Midreshet Harova seminary info...

amother

Cyan

Tue, Nov 28 2017, 9:17 am

2 days left to send in the joint seminary application and now dd mentions Midreshet Harova. Spoke with a rep from the school- seems like it fills all the check boxes-it is a very large school, girls from all over the world- which is neat and I was assured that there is enough staff that girls don't fall through the cracks. Anyone have any inside info or went there???

amother

Honeydew

Tue, Nov 28 2017, 9:21 am

I went there and loved it! I stayed a second year. Yup, to this day I have friends all over the world. The learning was great too, and they have so many different options there's something for everyone. I had close connections with several of the teachers. They also take mental health seriously and have a social worker on staff who's available to talk and help work through all sorts of things.

etky

Tue, Nov 28 2017, 9:31 am

My best friend's DD (Israeli) studied there to be a teacher of tanach.
Another friend's DD (also Israeli) did sherut leumi there.
Both are very serious, intelligent girls and both my friends spoke very highly of the midrasha from their daughters' experiences.
It seems to be a very high calibre place.

ETA- I see someone above me referenced a different seminary in Netanya.
Just to be clear,I am referring to Midreshet Harova in Jerusalem.

amother

Cyan

Tue, Nov 28 2017, 1:15 pm

Thanks- so helpful!- dd got in contact with a friend of a friend of a friend (you get the idea)- who went there two years ago and now she is serving in the IDF- which is pretty neat, but from her perspective she felt it is really aliyah pushy and if you don't make the extra effort the teachers don't connect. Is that just one persons experience?- I know everyone is different and from what I am hearing here- it sounds great. She also told dd that obviously they expect everyone to be frum, but the warmth of frumkeit is not so obvious(not sure how else to explain that idea.) Again- everyone has their own experience and personality etc.

amother

Honeydew

Fri, Dec 01 2017, 7:11 am

They are definitely Aliyah pushy, but not even close everyone makes Aliyah, and most of us who attended were anyway moving in that direction. FTR, I have not made Aliyah. It is something we'd like to do and daven every day to be zoche, but for various reasons it is not meant to be for now. And again, it's something I've been dreaming of since high school, it's not like Harova put the idea in my head.
Not sure what that means about making an effort to get close. I guess for me it was natural- I feel a kesher with someone, then yeah, I'm going to try to get close to them. I also thought there was definitely a warmth and love of things. They teach courses in chasidut (the philosophies and thought of various chasidic thinkers, they're obviously not chassidish) and there is a lot of singing, it's a big thing there. Maybe not everyone is into that, but I personally derive a lot of spirituality through music, so to me, that is warmth and joy in being frum. They do have a reputation as being "artsy", which is kind of true. They definitely attract creative types. I'm not so artsy, but I'm a musician and a writer very intellectual, so definitely fit the creative bill :-)
ETA please excuse any typos. I'm typing on my phone and that dratted autocorrect doesn't discriminate between writers and everyone else LOL