Talmudic "Study Buddy" Program Pays Dividends to College and High School Students

For many at Yeshiva, mornings are reserved for learning with other courses taking a back seat. Nighttime, for many, is devoted to class work and having fun. For others, it is another opportunity to spend time in the beit midrash, reviewing morning shiur or delving into other areas of study. For high school students dorming at MTA, this presents a marvelous opportunity to learn with their older compatriots.

Over the past few years, this idea has been concretized in the form of the High School Chavrusa Program, in which both college and semikha students have night seder together. The program is open to any MTA students who wish to participate. Those dorming are required to participate in the program.

Approximately thirty-five sets of chavrutot currently learn together under the program with most focusing on reviewing that day's high school shiur. For the high school students, the program is of great benefit since college students can clarify points that they might have found difficult or had missed. Often, the older chavrutot provide their younger counterparts with new insights that their rebbe, rabbinic instructor, had not brought up in shiur.

In this way, the older chavrutot serve as tutors for the high schoolers. Those high school students who participate in the program have a leg up on their classmates by having someone to aid in their understanding of their learning. One high school student claimed to have seen "a tremendous improvement in my learning since I began learning with my college chavruta."

In addition to simply learning, being paired with an older chavruta provides a key benefit for younger students. Faced with decisions regarding which yeshiva to attend in Israel, or whether to go to Israel at all, college students who have been through the process have a useful perspective to share. The setup gives high school students who might have certain issues they want to discuss with an older, more mature individual just such an opportunity.

Far from being a one-sided deal, the program has also proved helpful to the other half of the partnership. Learning with someone younger, who generally does not have the same level of understanding, forces older students to break down the concepts found in the Talmud into smaller parts. It makes them explain ideas in a clear, precise manner. This, in turn, helps them in their own learning.

More importantly, for those considering teaching jobs the program gives them the opportunity to develop the skills that only hands-on teaching can provide. YC Junior Levi Mostofsky noted that the program "gives me the experience in chinuch, Jewish education, that will help me decide what path to choose later in life.

Besides the obvious benefits to both parties involved, the program has an added, less obvious benefit. Since the college began allowing MTA students to take college courses in lieu of high school electives, an element of friction has developed between the two schools. College students complain that the MTA students in their class lower the level of the class, making it unbearable, at times. The high school rejoins that college students don't give them a chance to show that they can participate in class in a meaningful way. The joint learning program provides a sense of unity on campus, bringing together high schoolers and college students in a way that promotes mutual learning.

On a different level, the college participants have expressed a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction and pride in helping students. For many in the high school, who might not otherwise be learning at night, they have a chance to help students reach their potential in learning. Ariel Sloan, a YC senior, stated, "I get a genuinely wonderful feeling when I see that I have successfully communicated the proper p'shat in a Talmudic passage. My chavruta now understands what he previously thought was unattainable."