Building the Jewish Future, Together in Jerusalem.
Join Hartman’s Hevruta Gap-Year Program for a year in Jerusalem engaging Jewish tradition, encountering Israeli society, and building a pluralistic community of Jewish peers from Israel and North America.
Community. At Hevruta, we pride ourselves on our one of a kind community. We bring together a pluralistic cohort of pre-university Americans and pre-army Israelis who collectively build our community. Throughout the year, we explore the meaning of Jewish peoplehood by sharing and discussing what makes each student’s personal Judaism unique. It’s fitting that we’re called Hevruta: the same partnership at the heart of Jewish learning is what our students build with one another.
Study. At Hevruta, the learning covers the core texts of the Jewish tradition alongside the challenges facing the Jewish people today. Our classes include Talmud and weekly Parsha study, as well as those on current events and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather than shying away from the topics that challenge the Jewish people, we push our students to dive into the heart of them, all with the guidance of the Hartman Institute’s scholars.
Responsibility. Each student plays an active role in shaping the community we build at Hevruta. Through committees, the students themselves plan the Shabbat experience, the treks, group volunteering, and community ceremonies.
Contribution. Every week Hevruta students spend one afternoon volunteering at communities across Jerusalem and one morning interning at local nonprofits. This is an opportunity for Hevruta students to give back as well as gain experience during their gap year.
Independence. Hevruta aims to teach our students independence. Students manage their own apartments and their own budgets, with madrichim (counselors) who live in the building as guides and mentors through this stage of their lives.
Hevruta runs from September through May. Throughout the year, we cultivate our community with shared Shabbatot, treks, volunteering, and the celebration of religious and national holidays. When Hevruta is not in session, students have the opportunity to explore Israel, especially with their Israeli classmates.
On Hevruta, students move between the beit midrash, the classroom, and the city. Each week one afternoon is dedicated to volunteering and one morning to internships. There is also time devoted to Hevruta committee work, and the evenings are filled with student-driven workshops, cultural programming, and the responsibility of running an apartment. The week closes with Shabbat together. This varied rhythm gives students the chance to develop a personal understanding of Jewish peoplehood and to discover Jerusalem as locals.
The Hevruta curriculum includes:
Some of the most important conversations about the future of Jewish life are happening on two continents at once, and rarely in the same room.
On Hevruta, the encounter is the point. Students learn in hevruta (partnership) spending the year studying texts with people whose Jewish lives look completely different from their own. This learning becomes a door: an invitation into another person’s world, and a way of discovering more about their own.
Learning together in the beit midrash (Jewish study space) is the heart of Hevruta, but the program goes far beyond the classroom. Students travel the country, volunteer and intern in Jerusalem’s civil society, learn how to live independently, and shape the life of the cohort together
The Hevruta community is pluralistic by design and built by the students themselves. Students shape trips around the country, community projects, nights out in Jerusalem, and the atmosphere of Shabbat. Students leave with a deeper relationship to Jewish text, a clearer understanding of life in Israel, and lifelong friendships with Israeli and North American peers.
Participants study Jewish texts alongside modern Jewish thought, philosophy, and politics. Specifically, Hevruta spends the year contemplating the questions the Hartman Institute has focused on for decades: how values can shape charged conversations, what holds a people together, what democracy asks of us, what Israel is and what it might become, and what our role is as North American . Classes are largely taught by Hartman faculty.
Both. From the source sheets to the educators, the classes are a blend of religious and academic learning styles. Talmud classes will bring in academic scholarship, and Israeli political classes will include religious texts. This blend is what makes Hartman learning unique and innovative for students from all backgrounds.
Yes. Students choose elective tracks based on what they want more of, whether that’s Israeli politics, ethics and society, or traditional text study. Students who want to go further into Talmud than the core program can join the Yeshiva Track for more intensive Talmud study.
At Hevruta, we place a strong emphasis on the learning that happens in the classroom and the informal discussions that happen beyond the classroom. Therefore, there are no grades; there are occasional readings and written reflections assigned to help further the conversations.
Our student body includes individuals from different backgrounds with different perspectives. Nevertheless, everyone learns together in seminar-style classes, seriously discussing the topics at hand. Beyond the classroom, students learn to live together as roommates and work together to build our community. In turn, Hevruta students enter college with a passion for learning and critical life skills for embracing new ideas and working with others.
