Matan, a Jerusalem-based advanced Jewish studies program for women, has launched Eshkolot, an initiative to improve the level and quality of Jewish education in American Jewish schools in cooperation with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Offering full-tuition scholarships and living stipends of up to a total of $15,000, Matan seeks to attract the “best and the brightest” women currently teaching or aspiring to teach in Jewish schools in the US. Participants commit to returning to North America to teach in Jewish schools for a minimum of two years upon completion of the program.

The 12-month program combines intensive Beit Midrash learning and lectures in Tanach, Parshanut, Oral law and Jewish philosophy, as well as cutting-edge pedagogic resources, technological tools, classroom teaching and professional mentoring. Classes are taught by renowned scholars including Dr. Yael Ziegler, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, and Rabbanit Shani Taragin among others. Students also have the option to study for and receive an MA from Hebrew University.

Shani Tauber, 25, was a learning specialist at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus for fourth-grade Judaic studies before she became an Eshkolot fellow. Shani explains that “I came to Eshkolot to learn from the absolute best—to further my own Tanach studies, and to learn how to make a Tanach classroom really come alive. What I found when I got here was that and so much more—the depth of the learning, the opportunity to be studying with a group of women so excited and ambitious about passing on our Mesorah to the next generation, the teachers’ expertise in teaching and incredible wealth of Torah knowledge, to name a few. It’s something I feel very blessed to be a part of.”

Currently, 15 students are participating in the first year of Eshkolot. Rabbanit Malke Bina, Chancellor and founder of Matan, explains that “Eshkolot was created to invest in talented women who are idealistic and committed to making a significant impact on the Jewish people. We see them as an elite group who will go back to the US and contribute to their classroom, their school and by extension the whole community. It is an exciting venture!”

Applications are now being accepted for the 2017 fellowship which begins in August 2017. For more information contact Dr. Dodi Fishman Tobin, dean of students at [email protected] or visit www.matan.org.il. The new Eshkolot video can be viewed at http://bit.ly/2idYLfr.