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| One of the pillars of the yeshiva’s hashkafa-system is the “shmuz”. Delivered by the Rosh Yeshiva, it comprises a weekly ethics lecture lasting up to 2 hours or more. One of the most common “threads” of The Shmuz is The Yeshiva’s financial woes, with the Rosh Yeshiva constantly alluding to his belief that, since The Yeshiva provides lodgings and meals for students, and given that not all students pay the full tuition, forcing the Rosh Yeshiva to shell out his own money, all of the students are heavily indebted monetarily to the Rosh Yeshiva himself, thereby making any sort of disagreement or disobedience to the Yeshiva and its rules a crime akin to stealing actual money from the Rosh Yeshiva. It is not clear if such a line of reasoning would hold up in a court of law. (Ironically, such a topic can sometimes be immediately followed up by a lecture on why money is meaningless and is not something to be aggravated about.) | |||
| Other controversial topics of The Shmuz range from denunciation of rival Yeshivas to strong discouragement of students leaving The Yeshiva, flaunting The Rosh Yeshivas own learning-method and ethic-system as the only correct method, while others are tainted by ego or self-interests. Almost all of these messages are not stated explicitly, rather they are delivered constantly through not-so-subtle sarcasms and familiar “catch-phrases” recognized by the student body, thus leaving room for the claims of “misinterpretation’’ to anyone who expresses outrage at such ideas. Indeed, It is not uncommon for a student who was reported to have been expressing dissent against the Yeshiva and its views to be publicly humiliated during the Shmuz by the Rosh Yeshiva, although also- through subtle “inside” allusions. The usual reaction in such a case by other loyalists is that such a move was “for the student’s good”. | |||
| The highly personal approach to the shmuz and its diversion from the classic topics of jewish ethics have lead some to wonder if the lessons of the Shmuz were actually inherited from the Rosh Yeshiva’s teachers or it was merely the dogmatism and passion that he received, whereas the actual content is self-developed. | |||
| The doors to the Study Hall are locked during this session and all entry and exit is barred unless explicit permission is received. Attending the Shmuz is mandatory for all students and individual student attendance is marked either manually by a staff member or by the use of one of the 8 surveillance cameras in the Study Hall. Students who did not attend The Shmuz are barred from receiving dinner from The Yeshiva that night. (This rule is similar to another controversial rule stating that if a student did not attend Morning Prayers he is barred from receiving breakfast and lunch from The Yeshiva that day. Adherence to these rules is supervised through the use of 3 surveillance cameras in the Yeshiva’s dining room) | |||
| Visiting guests must receive an O.k. from the Rosh Yeshiva in order to sit in by the Shmuz. | |||
| The Yeshiva’s staff displays an uncanny enthusiasm for student recruitment, going so far as to take a large percentage of their students from France despite the difficulty many of these students have understanding English, the language used for all Yeshiva lectures. Other desperate recruitment attempts include corralling idle students into the study hall any time a guest comes to veiw the yeshiva as well as superficially tidying up many student apartments; going so far as to, on one occasion, uproot and hide student’s plants that were outside of the apartments because they looked “too messy”. At another point students had set up tents outside of the main study hall building and were sleeping in them nightly without any opposition by the yeshiva staff, until a group of guests came to view the yeshiva, at which point the tents were ordered to be hastily disassembled and hidden in a side room. Additionally, students are heavily encouraged to try to persuade their “outside” friends to join the Yeshiva. | |||
| These deceptive manoeuvres seem to clash head-on with the yeshiva’s shunning of all false superficiality and claims of strong adherence to “the truth”. While the yeshiva staff will claim that, when dealing with people who only view superficiality, it is necessary to modify one's own superficiality so that these people should not get the wrong impression, while this can be true, ultimately the Yeshiva, now, is not shunning false superficiality and it is not adhering to the truth, although admittedly, with a justification. However this then makes them no better than all the institutions they denounce. Institutions that, they claim, do not adhere to the truth or shun false superficiality, as these institutions also do so with justifications of their own, thus putting everyone in the same boat. Possibly it makes the yeshiva even worse as those institutions do not then proceed to make hypocritical denunciations. | |||
