The Jerusalem-based Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies is getting set to launch a unique online summer learning program. This will enable men and women from all over the world to expand their Torah-learning skill set from the comfort of their homes.
A pre-summer “pilot” of on-line classes will be offered starting May 20, via the Zoom video conferencing platform to the general public. Mayanot’s formal summer semester of courses will be offered starting June 15, with three separate levels including beginner, intermediate, and advanced Torah classes.
There will be courses offered at convenient hours to accommodate Mayanot’s global student body. In addition, a special program will be offered on Sundays to accommodate those unavailable to learn during the week.
According to Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, Executive Director of Mayanot, “Over the years the institution has been using online tools including Soundcloud and Spotify to spread the words of Torah and Chasidut. But as a result of Covid-19, the demand has increased almost ten-fold from potential students, alumni, and our supporters, for more online classes.”
The great challenge now, says Shemtov, “is how to lead online classes, which are not only inspirational, but which deliver the skills of how to learn Torah for which our teachers are known for,” leading up to the summer program.
Rabbi Boruch Kaplan, the Associate Dean of the Talmud Department at Mayanot, will be offering various Gemara and Chasidut classes online during the summer session. He says that “we are all very excited about the opportunity to expand the horizons of Mayanot, and take our unique educational methods to a large audience.”
He highlighted that, “While the online program will be missing our trademark supportive social environment which exists thanks to our students when they are together in-person; we are now being presented with an incredible opportunity to reach people all over the world, whom we are normally unable to reach. This is a tremendous advantage for the Jewish world at large.”
Susie Muller, Creative Director at Mayanot added, “Mayanot is already such an amazing community, the online program offers an opportunity to continue to grow on a global scale and spread Torah learning to even further reaches of the globe.”
Rabbi Tzemach Chazan, Mayanot’s Online Program Director, said that, “what’s special about this program is that we have some of the top teachers, who are loved by past students, which makes all the difference. I speak to alumni all the time and they always praise their teachers and want to keep a connection with them. This new online format gives them that opportunity.”
Rabbi Shlomo Gestetner, Dean of Mayanot, explains just how unique the online program will be, saying that “while there are thousands of amazing Torah classes online, there are very few places where you can actually work on your learning skills.”
He elaborated, “Our goal isn’t only to bring classes and lectures to our students – that you can find in many places. Rather our goal is to provide serious textual learning with the educational goal of ‘learning how to learn.’”
Rabbi Gestetner says that the new online learning program fits into Mayanot’s mission, which stresses, “our desire to create educated young Jewish leaders, which can only be achieved through in-depth exploration of the sources, and their becoming self-sufficient in the study of the Hebrew texts.”
This online opportunity is being offered by Mayanot at no charge for the summer session. It is an amazing chance to invite anyone that is interested in seeing what in-depth Torah learning is about. Start dates begin May 20th and June 15th. For those interested, register by clicking here.
Who is teaching in the women’s program? It would have been nice to include a sample schedule for that as well.