Richard, or “Rick” as he prefers, has been a Torah Reader and B'nai Mitzvah teacher, for over 50 years. Currently, he is the Torah Tropes Specialist at Rabbi Jacob Pressman Academy in Los Angeles, California.  He earned a Master's of Education from the University of Judaism, which is now the American Jewish University. 

Long ago, when he was 13 years old, in preparation for his becoming a Bar Mitzvah, Rick found that circling the many tropes in pencil made it easier to see them. The next year, at age 14, when Rick began teaching B'nai Mitzvah himself, he used a yellow highlighter, later adding several other colored markers. This evolved into what he coined, the Trope Colors System.

“My students really liked this method of reinforcing the trope patterns,” Rick says, “but in the beginning I could only color the tropes by hand”. Eventually this tedious method was made easier with the development of the computer and Hebrew software, and then the Internet, which led to much rejoicing.

We know that becoming a B'nai Mitzvah can be a challenging, if not altogether scary time, but learning to chant with Trope-Colors can truly make it an enjoyable experience for all.