Recently, I had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Binyomin Moskovits, rosh yeshiva of Midrash Shmuel in Jerusalem’s Sha’arei Chesed neighborhood. Rabbi Moskovits was in New York to attend the marriage of a student. While here, he has also been meeting with alumni and current students.
In our enjoyable and spirited conversation, I found a very erudite scholar and a very engaging and warm individual. No doubt this combination is the secret of his success.
Rabbi Moskovits explains that he founded the yeshiva 19 years ago with just a handful of students, in response to the ever-growing desire of English speaking students from abroad to study in Israel. Being in Sha’arei Chesed, the home of many gedolei Yisrael, affords talmidim an unusual opportunity to live with the stars of Yiddishkeit.
Being that Rabbi Moskovits was a close talmid of Rav Shmuel Rozovsky, zt”l, whom he considers to be his primary mentor during his 13 years in the Ponevezh Yeshiva, he appropriately named the yeshiva after him.
The yeshiva, which boasts a student body of over 350 students (including the kollel), has expanded far beyond its four walls – so much so that it has become a vibrant and growing community within Sha’arei Chesed and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Rabbi Moskovits takes great pride in his outstanding faculty of scholars, each of whom combines Torah wisdom with an ability to form close relationships with the students, a quality shared by the rosh yeshiva himself. The yeshiva’s curriculum is designed to focus on the whole of each student’s development, therefore organized extra-curricular recreational activities are encouraged.
The yeshiva offers an introductory beginner’s program for college graduates and older students, called Aliyos Shmuel; a beis midrash program and a post-graduate kollel of approximately 140 married students.
The yeshiva also features a college-accredited program in conjunction with Touro College. There is even a special program for post-high school women, Midreshes Shmuel, that combines Torah learning and an arts programs.
It is no wonder that Midrash Shmuel boasts many alumni who have become leading educators, rabbis, and community lay leaders throughout the world, as well as many who have chosen to remain in Israel.
For more information about Yeshiva Midrash Shmuel, Aliyos Shmuel and Midreshes Shmuel, contact Rabbi Ben Goodman at 646-558-5170, or visit www.aliyosshmuel.com.
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