The Mayanot Blog

Mayanot joins JNet to bring students Torah on a global scale. With an ever growing group of students inspired to begin their learning early and/or continue their learning after they leave Mayanot, this opportunity has proven positive for many of our students and alumni. We sat with  Eytan Waxman of JNet, a past Mayanot alumni,   who gave us the full scoop. The  Jewish Learning Network , fulfills an important need in a convenient way for Jews to connect to their heritage over the phone. Utilizing partnership learning and the traditional styles of Torah learning, JNet pairs students worldwide for half an hour long learning sessions. Usually this entails partnering individuals who don't know each other, but share a similar schedule or desire to learn certain topics. Eytan’s involvement with JNet began after a year of learning at Mayanot, when he was approached by Rabbi  Yehuda Dukes , JNet’s Managing Director, to teach someone in French. Although he wasn’t able to a

May we only continue to celebrate simchas together. Babies: Penina and Jason Allen had a baby boy  Pia and Amram BenDavid had a baby boy Max and Mariya Dayan had a baby girl Chaya and Shimon Dubinsky had a baby boy Elizabeth and Matt Esterhorn had a baby girl Yossi and Shterny Glick had a baby boy  Nessia and Yerachmiel Goldstein had a baby girl Shula and Lior Gorgi had a baby girl  Jesse and Chanie Kaufman had a baby girl Noa and Michoel Klein had a baby girl Ariella Malka and Moshe Kranz had a baby boy Ariella and Jacob Rich had a baby boy Yosef and Devora Romano had a baby boy Isaac and Natalie Schapira had a baby boy Rachel and Shachar Shaltil had twins Lauren and Dovid Ussishkin had a baby girl Shana and Daniel Wirzberger had a baby boy  Hannah and Gavriel Witkin had a baby girl Marriages: Bracha Rivka Kapp to Moshe Nachman Abramson Sabrina Benros and Harel Baruchi Chaya Bekermus to Adam Garcia Ayla Pastelnick to Zach Gilbert-Burke Chava Hinsey to Chai

( Zach & Nadine Epstein) We sat down with Zachary Epstein to find out about the inspiration for his new single and what he took away from his first Yeshiva learning experience at the Mayanot Men's Learning Program. How long were you at Mayanot and what did you gain from the Program? I went to Mayanot the summer of 2013 for six amazing weeks. There were so many things that I loved and took away from the program. The most memorable experience at Mayanot was a Shabbaton we did in Tzfat. It was my first Shabbat without using a phone, and it was full of Torah, hiking, exploration, and hitbodedut (meditation). What is the most important thing you took away from the Program? At Mayanot I developed the faith and strength to grow in observance even when there is adversity and even when it contradicts Western values and culture. I also learned to have an extremely healthy relationship with Jewish Law. I received excellent guidance regarding the importance of slow but s

A Torah Scroll Begins Its Journey At The Mayanot Women’s Program Mayanot was honored to take part in a Torah scroll inauguration commissioned by a student, all the way from Waukesha, Wisconsin. Debra Hacker , a founding member of the Chabad of Waukesha , decided to gift herself a week of Torah study at Mayanot’s Executive Learning Program,​ in Jerusalem.   With grandchildren on the way and ever growing obligations, she used this special opportunity to formally initiate a project she had undertaken at her Chabad house, under the guidance of her Rabbi and Rebbetzin Levi  and Freidy Brook . Debra and Chabad of Waukesha are writing a Sefer Torah (a Torah Scroll). In loving memory of her mother and grandmother, Ruth bat Runcha and Runcha bat Gella, two women who lived exemplary lives of devotion and loyalty and who gave of themselves wholly to their families, expressing their Jewishness both in life and in death. Debra commissioned the writing of a Torah scroll that