Zooming Ahead in Torah

Online Learning Unites Students from Five Continents

It’s been both challenging and exciting this past year to offer online Torah programs. Not only did Covid-19 stretch our boundaries, but it forced us to find new ways to spread Torah learning and reach serious students eager to learn. Thanks to quality programming, we were able to reach students from all over the world, who would not have been able to come in person. Our teachers were – and continue to be – of the highest caliber. And our students were fully immersed in their learning.

All told, we had over 100 students; indeed, many participated in multiple sessions. Besides the Torah classes we offered women from the four corners of the world a community to grow with. They love interacting with one another in our Women’s Community Forum on Facebook and WhatsApp. Both groups are constantly abuzz with women sharing their experiences, their learning, as well as the books they have read about topics being taught at the midrasha. Our students have also shared links to Torah resources and, of course, plenty of pictures of family members, gardens, and pets!

Among the highlights was our Pre-Pesach program focusing on the Haggadah’s Chassidic Insights, the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings and relevant halachot. Additional popular classes include Women’s Intimate Mitzvot, Chassidic insights on Parshat HaShavua, The Inner Secret of the Hebrew Letters, Torah and herbology, as well as conversational Hebrew for beginners. And, to help individuals just starting out on their path to observance, we provide a free class in basic Jewish concepts.

Since the spring of 2020, we’ve been offering classes four hours a day, five days a week, with small breaks between sessions. And thanks to Facebook, Instagram and email, we’ve been able to reach more students than ever before. We were even able to bring our conversion program online to help students in foreign lands on their journeys to Judaism. Perhaps most important of all, we were able to help women of all ages and backgrounds reach their goals of becoming better Jewish women.

Our Elul program starts again in August, and we are looking forward to another exciting year teaching both online and on-campus!