Tomer Devorah
Institute of Advanced Studies for Women
Sanhedria Hamurchevet, Jerusalem · Year after high school
Tomer Devorah Seminary - Own It!
Plays from YouTube, which will see your device's internet address and may set cookies.
A seminary founded in 2005, on the Beit Olot campus next to Sanhedria Hamurchevet, for students who want a year of both academic growth and personal growth. Each student builds her own schedule of at least 40 class hours a week within set minimums of Tanach, Halacha, Hashkafa, Eretz Yisrael and Parsha, with an afternoon Beit Midrash period for self-study, small classes and a high staff-to-student ratio.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2005, by Rabbi Moshe Rosenstein and Rabbi Noam Fix Source: the school's website pages listed under Where this comes from
- Outlook, in its words
- "We maintain that the Torah contains within it the way of life for every Jew" Source: the school's website pages listed under Where this comes from
- Program
- Year after high school; a second year (Shana Bet) is offered Source: the school's website pages listed under Where this comes from
- Location
- Sanhedria Hamurchevet, Jerusalem Source: the school's website pages listed under Where this comes from
- Housing
- Dorm rooms, classrooms, the Beit Midrash, a student lounge, the dining room and laundry are in one building on the campus. Dorm rooms have 4-5 beds (most without bunk beds) and their own bathroom and shower, with basic kitchens on the dorm floors. Two hot meals a day from an in-house chef. The Eim Bayit lives nearby. Source: the school's website pages listed under Where this comes from
- Price
- Not published. Ask what's included.
Not on their website when we checked: class size.
Learning, cost and credit
- What's taught
- Tanach, Halacha, Hashkafa, Eretz Yisrael, Parsha, Self-study in the Beit Midrash
- Who runs it
- Rabbi Moshe Rosenstein, Dean; Rabbi Noam Fix, Executive Director
- Also on their site
- Shana Bet program
- Matmidot Program (for students with at least 90% attendance)
- Afternoon Beit Midrash for self-study courses
- Weekly chessed program
- Optional Poland trip
- Alumnae program, with reunions and a winter seminar week
- Price
- No price is published on their website. Ask the school, and ask what's included.
- Masa grants
- Their website doesn't say. Most year programs are registered with Masa, so ask. How Masa works
- College credit
- Their FAQ says Tomer Devorah transcripts are accepted in a variety of colleges and universities. How credit works
Photos and videos
Videos play from YouTube; the channel and year are under each one. We don't copy pictures from the school's website, so their own galleries and social pages are linked instead.
TomerDevorah Carnival
Plays from YouTube, which will see your device's internet address and may set cookies.
Where it is
Address on their website: Beit Olot campus, Sanhedria Hamurchevet, Jerusalem
See it on the map
The map loads its pictures from OpenStreetMap, a free public map. When it loads, OpenStreetMap sees your device's internet address. Everything on the map is also written out on this page.
Approximate: their website gives no street address we could place, so the pin marks the neighborhood, village or campus.
Open this spot in Google Maps (opens in a new tab) · See every seminary on the map
Nearby
Straight-line distances, to give a sense of the area. Walking and driving routes are longer.
- Ammunition Hill light rail stop1.4 km · 0.9 mi
- Machane Yehuda Market1.9 km · 1.2 mi
- Central Bus Station and Yitzhak Navon train station2.0 km · 1.2 mi
- Zion Square and Ben Yehuda Street2.2 km · 1.4 mi
- Sacher Park2.6 km · 1.6 mi
- Ben Gurion Airport38.8 km · 24.1 mi
The area in pictures
These show the neighborhood, not the school itself.
Everyday life around here
From Jerusalem Local, a city guide by the same publisher: the practical side of a year in Jerusalem.
- Tomer Devorah in the Jerusalem Local directory (opens in a new tab)
map pin, pharmacies, seforim shops and laundries nearby
- Jerusalem for seminary and yeshiva students (opens in a new tab)
visa, phone and Rav-Kav, Shabbat, urgent care, safety
- A seminary or yeshiva year in Jerusalem (opens in a new tab)
the practical guide for students and parents
The year in detail
As described on the school's own website. A missing heading means their site didn't say.
- A typical day
- Each student builds her own weekly schedule of at least 40 class hours, with minimums of 12 hours of Tanach, 7 of Halacha, 6 of Hashkafa and 1 each of Eretz Yisrael and Parsha. Also required each week: 4 hours with a mechanechet (including a personal meeting), 6 hours of night classes and 2 hours of chesed. Students can spend up to 9 hours a week in the Beit Midrash on self-study courses, headed by Rabbi Oratz.
- Shabbat
- Students may stay on campus for Shabbat with staff, eat with local families, or join a Shabbos placement program with families around the country. Shabbatonim are held in communities around Israel.
- Trips
- Day trips through the year and several overnight tiyulim across the country, north and south, led by professional guides, alongside a required Yediat Ha'aretz course. An optional Tomer Devorah trip to Poland.
- Chesed and volunteering
- A weekly chessed program with a choice of placements: visiting and shopping for the elderly, packing Shabbat food packages for the needy, visiting the sick and wounded in hospitals, or helping local families with childcare.
- Campus and housing
- One building holds the dorms, classrooms, offices, a Beit Midrash, a student lounge with computers and filtered internet, the dining room, laundry and kitchens. The grounds (about 2.5 acres) have a garden, a field, a barbecue area and a basketball court. There is also a workout room and a music corner.
- Rules they publish
- Curfew is 11:30pm; the Eim Bayit can extend it case by case. Students must carry a charged cell phone at all times.
- After the year
- A Shana Bet program, led by Mrs. Leah Rosenstein. Alumnae get a monthly newsletter, reunions and classes in America and Israel, a network of American rabbanim and of professionals to ask for advice, and a winter seminar week at the school.
- Staff named on their site
- Rabbi Moshe Rosenstein - Dean
- Rabbi Noam Fix - Executive Director
- Mrs. Leah Rosenstein - Shana Bet Menahelet
- Mrs. Michal Trenk - Director of Students
Questions their website answers
- Who is Tomer Devorah for?
- Dedicated students looking for a year of expanding their intellectual and academic horizons and of personal growth.
- What does the tuition include?
- All dormitory costs, academic fees, two hot meals a day, all Shabbatonim and tiyulim, school activities, and email and internet in the student lounge. Books and supplies, mandatory health insurance and cell phone plans are extra. Their site doesn't publish the price.
- Do students get college credit?
- The school says its transcripts are accepted in a variety of colleges and universities.
