New Jerusalem Program Aims to Improve US Jewish Schools

JERUSALEM - Jan. 12, 2017 - PRLog -- Matan, a Jerusalem based advanced Jewish studies program for women, has launched Eshkolot, an initiative to improve the level and quality of Jewish education in American Jewish schools in cooperation with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Offering full-tuition scholarships and living stipends of up to a total of $15,000, Matan seeks to attract the "best and the brightest" women currently teaching or aspiring to teach in Jewish schools in the US. Participants commit to returning to North America to teach in Jewish schools for a minimum of two years upon completion of the program.

The 12 month program combines intensive Beit Midrash learning and lectures in Tanakh, Parshanut, Oral law, Jewish Philosophy, as well as cutting-edge pedagogic resources, technological tools, classroom teaching and professional mentoring. Classes are taught by renowned scholars including Dr. Yael Ziegler, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, Rabbanit Shani Taragin among others.  Students also have the option to study for and receive an MA from Hebrew University.

Currently, 15 students are participating in the first year of Eshkolot. Rabbanit Malke Bina Chancellor and founder of Matan explains that "Eshkolot was created to invest in talented women who are idealistic and committed to making a significant impact on the Jewish people. We see them as an elite group who will go back to the US and contribute to their classroom, their school and by extension the whole community. It is an exciting venture!"

Applications are now being accepted for the 2017 fellowship which begins in August 2017. For more information contact Dr. Dodi Fishman Tobin, Dean of Students at eshkolot@matan.org.il  or visit www.matan.org.il.

About Matan

Rabbanit Malke Bina had a revolutionary dream to open a Beit Midrash for women to learn Torah at the highest of levels, creating women educators and leaders and in 1988, she founded Matan. From modest beginnings, Matan has grown into an innovative institution dedicated to furthering women's Torah study, paving the way for them to learn Talmud, Tanakh and Halakha at the highest levels, in a vibrant atmosphere that is open to diverse spiritual and intellectual perspectives. Matan is committed to bringing the values of Torah outside the walls of the Beit Midrash and achieves this through an innovative range of community and online learning programs, with thousands of participants in Israel and around the world.