Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Souorce: Mechon Hadar

Mechon Hadar is opening its doors to high school students! In this five-week program (June 28 - August 2, 2015), a select group of high school students (graduating High School in 2015 or 2016), will join the larger Yeshivat Hadar beit midrash in creating passionate and meaningful Jewish community during our summer session. Over the course of five weeks, students will learn, sing, daven, and spend Shabbat together. They will form close relationships based on openness and give-and-take with Jewish texts, their teachers, and each other. Students will emerge having formed a network of peers engaged in a quest for a Jewish life centered around Torah and mitzvot and having experienced a powerful example of a community living it.

The program is based on the following activities:

• Talmud Torah: Yeshivat Hadar creates a community of learning which includes seminars, havruta (paired learning), and individualized learning. Students are given the opportunity to use both traditional and modern academic methods to translate their learning into contemporary religious meaning and obligation. High School students will join the rest of the Yeshiva in studying a perek of gemara in depth, with a focus on building gemara skills, while not losing sight of the values that undergird the text and how these values can inform our religious sensibilities. In addition to gemara, students will be encouraged to improve their skills in Tanakh, mahshavah, halakhah, and other texts through a combination of shiurim and supported independent learning.
• Hesed: In order to plant the seeds for a culture of communal service, students will make regular visits to the Jewish Home Lifecare on the Upper West Side. They will appreciate that an integral aspect of community is to look beyond oneself and one’s immediate surrounding to care for and offer of themselves to those most in need of compassion and dignity.
• Tefilah: Yeshivat Hadar’s schedule features davening three times a day in our Beit Midrash. Tefilot are egalitarian and employ the traditional liturgy. Students will have the opportunity to join this vibrant prayer community.
• Sihot: Students will participate in group religious conversations (Sihot), where faculty members will lead discussions of relevant questions of the day. Students will also have the opportunity to process their experience through small reflection groups, led by the program coordinators.
• Informal Programming: During the program, students will be able to experience what makes New York City great in the summer. Each week, the group will have a chance to participate in outdoor activities, musical and theatre performances, tour some of the city’s famous neighborhoods, and more!

For more information about the program and registration, see the fellowship web site.