Hevruta is a completely kosher program (including the dorms), and Shabbat and holidays are observed in communal spaces.
Like many other aspects of Hevruta, our ritual life is developed by student-led committees who assist in organizing prayer, which honors the diverse needs of the group. As such, organized daily prayer is based on student interest. The unique exception is communal Kabbalat Shabbat, which is held every “in Shabbat.” On Shabbat mornings of “in Shabbats,” students are invited to explore the countless synagogues in walking distance of the dorms.
Hevruta prides itself on pluralism, which invites students to bring their unique religious self to the community. Shabbat is observed communally and kashrut standards are upheld, however there are also alternatives to communal prayer. Our goal is that everyone who attends Hevruta will learn more about different approaches to Jewish practice, without feeling that they have to compromise on what Judaism means to them.
The program alternates between “in Shabbatot,” when the whole group is together, and “out Shabbatot,” when students choose where to go. North American participants often spend those weekends with the families of their Israeli peers, with relatives, or traveling. Like many other aspects of Hevruta, the “in Shabbatot” are planned by the students themselves.
While every Hevruta student will have the opportunity to learn Talmud, we provide different levels and amounts based on background and interest. For those who are passionate about rigorous Talmud study, we have a Yeshiva Track. In the Yeshiva Track, students take additional Talmud classes that let them delve into one tractate through both hevruta study (independent partner learning) and an engaging shiur (faculty-led class discussion).
In shared apartments in a building in southern Jerusalem within walking distance of the Shalom Hartman Institute as well as grocery stores, restaurants, and malls. Apartments are grouped by gender.
Lunch is provided at the Hartman campus, and Shabbat meals are provided on “in Shabbatot.” The rest of the time, students receive a stipend, shop, and cook together in their apartments. Madrichim assist with budgeting, shopping, and logistics.
Throughout the year there are a number of trips around the country which include: hikes, city tours, multi-day seminars, and encounters with communities that students would otherwise never meet.
Regional tours in the north and the south, a desert journey, a seminar on conflict and narrative, and group Shabbatonim and retreats.
On free weekends and during breaks, with prior approval and within our safety guidelines.
In 2027, we will begin on September 1 and end early June (exact date to be decided).
Yes. At Hevruta there is a week-long Sukkot Break, a week-long Winter Break during the final week of December, and a two-week Pesach Break.
North American students are welcome to, and many do. Others stay, and there’s a reason for that. Breaks are when students travel the country independently or spend unstructured time with Israeli friends, which is often where the year’s closest friendships get made.
Tuition is $39,000, which covers housing, meals, all programming, trips and staff support.
Yes. We know gap year programs are expensive and Hevruta is grateful to be able to offer limited need-based .
Students should plan for additional costs related to personal spending, travel outside the program, and health insurance (see below).
Every student is insured for the full program. We work with an outside agency that handles intake and places each student with an Israeli insurance provider, so families don’t need to arrange it themselves. The cost is billed separately from tuition.
Staff helps students make medical appointments and navigate the medical system. We also have a social worker on staff, available weekly for scheduled meetings, who works with students directly and makes referrals to outside specialists when necessary.
A new podcast that puts today's biggest Jewish questions in the hands of the leaders of tomorrow.
Dec 14, 2023
May 3, 2024
Hevruta alum Madeline Kohn writes about celebrating Passover while watching protests unfurl across American campuses for The Daily Pennsylvania.
May 2, 2024
Protests erupted at Columbia University over Israel divestment calls. Jewish students express discomfort amid arrests and chants, recalling past trauma. Campus tension intensifies.
Director of the Hevruta Gap-Year Program
Director of Hevruta Mechina Program
Director of Teen and Educational Initiatives
Manager of Teen Community & Engagement
Rabbi of the Hevruta Gap-Year Program
Logistics Coordinator
Hevruta Program Madricha
President, Shalom Hartman Institute
Senior Fellow
Research Fellow
Senior Faculty
Research Fellow
Research Fellow
Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis Fellow
Director of the Judaism and State Policy Center
Research Fellow, Educational Director of UJIA and Hevruta Faculty
Hevruta Faculty
Hevruta Faculty
Research Fellow
 |
 |
