Women’s Beis Midrash Launches Third Year

A few weeks ago, Batsheva Learning Center’s Brooklyn Beis Midrash launched their third year. The Beis Midrash is the first of its kind for women, offering young women the opportunity to delve into independent text-based learning on a level they never had access to before.

The student-centered program offers two courses, one in Gemara and the other in Chassidus. The Gemara course explores the topic of Birchas Hanehenin and develops the student’s skills for learning the Gemara inside as well as seeing how the halachos are derived from the Gemara and applied practically in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. The goal of the course is to give the students a window into the complexity of the halachic system in order to gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the halachos that they practice.

“Learning the sources behind the halachos I practice, really brings all of its details to life,” says Rosie Hecht, who is now a third year student at the program. “Getting to learn those sources, starting with the Gemara, has always been a personal dream of mine. I’m excited to build those skills this year at the Beis Midrash.”

A new student to the program, Chana Rivka Stolik, reflected, “When I see how seriously the chachamim take everything— how much you can learn from a single extra letter or word— it makes me take my Yiddishkeit so much more seriously.”

The Chassidus course explores a series of maamarim on the topic of bittul haolamos, starting with the maamar “Mi Kamocha 5629”. Rather than just listening to a series of shiurim on the maamar, the students have the opportunity to first learn the maamar inside, discuss it, and review it with their chavrusas, so that they master the ideas thoroughly. The goal of the course is to build the students’ skills for learning advanced texts of Chassidus, so that they can understand and internalize the ideas in a whole new way.

“I’m really enjoying being ‘inside’ the learning process,” Chana Rivka Stolik said. “Rather than just hearing a shiur, which feels like listening to other people’s learning experience, I’m actually experiencing learning for myself.”

For both courses, the students also benefit from weekly shiurim taught by knowledgeable teachers, but as the students report, participating in the shiur after having mastered the material for themselves is a completely different experience.

“In the Chassidus shiur, it was so cool to hear ideas I already learned in a more clear way,” another student, Nechama Lubin said. “It was so much more grounded when I had learned the information. I don’t just have to take someone else’s word for it… I feel like I own [it].”

In addition to the classes, the students also participate in farbrengens, Shabbos meals and other extracurriculars that help them to bond as a group and form a community that centers around authentic Torah learning.

Find out more about the Beis Midrash here.