MTA’s Meet The Israeli Author elective course for juniors provides talmidim with the opportunity to work directly with an award-winning Israeli author via video-conference workshops conducted entirely in Hebrew. The course, created by Director of Hebrew Language Tova Fish-Rosenberg, is in its 11th year and is unique to MTA. This one-of-a-kind experience enables talmidim to not only develop their creative writing skills, but also to cultivate their Hebrew language skills at a higher level.

Under the mentorship of award-winning Hebrew Language Instructor Liora Haibi, talmidim work on crafting short stories written exclusively in Hebrew and participate in monthly video-conference workshops with award-winning Israeli author Chana Bat Shahar. Each workshop focuses on a different element of story writing development. Talmidim come prepared to the workshops with segments of the stories they are writing that correspond with the monthly topic. Bat Shahar provides constructive critiques on each talmid’s work, allowing them to reshape their stories based on her expert feedback.

The course culminates with the printing of the completed stories in a journal, which is housed in the Publication Room at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. Each year, there is a journal presentation to course participants from the previous year. This year’s presentation took place on Wednesday, February 17. Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Michael Taubes, Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn and General Studies Principal Dr. Seth Taylor, joined Morah Haibi and Rosenberg in presenting talmidim with their journals and commending them on this tremendous accomplishment. This course is generously sponsored by Arielle and Donny (‘02) Rosenberg.