Rabbi Menachem Mendel from Kotzk equated human life with a steep wall: if one does not make an effort to become a better person, to climb higher, to seek greater heights, one will inevitably fall. By visiting Toldot.ru, each visitor is overcoming the temptations of the pleasures of this world for the sake of truth and spirituality. To do our part, we try to work in a more quality, interesting, and intensive manner J
In 2014, the number of unique visits to our website reached almost 5 million (4,913,150)! Approximately 1.5 million individuals form a core group, visiting our website again and again (1,416,128). Our readers live in Russia (50%), Israel (17%), Ukraine (15%), the U.S. (8%), Germany (6%), and other Western European countries. 1/3 of the website visitors use smartphones and tablets to access our website, showing their popularity among the various browsers available to access Toldot.ru. Google's browser Google Chrome leads in 1st place with 31% of site visits.
The majority of our website readers are women (52%). The main age group of our audience is between 25-45 years old. The search words and phrases that lead visitors to our website are varied; some examples are «how to overcome anger toward one's child», «Jewish ceremonies», «which preferences do Jews have», «what is a Jewish wedding», «what does my surname mean», and many others. Due to many popular searches, Toldot.ru comes up as one of the first resources available in search browsers.
Thanks to a variety of quality audios and articles, 1/3 of our readers spend a significant amount of time on our website — 20 minutes or more. This has been possible due to our extensive library of interesting webinars and audio/videos on various themes, from the laws of holidays, to the depths of the Mishna and the Talmud. Some of our most popular forums include «Family Questions», dedicated to the relationship between husbands and wives; «Jewish Outlook», a Q&A with rabbis on life questions and current issues; and also our user-friendly Jewish calendar that enables easy conversion from Jewish to Gregorian dates and vice versa.
As in the previous year, quite a few visitors came to the website by searching for the meaning of Jewish surnames, and Toldot.ru became their first encounter with Judaism. Some popular materials that they subsequently enjoyed include those on Kabbalah, articles on upcoming holidays, and the blog forums that make our resources on Judaism more dynamic and up-to-date with the times.
Also noteworthy is our group of rabbis, under the guidance of Rabbi Ben Zion Zilber, Rabbi Asher Kushnir, and Rabbi Yakov Shub, who answer readers» questions in the forum «Ask the Rabbi». At the end of 2014, they answered more than 20,000 questions on various topics such as Jewish fundamentals, business ethics, family dynamics, and childrearing. Especially notable are the interesting answers of Rabbis M. Arganowich, D.Y. Bertlieb, M. Gegraiter, Z. Gershenson, E. Elkind, O. Klimovsky, D. Marshalsky, M. Sitina, and others.
Audio and video lectures are very popular, from beginner levels to advanced levels. This year, we launched a unique project called «Talmud Online», which enables one-on-one learning. Currently, there are hundreds of people learning on «Talmud Online»; they come from various countries and cities, including Egypt, Bankok, and Benelux.
We are happy to see you on our website! We are happy that many thousands of Jews from all over the world are coming back to the traditions of our nation through our website. We are joyous for every Jewish soul, for every spark of holiness, which is lit aflame in the dark depths of the internet
