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From the start of the 2008-9 academic year, students will begin to enjoy the first results of an extensive building project aimed at providing a fitting home for the pioneering Torah study programs for women at Midreshet Lindenbaum, as well as for OTS’s landmark Monica Dennis Goldberg School of Women Advocates and its Yad L’isha Legal Aid Center for women in distress. The project encompasses renovations to the existing building and construction of a new wing at the school’s Yaakov and Chana Tilles Campus in Jerusalem. 

Renovating and Expanding: Providing a fitting home for women's Torah study

“The renovation and expansion of the dining room will be completed by autumn,” says Rabbi Shlomo Brown, director of Midreshet Lindenbaum. “That will serve as a temporary study hall, until construction is completed on the Henya Hermine Reitman Beit Midrash in the new wing.” The new beit midrash will be shaped like a tent – an “ohel shel torah” – and equipped with comfortable furniture to accommodate more than 200 women in individual and chavruta study. When the beit midrash is completed, the entrance to the building will be moved, so that all those entering and exiting the building will pass it – thus turning the spiritual and ideological heart of the campus into its physical center as well. 

Two auditorium/lecture halls, set for completion this fall, will add nearly 2000 square feet to the size of the facility. In addition, says Brown, much infrastructure of the original building has been renovated: there are new electrical and water systems, and old stairwells have also been replaced.

Preparing Women to Lead

The improvements will transform the Tilles campus into a unique and worthy home for the Monica Dennis Goldberg School and for all of Midreshet Lindenbaum’s unparalleled Torah study programs, which continue to open up new educational horizons and leadership opportunities for women in the religious community.
One of the newest of these programs is the Women’s Leadership Program (“Chachamot”), which is taking the pioneering step of preparing outstanding female Torah scholars who can actively contribute to halachic [Jewish legal] discourse in Orthodox society. The highly accomplished women in the program are following a course of Talmud study parallel to that of male rabbinical students, reports teacher and mentor Rabbi Shuki Reich. “They have already completed studying the laws of Shabbat and have successfully passed tests that are equivalent to men’s rabbinical exams. “

Oriya Mevorach

Student Oriya Mevorach believes the program will fill a tremendous void in the religious community: the lack of female leaders who are well-versed in Talmud and Jewish law and can influence the halachic decision-making process in modern Orthodox society. “There is a critical need to make Judaism and halacha relevant to men and women alike,” she stresses. “We must try to create an open society where women will be welcomed to apply their education and intelligence to solving contemporary problems.
“Halachic authorities are also the opinion- makers in our society. If women who have the same ability as men to understand and interpret halacha are blocked from this leadership, they cannot influence society as a whole. This can change, as more and more women attain knowledge. As an authority in halacha, a woman – regardless of the professional realm she enters – can influence the spiritual and halachic stance of other women,” Oriya insists.
As one of two participants in the Women’s Leadership Program who have been chosen to teach Talmud classes in Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Hadas Program while continuing their own studies, Oriya already has clear goals. “I want my students to understand that the world of Judaism contains everything,” she states. “I want to give them the ability to develop and not be afraid to face issues in Judaism that might seem to conflict with women’s rights.”

Training Outstanding Teachers

As the scholars in the Women’s Leadership Program continue their intense studies in the coming academic year, six outstanding women who completed Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Educator Fellowships Program this past June will be taking up teaching positions in Jewish day schools across the U.S. “This year’s graduates have been placed in schools in Houston, Boston, Washington D.C., Teaneck, N.J., Chicago and San Antonio,” reports program director Rabbi Stanley Peerless.

Through the Educator Fellowships, the post-university women spent a year at Midreshet Lindenbaum, receiving innovative training for teaching in Diaspora communities. One example is Raichel Cohen, who came to the program after earning a B.A. in biotechnology from McGill University in Montreal. Raichel focused her individual project for the Educator Fellowships on the integration of science and Bible in teaching the book of Bereshit – Genesis. “The Educator Fellowships were very practical, both in preparing us to teach Jewish subjects and to teach Jewish people how to build Jewish identity,” she says. Raichel will now begin instructing both chemistry and Tanach for ninth through 12th grades at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington.

Firsts for Hadas

Hadas students at the IDF induction Center

As 33 young women recently completed their year of intense Torah study in the Hadas Program and began their service in the Israel Defense Forces, there were two unprecedented developments in the unique Midreshet Lindenbaum framework for religious young women who wish to serve in the IDF. “This year marks the first time that a Hadas participant has been accepted to the IDF Spokesman’s unit,” reports the program’s director, Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev.  “And it is also the first time we have chayalot bodedot – ’lone soldiers’ who have come on aliya without their families.”
While other Hadas participants serve in the IDF Education Corps, Intelligence Corps or General Security Services, 19-year-old Idit Mevorach applied to the IDF Spokesman’s unit, with the aim of utilizing the skills she had gained as a communications major in high school. After in-depth Talmud, bible and Jewish law studies at Midreshet Lindenbaum, she entered the army as a liaison between IDF officials and the Israeli and international media. Like all 130 Hadas participants currently in the IDF, Idit enjoys ongoing support and assistance. Rabbi Tehar-Lev and Hadas staff members visit the bases regularly to give shiurim and help guide the women through the difficulties inherent in maintaining religious observance within the overwhelmingly secular environment of the IDF.
“The very presence of the Hadas soldiers shatters stereotypes,” says Tehar-Lev. “Their ability to synthesize religious commitment with service to the country has made them into unofficial ambassadors of the religious community.” In addition to the influence they have on their secular peers, Hadas soldiers are also highly regarded by top army brass for their high levels of motivation, strong sense of ethics and seriousness toward the tasks at hand. As a result, says Tehar-Lev, “a high percentage of our soldiers are tapped to extend their tour of duty by training as officers, and many of them are eager to accept the challenge.”

Lone, But Far From Alone

Four other Hadas participants, hailing from Europe and North America, have taken on an additional challenge: making aliya without their families and enlisting in the IDF as chayelot bodedot – literally, lone soldiers. “It was always clear to me that I’d come on aliya after I graduated high school,” says D., 19, whose name and country of origin cannot be used due to the sensitive nature of her service in the Intelligence Corps. Visiting Israel during her senior year of high school, D. decided to join the Maria and Joel Finkle Program for Overseas Students at Midreshet Lindenbaum. But when the school’s teachers learned that she spoke fluent Hebrew and intended to make aliya, they encouraged her to join one of the Israeli programs, and she was especially attracted to Hadas.

In the beit midrash: The spiritual and ideological heart of the campus

Another soldier, R., 21, also looked into learning at Midreshet Lindenbaum on a senior year visit to Israel. “Once I sat in on the lessons, there was no question that this was where I wanted to be,” she recalls. Leaving her family in Europe, she enrolled in the Hadas program upon making aliya last year.
A supportive framework for all of its participants, Hadas is proving to be especially helpful for the lone soldiers. “Hadas became my first home in Israel,” notes D. Adds R.: “I may be alone in Israel, but Hadas has given me a very strong support system.” While both young women now serve on a base in southern Israel and have been “adopted” by a nearby religious kibbutz, they return to the Tilles Campus whenever they can for Shabbat, holidays and special seminars. Ongoing contact with the Hadas staff and fellow participants is critical to them. “Rav Ohad visits our base every two weeks, and we stay in touch with other Hadas students by phone and the Hadas internet forum so we can share experiences and exchange advice,” D. relates.
Now that these “lone soldiers” have blazed the trail, there will be at least one new immigrant at Hadas this coming year: D.’s 18-year-old sister, who is now in the process of making aliya and has already signed up for the program.

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