Program details
Our program offers three weeks of immersive and intensive textual study centered around classical Talmud study combined with fun camp activities like bonfires, swimming, arts and field trips. Whether students come in with prior Talmud experience or not—everyone will be pushed to new heights and to be their best selves—all under the guidance of an expert faculty!
Who?
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Program Summary
Students in the Middle School Program join our buzzing Beit Midrash, growing their skills in Talmud study and building community with a diversity of Torah-loving peers.
Students will have the opportunity to engage in serious study of Jewish texts beyond the scope of a middle school classroom. They work in chavruta and practice reading, listening and analytic skills as they study classical Jewish texts in their original languages. The classes will be full of dynamic conversations, where students can get in the mind of the Rabbis of the text and discuss their relevance to today.
Mornings will be full of classical Talmud study in our supportive and energetic Beit Midrash.
The afternoons and evenings will feature classes in Aggadah (stories in the Talmud) and Halakha, emphasizing hands-on and creative opportunities for learning, mixed in with good old camp fun like bonfires, swimming, arts and field trips.
Rabbanit Leah Sarna is the Faculty Advisor to the Teen Programs at Drisha and a former Director of Teen Programs. 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.
Tzophia is currently Eim Bayit at Yeshivat Drisha and the Director of the Drisha Summer Middle School Program for Girls. She completed her B.A. in psychology and Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University, where she continued learning there in their advanced Gemara and Halacha program (GPATS) for three years. Over the course of her time in GPATS, she served as a community scholar in multiple synagogues and taught college courses at Yeshiva University. She recently made aliyah with her husband from the tri-state area and came straight to learn in Drisha’s Beit Medrash. You can always find Tzophia learning, doing Zumba, or playing clue. She is passionate about Torah and camp which is why she loves Drisha’s summer programs.
Mrs. Deborah Klapper is a graduate of Drisha’s Scholars’ Circle and holds a degree from Harvard. She lives, learns, and teaches in Sharon, MA.
Program application
To apply to the Drisha Summer Middle School Program, students submit applications as well as one recommendation from a teacher. Applicants will then have an interview with Ms. Tzophia Stepansky, 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.
Contact us
Reach out to our Program Director, Tzophia, at tstepansky@drisha.org with any questions or contact us through our general contact page.
What’s next?
If you are looking for more learning opportunities beyond the middle school program, check out our year-round courses tailored to middle school girls.