The Pardes Community Batei Midrash initiative creates empowering, hands-on and deep Jewish learning in local communities across North America. The aim is to create sustainable and transformative adult Jewish learning in the these cities.
Pardes is uniquely positioned to achieve this by utilizing our 5,000+ alumni on the ground, empowering people to learn independently through havruta study, allowing entry at every level: co-educational, inter-generational and inter-denominational and working with communities to tailor programming to their specific needs.
“In Brooklyn – the Brooklyn Beit Midrash was founded a year ago by five local Brooklynites, four of whom were Pardes alumni who had experienced the deep and intensive beit midrash of Pardes. Pardes helped to incubate this beit midrash, sharing resources, content, Pardes faculty and best practices, and now the Brooklyn Beit Midrash is an independent entity creating rich co-educational and cross-communal learning for their local community… In Nashville – the Nashville Pardes Learning Group was founded by alumni of the Pardes Executive Learning Seminar. Every other week, a committed group of diverse learners, from all backgrounds, came together to study, combining havruta learning with lectures by a Pardes faculty member… In Pittsburgh – Kulam: The Pittsburgh Community Beit Midrash in Partnership with Pardes, was founded by alumni of the Year Program, and the Pardes Lishma program, with the help of generous local funders. This interdenominational and intergenerational Beit Midrash is being taught by Pardes alumnus, and adjunct faculty member Rabbi William Friedman, and is creating an innovative learning space in Pittsburgh.”
Click here to read more about the Pardes Beit Midrash initiative by Rabba Yaffa Epstein in The Times of Israel.
See www.pardes.org.il/community_batei_midrash to find out more and to get involved in this exciting new initiative.