| Another interesting and somewhat alarming aspect of the yeshiva is their approach to any perceived psychological issues amongst the students. On numerous occasions students who have been overheard professing feelings of anxiety or unhappiness and, therefore, desires to leave the yeshiva are soon approached by one of the yeshiva staff, a self-proclaimed psychologist with credentials amounting to none, and driven to a specific pediatrician affiliated with the yeshiva for an inspection and a diagnosis taking as little as five minutes and, at times, with the student barely speaking with the doctor; the yeshiva staff member does the talking. Students as young as 18 years old are known to walk out of these brief visits with large prescriptions to drugs such as Ambien, Xanax, Ritalin, and occasionally heavy anti-depressants. These drugs have been known to be then proliferated around the yeshiva and used recreationally by many other students, with the end result being the troubled student remaining in the yeshiva, albeit in a drug induced haze. (One student even tells of this doctor experimenting on him with certain anti-psychosis medications after his original diagnosis and prescription resulted in suicidal thoughts.) It has come to be said amongst students, when looking for recreational drugs: ”we have to go visit Dr. S----” and at times with students actually following up on this. | |||
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Revision as of 01:32, 9 November 2017
Not to be confused with Midrash Shmuel (aggadah). School in Jerusalem, Israel| Midrash Shmuel Template:Lang-he | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 13 Shaarei Chesed St. Shaarei Chesed Jerusalem Israel | |
| Information | |
| Established | 1993 |
| Rosh Yeshiva | Rabbi Binyomin Moskovits |
| Affiliation | Orthodox |
| Bachurim | 100 |
| Website | http://www.midrashshmuel.org |
Midrash Shmuel is a Charedi yeshiva catering to English-speaking students, located in the Shaarei Chesed neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel. It was founded in 1993 by Rabbi Binyomin Moskovits who functions as its Rosh HaYeshiva (dean), and was named after his mentor, the late Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky.
Educational goals
The yeshiva is designed for English-speaking post-high-school students from outside Israel. All classes are held in English. Midrash Shmuel also has an introductory program called Aliyos Shmuel for college graduates and older students who seek to learn at a beginner's level, and a kollel (post-graduate) program which enrolls approximately 90 married students.
History
Midrash Shmuel is part of the widespread trend since the 1970s of yeshiva Torah study programs in Israel for post-high-school students from America and other English-speaking countries. In the 1970s there were only a handful of such programs for overseas students at the Mir, Brisk yeshiva, and Ponovezh yeshiva. Today, there are dozens of such yeshivas.
Rabbi Moskovits opened Midrash Shmuel in the early 1990s at the urging of his students and with the heartfelt encouragement of Torah giants of the generation, HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l and HaRav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach zt"l, among others.
Educational activities
Midrash Shmuel recruits students from America and France who have completed yeshiva high-schools and its dean is active in this regard.
Students in the rabbinic ordination program receive semicha directly from the rosh yeshiva Rabbi Moskovits. Students develop personal relationships with the rosh yeshiva and rabbinic lecturers which continue after graduation, as alumni participate in reunions and yeshiva fund-raising events in communities where they settle.
Curriculum
Rabbi Moskovits' gemara lectures are heavily influenced by Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, while his ethical lectures are influenced by Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein. Rabbi Moskovits emphasizes a strong textual reading of relevant sources. Every student in the yeshiva delivers, at a minimum, two chaburos ("informal lectures") per month. The Yeshiva places a strong focus on student surveillance and there are over 20 surveillance cameras placed throughout the study hall and student dormitories.
Guest speakers
The yeshiva also invites noted rabbis from the international English-speaking Torah world to address the yeshiva. In past years, these have included Rabbi Avraham Chaim Feuer, formerly of Kehillas Beis Avrohom in Monsey, New York; Rabbi Harvey Belovski, rabbi at Dunstan Road Synagogue in England, and Rabbi Aharon Kaufman, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Waterbury, Connecticut Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky Neve Yerushalayim].
Summer programs
Midrash Shmuel runs a summer program for high school students from England, Canada, the US and South Africa. The program combines in-depth gemara learning and Halakha, Mussar and hashkafah (Jewish philosophy) shiurim with recreational outings and activities.
College accreditation
College credits are offered through Touro College and Hebrew Theological College.
