The Kevah Teaching Fellowship will provide the opportunity for advanced Jewish study to a select group of dynamic, highly-motivated, intelligent young adults, who in turn will teach a broad cross-section of participants in Kevah groups.
Ideal participants will already have some experience with Torah study (i.e. a year at Pardes, a year or summer at Hadar, signficant coursework in Jewish studies), basic Hebrew literacy, and previous experience teaching in a Jewish or non-Jewish context.
The program will combine traditional methods such as hevruta study (partner study) with academic and contemporary modes of inquiry. Participants will also be expected to function as community educators, teaching text-based classes around the Bay Area.
The Kevah Teaching Fellowship's unique combination of study and teaching is built upon the traditional institution known as the kollel, meaning a collection of scholars, or literally, “gathering.” Since the late 1800s, the ultra-orthodox community has organized communal study around the kollel, a small yeshiva where participants receive stipends to engage in full-time traditional Jewish study (of Talmud and Biblical texts). In exchange, such scholars are expected to serve as teachers in the community, offering both formal classes as well as individual study sessions. The kollel acts as a hub of learning for the community, celebrating the value of Torah-study as a source of deep meaning in people's lives and offering education as a community service.
We propose to take the structure of the kollel and re-appropriate it. In addition to learning, participants will also be living the mitzvah of lilmod ul'lamed, to learn and to teach, by taking what they've learned and getting hands-on experience teaching material to their peers, thereby gaining the confidence and pedagogic skills to be life-long Torah teachers, whatever their chosen professions. Our goal is to create a new cadre of Jewish leaders who can convey the profundity, playfulness, and multivocality of the Jewish tradition to the next generation.