mean I just saw on you know Facebook like I do you know looking at all the parent groups that I'm part of and I must have seen five different flyers in three minutes for tutors who are saying I would like tutor this summer. And then by the same token parents saying, I need a tutor for my you know, sixth grader or whatever. But meaning they're not connecting. They're not finding each other. So, all of those tutors out there who are looking for their clients, if they just make a page on Jutors, it makes it very easy for everyone to connect and find each other. >> Is it easier to find people to tutor in the secular subjects or in the Judaic subjects or it's all difficult? >> Uh you mean as a parent looking for? >> No, I'm talking about you guys. In other words, you're attracting you said a a number of tutors already. >> it's interesting. >> there are you flooded with Judaic studies tutors or are they rarities? What are they? >> been a real mix. It's really 50/50, yeah. Really 50/50. >> It's really a balance. >> Yeah, we we reached out to Machon Chaim all over the country and >> And actually all over the world. We have people from Israel on the site who are Americans who made Aliyah and they're looking to make extra income and they're on there and the way that our site is is designed is it can be a virtual tutoring session. So, it can be across you can have somebody who is a professional teacher for 25 years who works at a school in Los Angeles who we have on our site could be tutoring somebody in you know, in in New York. >> Right, of course. >> Um right and we've partnered with an amazing company called Pencil Spaces and they are designed specifically in the tutoring space to work with they they've created an interactive tool that allows you to have not just a Zoom call, right? Which is what you know, we we work with country with but it's actually an interactive whiteboard that that both the tutor and the student can connect to so they can be doing graphing together on the same whiteboard. They can be typing together. So, it's sort of um Google uh you know, it's a virtual classroom. It's a virtual it's yeah, it's a virtual classroom. And also what's unique about what we're doing is that often times it's the I've spoken to tutors who are like, you know, the kid came and they're like, I don't know what we did in class today or I don't have the packet. Here, the tutors, it's like a triangle. The tutors, the teachers, and the students can connect through this online software and make sure all the materials are shared and and the updates are shared. So, everyone stays on the same page. >> Only in 2026. Unbelievable. The whole thing is incredible. Are you able to I should mention that my Dr. Joshua Strulowitz and Mrs. Rebecca Lopkin are here talking about their company jtutors.com, letter j t u t o r s.com. Are you able to keep all this affordable? Because some people know that, you know, 10 tutoring sessions can cost in the thousands of dollars sometimes. >> What's nice about this is the tutors set their own rates and it's all transparent. So, you can go on the site, you can browse the tutors, they're all publicly, it's all transparent. They say, "This is what I charge, this is my schedule, this is my background, this is where I've taught, this is the subjects I can teach, this is the schools I went to." It's all there. >> Oh, so you don't control the rates. They they they just help people with their expectations. >> Yeah, so we're we're we're creating a marketplace. It's like the Airbnb of tutoring. You This is what you want to and and if you're getting a lot of business, you can charge more. If you're not getting a business, you can charge less. If you're a parent, you can search by rate. I'm looking for a tutor from $25 to $50, from $50 to $100. So, you you have choice. And that's we're trying to give parents educated choice where they have many options. >> I'm going to ask you a question that you don't know the answer to. >> Okay. >> In the average Yeshiva high school, right, the Yeshiva League schools as I like to call them, how many tutors do you think are involved in the ecosystem of a school? Are there 10 tutors that are, you know, taking care of, I don't know, 20 students? Are there 100 tutors? Because the majority of students need some type of personal attention after hours. >> So, that's a great question. And like you said, I don't know the answer. >> But do you have a feel for it? >> But I feel like there are I know of a large amount of teachers who moonlight as tutors and also retired teachers. This is a great, you know, career, second career for them. So, it's hard to know It's really hard to know because I think a lot of times tutoring um People don't want to talk about if they're getting tutored. >> Right. >> You know, parents don't want to maybe admit or they might know that their child needs tutoring and they provided it for them because they want their child to have the best success. >> discuss it. >> But they don't want to discuss it. So, I I don't know how how how easy it would be to assess the number. >> And I'm I'm the general studies principal at HAFTR. So, I get these requests every week, multiple requests, especially SAT and ACT, but a student struggling in math, a student that wants to work on their writing skills. >> So, in your capacity >> Yeah. >> how many students, I don't know, per week are are involved in some type of tutoring situations? Is it 10 or is it 80? >> We have 220 students. I would guess at any one time about a quarter involved in some sort of tutoring. >> significant. 