Women's program
In August 2010, actress and dancer Rachel Factor, whose husband studies at the Midrash Shmuel kollel, opened Midreshes Shmuel, a post-high school women's Torah learning and performing arts program, under the direction of Rabbi Moskovits. However, this branch of the school closed in 2012.
Notable alumni
Graduates of Midrash Shmuel have gone on to make their mark on the English-speaking Torah world. They include the well-known Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the "Zoo Rabbi", author of a dozen books on Torah and science. Slifkin's first book, Lying for Truth: Understanding Ya'akov’s Deception of Yitzchak, was initially published by the yeshiva with an approbation by Rabbi Moskovits.
Other rabbinic alumni include: Rabbi Jonathan Shooter, author of The Haftara Handbook: Lessons from the Prophets for the Contemporary Jew (Devora Publishing, 2010); Rabbi Yonoson Hughes, Rabbi of Richmond Synagogue, London and author of Understanding Reb Chaim: Reb Chaim Soloveitchik zt"l of Brisk (2010); Rabbi Hershel Brand, teacher at Yeshivat Ner Yaakov, Jerusalem, and author of On Eagles Wings: Moshiach, Redemption and the World to Come (Targum Press, 2002); Rabbi Scott Kahn, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Yesodei HaTorah, Moshav Zanoah, Israel; Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman, Assistant Rabbi of the Seed Programme in Edgware, London; Rabbi Josh Bennett, Rabbinical Coordinator at the London Beth Din; Rabbi Stephen Berger, Director of the NCSY Northwest Region, Vancouver, British Columbia; and Rabbi Yisrael Shaw, Torah educator at Machon Yaakov, Har Nof, and editor-in-chief of the Daf Yomi publications of Kollel Iyun Hadaf.
References
- ^ "Midrash Shmuel (& Aliyos Shmuel)". Nefesh B'Nefesh. September 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Seidel, Jeff (2005). The Jewish Travelers' Resource Guide. Jewish Student Information Center. ISBN 978-1-58330-749-6. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Rocker, Simon (19 August 2010). "The rabbi who had his brit when he was 20". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Rosenblum, Jonathan (31 January 2007). "Turning Down the Noise". Cross Currents. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- http://aliyosshmuel.com/show.asp?PID=4
- "Midrash Shmuel's Rosh HaYeshiva Visits SA" (PDF). Jewish Report. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- Stone, Yoram (12 November 2003). "HaRav Binyomin Moskovits in London". Dei'ah VeDibur. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- "HaRav Avraham Chaim Feuer joins Yeshivas Midrash Shmuel for Tisha B'Av". Dei'ah VeDibur. 17 August 2005. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- "Rabbi Harvey Belovski visits Yeshivas Midrash Shmuel". Dei'ah VeDibur. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- "Waterbury Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Aaron Kaufman, in Israel". Yated Neeman. 5 April 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- Yated Neeman Staff (27 July 2005). "Midrash Shmuel's Summer Program Off to a Great Start". Deiah Ve-Dibur. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- "Study in Israel". Touro College. 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- "Israel Experience Program 2009-2010" (PDF). Hebrew Theological College. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
- "Midreshes Shmuel". Rachel-factor.com. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Zegerman Schwimmer, Helen (3 March 2010). "Crossing the Narrow Bridge with Rachel Factor". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- "The Zoo Rabbi – Biography". zootorah.com. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "About the Author". Yashar Books. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- Wolowelsky, Joel B. "Kibbud Av and Kibbud Avot: Moral Education and Patriarchal Critiques". lookstein.org. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- "The Haftara Handbook: Lessons from the Prophets for the Contemporary Jew". Urim Publications. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "Understanding Reb Chaim (H) Rabbi Yonoson Hughes". levinejudaica.com. 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "Our Staff". Ner Yaakov. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "Faculty". Yeshivat Yesodei HaTorah. 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "SEED: Meet the Team". seed.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "KLBD: Meet the Team". theus.org.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- "Rabbi Stephen Berger to Lead NCSY Northwest Region, Vancouver". ou.org. 8 September 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- "Staff". Machon Rabinowitz. 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
External links
- Home page
- Chanukah lighting Medrash Shmuel (video)
- Purim party in yeshiva Midrash Shmuel part 3 (video)
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