The ‘quad’ at Herzlia High School was buzzing recently when the Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, visited the school for the official opening of the newly refurbished Chief Rabbi/ Herzlia High School Beit Midrash, home of the Chief Rabbi’s Beit Midrash programme, which has been up and running at Herzlia since the start of the school year.
Thanks to the generosity of the donors and the vision of designer, Sharon Sager, pupils who have chosen to do the programme have an elegant and inviting space to apply their minds to the serious study of chumash and gemarrah.
In his address, Chief Rabbi Goldstein explained that the impetus for the development of the programme had come from the need to provide high school pupils with a serious academic approach to Jewish Studies in the manner that Jews have engaged with these texts over centuries, showing the relevance of them today and thereby firmly connecting young people to their heritage. To date, two schools, Herzlia and King David, Linksfield are involved in this outstanding programme, and it is due to be launched at King David, Victory Park, in the near future.
Rabbi Dani Brett, who is the Rosh Beit Midrash in Cape Town, spoke about the unexpectedly large number of pupils that had chosen this ‘stream’ of Jewish Studies (one third of High School pupils are involved) and the overwhelming positive response there has been to it. This was corroborated by pupils, Talya Gasparre and Mordechai Serraf, when they reflected on their experiences of the programme so far.
All those who attended the opening and visited the Beit Midrash agreed that both the venue and the programme offer Herzlia High School pupils a level of quality that is truly inspiring.