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The name Midreshet Lindenbaum is synonymous with a revolutionary pioneering spirit, a stellar faculty and an academically-outstanding student body. Infused with the same spirit of going “above and beyond” that guided the establishment of the school itself, students band together to take on exciting extra-curricular projects.

Midreshet Lindenbaum women’s college is known worldwide for its high-levels of Talmud, Tanach and chavruta study and the in-depth attention given to the study of text, including the careful analysis of each word. This year, students decided to add to their already enormous workload, setting for themselves the additional goal of completing Seder Nashim [the compilation of seven Mishnaic tractates containing the laws related to women and family life] in its entirety.

“It was a mammoth project,” says Hadas Women’s Hesder Program student Hadar Halperin, who coordinated the effort. “As women, it was only natural for us to choose to begin the project with Seder Nashim. We had over 1,700 pages of Gemara to cover, and we all did it in addition to our already full learning program. The sight of women sitting in the beit midrash at 2:00 am preparing pages for the next day became commonplace,” she remarks.

An Exciting Journey

"When it comes to Talmud study there are two approaches,” explains Rabbi Ohad Tehar-Lev, director of the Midreshet Lindenbaum programs for Israeli women. “On the one hand, you can learn the subject matter in great detail. But once you’re going into such depth on each page, it becomes impossible to cover a lot of ground. That’s the second approach: beki’ut, where you read the text of the page and move on, in order to familiarize yourself with as much material as possible. These young women undertook this additional beki’ut project so that they could also experience the satisfaction that comes with mastering a tremendous range of information.”

“The feeling of accomplishment was gratifying,” confirms Hadar, adding that the four-month long process of learning was an equally exciting journey. An additional, unexpected benefit was that the initiative met with enthusiasm by all of the students on the Chana and Yaakov Tilles Campus, from native Israelis studying in the Hadas, Tushia, Shachar, and Tamar Programs to participants in the Maria and Joel Finkle Overseas Program. “It brought us all much closer,” declares Hadar. “The camaraderie that developed between us and the pride we all share made the whole thing even more worthwhile.”

Hadar will soon be returning to active duty in the IDF Education Corps, but she is not giving up on the beki’ut venture, planning to continue even while on base. “We’ve already started learning the Tractates of Nezikin [the Mishnaic order dealing with criminal and civil law and the Jewish court system],” she reports. “Eventually, we’ll complete the whole Talmud!”

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