“I have studied Torah before but never in depth and in this way. All I can say is that not only do I know more Torah, but I feel different. Yes, that’s it. I’m different. I can’t say more than that but I can’t wait to get back to studying.”
~ Adult Student
The Mishna in Pirkei Avot tells us that the world stands on three pillars: Torah, Avoda and Gemilut Chasadim. At TAL TORAH, we believe that the inner world of each person is also built on these three pillars and so our program initiatives include these three areas.
TORAH
The Talmud states that before the destruction of the second Temple, students stood for Torah study just as we all stood at Sinai when Torah came into the world. Study was akin to revelation. There was a feeling of awe surrounding the activity of learning. That transmission of awe from the "experience of Sinai" is at the heart of TAL TORAH's educational efforts.
"I have studied Torah before but never in depth and in this way. All I can say is that not only do I know more Torah, but I feel different. Yes, that's it. I'm different. I can't say more than that but I can't wait to get back to studying."
~ Adult Student
Class offerings for adult women include Bible and Midrash, Gemara, Halacha and Philosophy. They cover a breadth of topics and interests, some foundational such as The Song of Shabbat , Massechet Brachot – Beginner's Talmud and Siddur ; some relating to Eretz Yisrael such as The Land of Israel – Dream and Reality and The Taste of Torah – Shivat Haminim ; and others appealing to unique interests such as Taste the Ta’amim – Trop as Interpretation and Behind the Scenes – The Talmudic Sages.
TAL TORAH's adult programs provide opportunities of personal self-expression through the visual and creative arts and for learning individually, in small groups, family and community settings. Join us as we pursue the inheritance of Jacob, the Torah.
TAL TORAH offers a deeply enriching ADULT BAT MITZVAH PROGRAM that has been designed to meet the unique needs of the Adult Bat Mitzvah, while remaining flexible enough for each woman to imbue the process with her individual form of expression.
AVODA – PRAYER
TAL TORAH has been part of the vanguard of the growth of women’s tefilla in Jerusalem for the past ren years through its pioneering Bat Mitzvah Program and by opening its own TAL TORAH Women’s Tefilla events in response to the many requests of its students for a place to continue davening and chanting Torah. Opening the school year with a women’s tefilla on Shabbat Shuvah, TAL TORAH also invites women of all ages and Jewish backgrounds to daven together on Shabbat Shirah. At this tefilla, we invite girls who have learned ta’amim from different cultural backgrounds to chant each aliya in a different style. We also hold a women's Megillat Esther reading on Purim morning and a women’s Megillat Ruth reading on Shavuot Mincha services.
GEMILUT CHASADIM
TAL TORAH believes that tzedaka extends beyond the walls of the beit midrash and has integrated the design and participation in chessed projects throughout all areas of its programming. Bar/Bat Mitzvah families are encouraged to include a chessed project in their preparations; our class Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof is one our most popular and inspiring class offerings, whether for teens, mothers and daughters, or adults; we offer Torah and Tzedaka evenings before each holiday where women and girls of all ages come together to learn Torah and make baskets for the children of the neighborhood women’s shelter; our closing community event of the school year is a chessed project coordinated with the help of the Livnot Ul’hibanot organization.
Most importantly, our chessed education and array of projects inspire our students to continue their volunteer work with their families and in long-term projects of their own choosing. One group of four young women formed their own Tzedaka Club and has continued to do tzedaka projects together four years after their bat mitzvah celebrations. Other students have asked that their “parties” become Tzedaka events and have engaged in such projects as painting neighborhood fences, cleaning up neighborhood parks, painting tables and chairs to donate to the children of an Ethiopian absorbtion center, and visiting children in the hospital.