Women’s Torah World Commences Zman Elul and the School Year

Women’s Torah seminaries have opened for Zman Elul of Hebrew year 5780. Lindenbaum Seminary opened its gates to the 185 young women who arrived at what is currently the world’s largest women’s Torah seminary. Sixty of these young women came from abroad and are spending two weeks in quarantine.

Srugim News | August 4, 2020

For 185 young women, the school year began this morning at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, in what is the largest women’s Beit Midrash in the world.

Ohr Torah Stone’s Midreshet Lindenbaum is the first of the seminaries preparing young women for the army to open its school year. A session was held today within the Beit Midrash in which the girls were introduced to the educational staff and to each other, while adhering to Ministry of Health Covid-19 regulations throughout.

The seminary affirmed that the sixty young women who arrived from abroad are spending two weeks in quarantine, according to Ministry of Health regulations. Despite the size of the seminary, the staff has divided the students into some ten capsules. The young women allocated to each capsule also share the same dorm rooms and are isolated from other such groups. Each group has even been assigned different colored masks.

“We decided to open many capsules, each containing about half the number permitted by Ministry of Health regulations, out of concern for our students and our staff. We have six dining halls where meals will be served according to a staggered schedule, and we are coping with quite a few social challenges due to the separation into capsules such as, for instance, how to generate the atmosphere of an active Beit Midrash, or of Shabbat, in a reality of strict separation regulations,” explained Rabbi Ohad Teharlev, director of Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Israeli programs.

“We are very excited, and God willing we will handle this huge challenge and increase the light of Torah. Opportunities lie within every challenge and with the help of our highly motivated students, their earnestness, passion for learning, and excitement at this new beginning – together with the hard work of our dedicated staff – we will overcome the internal and external partitions and separations.”