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An Integral Part of the Community

A 45-year old lawyer, ex-Canadian Yehoshua Seidenfeld is not the typical rabbinical student. Yet four years ago, when Yehoshua decided to expand his horizons with intensive Torah study, the Joseph Straus Rabbinical Seminary was a natural choice. Yehoshua lives in Efrat; the Straus Seminary is located just outside the gates of Efrat on the Israel Henry Beren Campus.

"It's true that the average Straus student is in his twenties," explains Yehoshua, "but if you're looking for a supportive environment in which to engage in serious Torah learning, this is the place, whatever your age." Yehoshua studied in the David Falk Kollel every afternoon for four years. Last November, he attained semicha, "the realization of a life-long dream." Now, it is his turn to give back to the yeshiva and the community: Yehoshua teaches two Daf Yomi classes every day, one to post-college students at OTS's Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev and one to a group of senior citizens in Efrat. "It is a tremendous privilege," he says.

About a dozen students from the community are currently studying in the Falk Kollel, while simultaneously pursuing their everyday careers. "We welcome these students," says Rav Chaim Brovender, the Rosh Yeshiva. "As established professionals, they bring with them a wealth of insights from their life experiences which enlighten and enrich the shiur to the benefit of the whole yeshiva. Their presence conveys to our younger students, most of whom are straight out of college, that Torah learning is a lifelong endeavor that is relevant at any and every age."

One of the regulars at Rav Brovender's Thursday night Parsha shiur is film producer and entrepreneur David Ehrlich. "I first learned from Rav Brovender over 20 years ago, as an 18-year-old student at Hamivtar," he relates. "When I moved to Efrat as an adult, I was overjoyed to be able to continue the relationship. Rav Brovender's shiur is the highlight of my week: he is consistently brilliant, sharp and funny, and his words are always relevant to current events in the real world," says Ehrlich. 37-year-old Robert Lederman, who received semicha after nine years of part-time study at the Falk Kollel, agrees. "Rabbi Brovender is an outstanding educator - always illuminating and intellectually honest."

Former Bostonian Albert Ruback also enjoys the yeshiva's quality and proximity to his home in Efrat. Ruback devotes his mornings to intensive Torah study, while spending his afternoons and evenings working as an international asset manager. "I am fortunate that my schedule allows me to split my time in this way," he says. Of course, the synthesis between career and Torah study is not a simple one. Observes Lederman, a behavioral optometrist: "A person's natural tendency is to devote himself to either one or the other. Integrating the two, and creating a balance between them, is more of a challenge."

Yet Lederman is convinced that the combination of work and study is not only possible, but also hugely valuable. "My years in the Beit Midrash actually enrich my professional life," says the immigrant from Britain. "For example, I became even more sensitive to the utmost importance Judaism places on honesty and ethics in business, and on the way in which we should act toward one other, in general."

Straus Seminary director Rav Shuki Reich notes that the yeshiva is also a magnet for community members who are involved in education on a professional level. "There are local high school teachers who study here part-time, refining their skills and deepening their knowledge to benefit themselves and their students," he says. "True Torah study is, after all, an ongoing and intertwined process of learning and teaching, teaching and learning."

Open to the Public A new course at Midreshet Lindenbaum reaches out to the community at large When Midreshet Lindenbaum announced the opening of a weekly, community-wide Gemara class for women who had never before studied Talmud, Shoshi Selavan jumped at the chance. "I feel as though I've entered a world that had previously been closed to me, "says the 40-year old mother of five from Jerusalem.The course, called "Sundays for Women", is the initiative of Malka Pietrokowsky, a veteran teacher of Talmud and Halacha at Midreshet Lindenbaum. "Torah learning should not be restricted to a privileged few. As such, we were eager to open the Beit Midrash to the general public, to widen the circle of learning. We especially sought to create opportunities for women for whom Torah study is not part of their everyday lives."Says psychologist Einav Bar, another participant: "By throwing open the doors of its Beit Midrash to the public, Midreshet Lindenbaum is enabling professional lay-women to be part of its 'family'. It is a family we are privileged to have joined." "We are grateful," agrees Selavan. "And we now see with our own eyes just what makes Lindenbaum so special to its students and alumnae; the combination of academic excellence and responsibility to the Jewish world." Malka points out that the program also benefits the full-time students at Lindenbaum. "They internalize our conviction that learning must be shared," she says, "and that it must be accompanied by a genuine commitment to Clal Yisrael."

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