Program details
Our program offers five weeks of immersive and intensive textual study centered around classical Talmud study combined with fun camp activities like bonfires, swimming, arts and field trips. Students with extensive Talmud skills are pushed to new heights and beginners grow foundational skills rapidly under the guidance of an expert all-female faculty.
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Program Summary
A summer of immersive Torah learning (and fun!) featuring Gemara morning seder, experiential learning, arts, campy fun, expert (mostly female) faculty, classes in Tanakh, Halakha & Machshava.
Rabbanit Leah Sarna is the Director of High School Programs at Drisha. She previously served as Director of Religious Engagement at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago, a leading urban Orthodox congregation.
She was ordained at Yeshivat Maharat in 2018, holds a BA from Yale University in Philosophy & Psychology, and also trained at the SKA Beit Midrash for Women at Migdal Oz, Drisha and the Center for Modern Torah Leadership. Rabbanit Sarna’s published works have appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Lehrhaus and MyJewishLearning.
She has lectured in Orthodox synagogues and Jewish communal settings around the world and loves spreading her warm, energetic love for Torah and Mitzvot with Jews in all stages of life.
Alexandra “Zan” Alhadeff is the Assistant Director of Drisha’s Dr. Beth Samuels Summer High School Program for Girls. Before she began full-time learning, Zan had a successful career as a transportation planning consultant in Seattle, WA and Silver Spring, MD. Zan has learned at Yeshivat Hadar, the Drisha Summer Kollel and the Beit Midrash Program (2019, 2022-2023). Zan also teaches Hebrew school at a local synagogue and is the Assistant Director of the Drisha High School Summer Program. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing singing, writing, and hiking. Zan lives with her husband in Riverdale, NYC.
Rabbanit Meira’s doctorate in Talmud from Yeshiva University deals with scent and the sense of smell in the world of the Babylonian Talmud – like how might it have felt or smelled to walk down the streets of Mahoza or Pumbedita. Meira is also a graduate of GPATS and a student in Yeshivat Maharat’s Adanced Kollel Executive Ordination Track. She is the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley, CA.
Daphna Nizan is part of the Talmud Faculty at the Dr. Beth Samuels Summer High School Program for Girls. She is also the Overseas Program Coordinator at Yeshivat Drisha. She holds a BA in Tanach, Talmud, and Jewish Art, as well as an MA in Talmud and teaching certification from Bar Ilan University. She has worked for the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education and taught in MMY, TVA, the Drisha high school summer program, and the Hartman high school for girls, as well as for many summers in Camp Moshava. She has studied in Midreshet Lindenbaum, Matan, and is a graduate of the Advanced Gemara Program in Migdal Oz, in addition to studying in their halacha program for three years. She is currently learning at and coordinating the Overseas Shana Alef Program at the Yeshiva.
Program application
To apply to the Dr. Beth Samuels Drisha Summer High School Program, students submit applications as well as two reference forms from teachers. Qualified applicants will be invited to interview with the program director. Applications are due March 15th, 2024 and reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications received after March 15th will be considered as space allows.
What’s next?
If you are looking for more learning opportunities beyond the high school program, check out our year-round courses tailored to high school girls.