Ki mi-New York teitzei Torah
Coming this summer:
We are excited to introduce Yeshivat Hadar, a program animated by two
central goals:
- To foster a community of students who engage in intensive Torah study, prayer and action.
- To offer a passionate vision of traditional Jewish life as a spiritual path.
Yeshivat Hadar offers 15 fellows an intensive program in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The 8-week experience (June 3 – July 27, 2007) will combine traditional text study, egalitarian prayer and social action with a special focus on personal religious growth. In recognition of the intense time and energy commitment required by the fellowship, Yeshivat Hadar is pleased to offer a generous stipend for fellows. For more information, please visit www.mechonhadar.org.
This new yeshiva, loosely associated with Kehilat Hadar, is newsworthy because opportunities for serious high-level Jewish text study for regular people (i.e. not rabbinical school or graduate school) are exceedingly rare in the American liberal Jewish community. I hope this is the first of many such initiatives around the country — both for the future of Judaism (which demands an educated citizenry) and for selfish reasons (one day I hope to understand Tosafot, I’m too intimidated to approach it alone, and I’ll be working full-time all through June so I can’t apply for this).
It’s also newsworthy because it’s called Mechon Hadar, spelled with an “e”. This mastery of the semichut (construct) form places them high above such institutions as Machon Schechter and Machon Pardes.
(This certainly isn’t the first time that a yeshiva has been associated with an independent minyan/havurah; Havurat Shalom started in the ’60s as a yeshiva for draft-dodgers.)
The application deadline is February 1.
re: tosafot, I’ve found Steinsaltz’s addition of punctuation to be rather helpful.
re: tosafot, try the tosafot rosh. Not only does the man simplify and explain the existing tosafot (or a version thereof), but he’s not printed in little rashi letters.
one day I hope to understand Tosafot, I’m too intimidated to approach it alone
Be not afraid! Tosafot really are more approachable, and more intuitive, than they look on the page. I’ve found that Tosafot will actually often ask the very question that’s nagging at the back of my mind. It’s a cool feeling!