Student Voices

Student Voices: Looking back at my semester in Nishmat

Student Voices: Looking back at my semester in Nishmat

by Rachel Silverman, Alisa Flatow International Student 5775 (2015) I came to study at Nishmat in Tochnit Alisa last year, directly after finishing a joint undergraduate and masters program in engineering in the U.S. I grew up in a Modern Orthodox family, but I had never attended day school or participated in a formal Jewish education.… read more

Student Voices:  The only thing I know is that I just feel sad.

Student Voices: The only thing I know is that I just feel sad.

By Meital Sapir, Shana BaAretz Alumna I feel really sad. I feel vulnerable, personally attacked, distressed, frustrated, confused, but mostly sad. I cannot explain or justify or reason or understand this series of tragedies entangled with convoluted politics and heavy emotions. The only thing I know is that I just feel sad. When I’m sad, I turn to my… read more

Student Voices: Coming Back to Nishmat

Student Voices: Coming Back to Nishmat

by Racheli Segall, Alisa Flatow international Student 5773 It has been over year since I left Nishmat. The place where I was privileged enough to focus an entire eight months on self growth and on Torah learning. The hard thing about leaving was not knowing when I would return, all I knew is that I… read more

Student Voices: The Year I Learned What Love Is

Student Voices: The Year I Learned What Love Is

by Sara Liba Beer, Alisa Flatow Internation Student, 2014 "So is it weird to be back?" It's a question I've been asked a lot in the past week, since returning to America after over a year learning Torah in Eretz Yisroel. And the answer is, well, yes. It's weird that fruits and vegetables don't need… read more

Celebrating Sigd: the Light in the Darkness

Celebrating Sigd: the Light in the Darkness

By Channah Barkhordari, current Alisa Flatow International Program Student There's a reason it's difficult to speak when we cry. Pure emotion overtakes our cognition, and all dissolves into unspeakable agony, total chaos. When I woke Tuesday morning, a collective silence hovered over everyone, far louder than the words of comfort. No one could concentrate on… read more

Student Voices: Yom HaZicharon & Yom HaAtzmaut

Student Voices: Yom HaZicharon & Yom HaAtzmaut

by Andrea Yael Levy, current Alisa Flatow International Student So dreams really do come true. I have found that often it can take little more than genuine will, determination and trust in the Almighty. With G-d’s help I’ve made it home! My flight, the flight I had been yearning to fly on for too long,… read more

Download the Shana Ba’Aretz Haggadah!

Download the Shana Ba’Aretz Haggadah!

The Seder evening is one of discussion, tradition, festivities, food, and contemplation. Rav Yehoshua eloquently explains the ultimate purpose and goal of the Seder evening — to question. As D’vrei Torah are explicated, seemingly peculiar practices are experienced and the final song is sung the question begs to be asked — what is the point? While the answer given… read more

Student Voices: Shuk Purim

Student Voices: Shuk Purim

For the vast majority of the Shana Ba’aretz girls, a year in midrasha has meant that we have been faced with the challenge to celebrate most of the holidays without our family. While this can cause some nostalgia and the occasional homesickness, it also means that we have had the opportunity to make the chaggim… read more

Student Voices: My Return to Nishmat

Student Voices: My Return to Nishmat

by Elizabeth Phillips Lieberman (Shana BaAretz 5769 & current Alisa Flatow International student) I remember the sensation of leaving Nishmat five years ago at the conclusion of my year in the Shana Ba’aretz program. I felt strangely at peace looking around the campus for what I reasonably believed would be the last time before college… read more

A Parent’s Reflection: Learning with my Daughter at Nishmat

A Parent’s Reflection: Learning with my Daughter at Nishmat

by Beth Kissileff, parent of Shana BaAretz student, Tova Perlman For some of us parents, coming to NIshmat to learn with our daughters was bringing the hopes we have for them to a full circle. Let me explain.  When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter Tova in summer 1995, my husband and I came… read more