50, and that's a lot. >> It's very significant. Um >> And every school's doing that, then you guys are going to be off the charts. No, seriously. >> Yeah. >> Well, >> Well, everybody needs ACT and SAT tutoring. >> Right. You do that also. >> We do that also, correct. Everyone is always needing help with their college applications. >> how many points? >> [laughter] >> That's to ask the individual tutor. >> But um what's also you know, I think a lot of parents don't get the tutoring they need for their students uh for their children is either because they think it's too expensive or it's too hard to find, it's too difficult. And like they don't want to navigate the space or but if you can give them something that's affordable, that's on their schedule, that's not too time-consuming to arrange, um hopefully more students are getting support. And this is good for enrichment as well. You know, our students, you know, I spoke to our principal this past week and they have a lot of public school students that joined the school in high school. Um and they're way behind in Gemara and they're way behind in Korea. Um and they say do some more tutoring, but where do they go? I'm a I'm a public school parent. What does that even mean? Get tutoring from Gemara? So, now they can say, even the schools can say, "Here, go on this site." And it it makes it easier for the schools as well cuz they're not responsible, don't have to arrange all of that for them. >> So you provide a Talmud tutor? >> Yeah, there's many Talmud tutors. Yeah. >> Go figure. Um all right, so the here are some of the things that and by the way, this point that you just mentioned is something I wanted to I wanted to mention. You'd wonder why on June 4th we're discussing tutoring. After all, isn't this more of a Labor Day topic? But summer tutoring must be massive. >> tutoring is huge. A lot of students want to get ahead. You know, they want to move up >> All right, so that's all You know how many eighth grade and you're familiar with this. You know how many eighth graders need a boost before they get to ninth grade, especially in Judaic studies? >> And general studies too. 100% 100% >> Some elementary schools just don't prepare them well for it. >> Facts. That's right. Once they realize, oh, I've only placed into, you know, regular math, but really I want to be in honors math. You know, but my school I I want to or a higher shear. You want to, you know, increase your reading and your writing skills in general studies. Um it's all available to you and um it's also it makes it easy that you can schedule, you know, your tutoring around going to camp. Um and the schedules are are flexible. >> All right, another thing is, you know, um I was in Dallas for shul. It's my wife's in Dallas. Our our family's in Dallas. And a lot of you know, out of town schools are >> After Jewish World was in Texas last night, yeah. >> That's true. She actually My she actually grew up in San Antonio. >> That's funny. >> [laughter] >> Um >> Big rich Jewish history, by the way, in San Antonio. Rabbi Grossman, right? Wasn't he San Antonio? I believe so. >> Uh yeah, I mean Rabbi Scheinberg was the big >> Oh, Rabbi Scheinberg, of course, from that's right. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um and the frustration for a lot of out of town schools is they don't have access to the machonachim we have in New York or other areas. >> Right, that's such an important point. >> You know, on our site there's a rebbe in from TABC, from JEC, from all, you know, Chicago >> Yeshiva League students, I mean, teachers. >> Right, so if now you're a student in in a school there, you can now learn with someone in those schools. You feel like you have access to the education that the bigger communities have, which I think is really uh you know, a unified playing field and gives them access to to people who wouldn't have access to otherwise. >> So, some of these tutors, in all seriousness, could be hired to study every single day with these students. >> There is. >> Especially in the [clears throat] Judaic studies, right? >> Even during school, like especially the teachers in Eretz Yisrael. So, we have people teaching in yeshivas and seminaries. So, let's say it's 2:00 p.m. and a student needs support. So, you can learn with someone in Eretz Yisrael at 2:00 in school in your support center, uh in your learning center, and it gives you more options. >> When did When did this kick off? >> We opened to tutors right after Pesach. >> Now? >> Yeah, we know but this is great. >> And you already have all those tutors here? >> Yeah, so we have