What Are Women Learning Today?
Batsheva Learning Center’s program, available in-person in Crown Heights and online worldwide, gives young women access to text-based Torah learning on a whole new level
by COLlive Editor · COLliveBatsheva Learning Center’s Women’s Beis Midrash is opening registration for its fifth year, with the backing of leading Chabad rabbonim including Rabbi Yosef Shusterman, Rabbi Boruch Hertz, Rabbi Levi Raskin, and Rabbi Mordechai Farkash.
“In the Chassidus shiur, it was so cool to hear ideas I had already learned presented in a clearer way,” said one student. “It was so much more grounded because I had already learned the information myself. I don’t just have to take someone else’s word for it. I feel like I own it.”
That sense of ownership is what Batsheva Learning Center’s Beis Midrash is all about. Students spend the bulk of their time learning in chavrusa — working through original Torah sources themselves, with experienced facilitators present to guide them. The weekly shiurim with instructors come after the students have already wrestled with the material, making them a completely different experience.
The program runs in two formats: an in-person program in Crown Heights and an online program open to women worldwide. The Brooklyn Beis Midrash meets Monday–Thursday, 1:30–5:00 PM. The Online Beis Midrash meets Monday–Thursday on Zoom, with the Chassidus course at 10:00–11:30 AM EST and the Halacha course at 12:30–2:00 PM EST.
The two programs run separate but equally rigorous curricula. The Brooklyn Beis Midrash Chassidus course will cover המשך תרס״ו of the Rebbe Rashab, exploring foundational sugyos in Chassidus through the lens of Dor Hasheviyi. The Halacha course will cover בשר בחלב, exploring the laws of Kashrus from the Tur and Shulchan Aruch.
The Online Beis Midrash Chassidus course will cover המשך תרנ״ט, eight maamarim of the Rebbe Rashab exploring the identity and role of Malchus. The Halacha course will cover הלכות ברכת השחר ותפילה, tracing the halachic process from the Gemara to the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. Students in both programs may join one course or both.
The Brooklyn program’s Chassidus course is facilitated by Simi Hecht and taught by Rabbi Golomb. The Halacha course is facilitated and taught by Devorah Silberstein who has run the program’s halacha curriculum for the past three years, with Rabbi Yosef Barber as instructor. The Online Chassidus course is facilitated by Yitty Gniwisch and taught by Rabbi Reuven Leigh, a shliach to Cambridge University who recently completed his PhD dissertation on Hemshech Ranat. The Online Halacha course is facilitated by Devorah Silberstein.
“In 5750 (1990), on Shabbos Parashas Emor, the Rebbe delivered an iconic sicha on the importance of higher Torah education for women, specifically Chassidus and Torah Sheb’al Pe, beyond the halachos hatzrichos lahen.” says Rebbetzin Rivkah Slonim, “We are all indebted to Batsheva Learning Center for at long last concretizing the Rebbe’s vision through the programs of rigorous Torah study they offer for women.”
Students consistently describe the experience as transformative, not just for what they learn, but for how they see themselves as learners.
“My whole life, I thought that after seminary, I graduate from learning,” shared Menucha Minkowitz, alumna. “What Batsheva Learning Center brought into my life is that this is actually the start of my learning.”
Application deadline is June 1, 2026.
For more information and to apply: batshevalearningcenter.com/beismidrash
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