Program details

Who?

Adults ages 18 and above

Where?

Anywhere in the world!

When?

June 15 - July 10, 2025 (option to join for two weeks or all four weeks)

What?

The Drisha Summer Kollel provides an opportunity for immersive, multi-week Torah learning and cohort building. The Kollel is geared towards undergraduate and graduate students, including rabbinical and cantorial students, and draws participants from across the spectrum of Jewish life. Anchored in daily morning Talmud study, the Kollel includes a wide range of afternoon courses and electives, all centered around themes connected to morning Talmud seder.

Meet the faculty

Dr. R. Jon Kelsen is the Chief Education Officer at Drisha. He previously served as Dean at YCT Rabbinical School and taught Talmud and Pedagogy, and has taught and lectured around the world for nearly two decades.  He earned a doctorate in Education and Jewish Studies from New York University, where he studied as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and was ordained by Rabbis Daniel Landes and Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg.

Rabbi David Silber
Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of the Drisha Institute. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011) and For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Shlomo Walfish
Rabbi Shlomo Walfish

Rav Shlomo Walfish lives in Tekoa with his wife and family. He studied in the Yeshivot Hesder of Otniel and Tekoa and is currently completing his MA in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University. Rabbi Walfish serves as Ra”m in Yeshivat Machanayim and is the on faculty of Machon Lindenbaum and the Drisha Institute in Israel and the US.

Dr. Shana Strauch Schick
Dr. Shana Strauch Schick

Dr. Shana Strauch Schick is a lecturer in Rabbinic Literature in the Multidisciplinary Department of Jewish Studies at Bar Ilan University and teaches Talmud and Jewish Law at Drisha Institute, NY. She has a PhD in Talmud from Bernard Revel Graduate School, Yeshiva University and studied in Stern College’s GPATS, from 2002-2007. She’s the author of Intention in Talmudic Law: Between Thought and Deed (Brill, 2021). Her upcoming monograph is entitled Women in Rabbinic Law and Narrative: Vying Currents in Babylonian and Palestinian Texts.

Rabbanit Luz Toff
Rabbanit Luz Toff

Rabbanit Luz Toff takes a holistic approach to everything she does, from learning and teaching Torah to sharing about healthy living. She cares deeply and is passionate about making Jewish learning and practice meaningful, relevant and accessible. Luz feels grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and teach in a variety of Jewish educational settings around the world. Luz currently lives in the UK.

Programming

Morning seder

We begin seder at 9am sharp, in which we delve in our Talmud texts with our chavrutot (study partners). We then have a daily shiur at approximately 11am.

We will have two tracks: An advanced track taught and a skills-based beginner track.

Afternoon courses and electives

From 1-3pm, we offer lecture-based courses and electives in Tanakh, Halakha, and Jewish Thought given by both guest speakers and Drisha scholars. The topics of afternoon courses generally revolve around morning seder study. 

Cohort building

Each morning during the Kollel, we start our day with optional coffee talks where a kollel member has the opportunity to share a dvar Torah before we start with morning seder. Kollel participants also have the option to enjoy lunch-and-learns with a chaburah (learning group) given by a Kollel participant.

Program application

If you’re interested in applying to our Summer Kollel, please fill out an application. Qualified applicants will be invited to interview for the program. 

Contact us

Use our general contact form to reach out with any questions or email inquiry@drisha.org

What’s next?

If you are looking for more learning beyond the Summer Kollel, check out our year-round courses and programming.