more than I think over 200 have applied, you know, and then Over 250 have applied. >> I want to be involved in that process. [laughter] >> Yeah, it's actually It's a pretty rigorous process. Um for us, the most important thing is to make sure that the tutors are safe to be working with students. So, we we use a um a a company who vets the teachers in that regard. And then of course, we thoroughly look through, do you know, do they have a college education? Do they have a master's degree? Where have they taught in the past? How many years of teaching do they have under their belt? And we also um make sure that, you know, everything what everything that they are putting on their uh profile is a legitimate thing, right? We don't We don't want people who are are not going to be the best resource for our >> Understood. >> Yeah. >> Uh and and this service is for what grade? It starts with which grade and I assume goes through high school. >> Literally kindergarten all the way through adult education. I mean, kindergarten not so much >> But a first grader could benefit from this? >> I mean, cuz you can set up in-person tutoring. So, you you can have Korea with a second grader. And adults, you can do a daf yomi shiur. You can, you know, if you're an adult who wants to have a learning partner in Eretz >> post high school, right? >> Absolutely. Right, so even >> It's a good time to It's a good way to find a chavruta, actually. >> Yeah, LSATs, like MCATs, we have tutors who can do those as well. >> Wow. >> Um >> Prepare prepare people for the bar? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, anything. I mean, sure. >> So, our plan was we'll open with we'll open the students with 25 tutors. That was our number cuz you need enough on the site to make it a marketplace and we're 85. And so, we opened the students about a week and a half ago, pretty recently, and just getting the word out and we think this is something, you know, that could be great for the Jewish community. We're very excited about it. >> Um, the New York schools are Regents are upon them, right? We don't think about it over here in New Jersey, but Regents are upon them and finals are upon them and this is the time when the parents are like, "Uh-oh, you know, you got to pass that class. You know, you got to pass that Regent." So, [snorts] this is the perfect time to log in to J Tutors and find that tutor who's going to help your child be successful. >> All right, couldn't have said it better myself. >> [gasps] >> Any questions you could email [email protected]. Go to the website. What do people do? Family set up a profile or individual students set up a profile? >> Individual students set up a profile, yes. >> Yeah. >> And then, but you can browse as tutors without even setting up a profile and just it literally takes a minute to set to create a student profile and you're in. >> All right, and it's jtutors.com. It's letter j t u t o r s dot com. Mrs. Dopkin and Rabbi Schluwitz and Mrs. Lopkin rather and Rabbi Schluwitz, anything else you'd like to add? >> Well, thank you so much. Appreciate the time. >> Thank you for having us. This is very exciting to be in your studio because I teach I teach a video media broadcasting and this is amazing to get to actually work with a legitimate broadcaster. >> I appreciate that very much and you teach that at TABC? >> I do. We have a fabulous new studio in the beautiful building. >> good talent out there? >> So much good talent. >> Seriously? I'd like to come interview some of them. >> Oh, we would love to have you come and do a podcast with us. >> Yeah, that's for sure I'll do. I mean, if it's a one-off for sure I'll do it. But, the um but I'm willing How many students do you have in this whole process? >> Uh, we have ninth and tenth grade are taking that video media broadcasting class. >> Really? >> Mhm, so ninth and 10th grade. It's not every student. It's It's one of our electives. >> 100 students. >> Well, I have No, it's It's the the elective tracks are offered to all of the students. So I [clears throat] have, you know, let's say 20 9th graders and 20 10th graders. >> So 40 students. >> Yes. >> Interesting. I think we need to do some type of contest where the eventual prize will be someone could have a regular slot on this network. >> That'd be amazing. And we're right down the road, so we could really commute. >> No, that I know, but believe me, if it if it happens I'll just set them up in their house. They never have to walk in here. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> That's the way things are these days. >> That's so true. That's so true. >> Uh but I'd like to do that. Let's keep that in mind. >> That'd be really fun. >> it's now June, so we're going to take a break from all this. >> it over the summer. >> But may That's correct. Have your people call my people. >> Yes. >> All [laughter] right. A big thank you to the folks from jtutors.com. Check it out. Letter j t u t o r s dot com. More is coming up as you would suspect. You are listening to a Thursday morning broadcast that J I'm in the A.M. >> Mhm.