Many young women — newly graduated from solid limudei kodesh educations in high schools and seminaries, with the inspirational teachings of our gedolim lingering on the tips of their tongues after the last set of final exams — are navigating the no-man’s-land, between finishing school and starting careers, and establishing homes and families of their own. How can they ensure that the spirit of those halcyon days in seminary or the last years of high school continues to warm them from inside?
“We used to make these big Shabbosim and invite people over” Elisheva says. “But we didn’t have anywhere to refer people to. One Tisha B’Av we couldn’t find anything geared for women so Daphne decided we should take things into our own hands and have a shiur in our apartment.”
Daphne had met Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein while teaching at Yeshivas Rambam in Flatbush where he used to give a weekly shiur. She invited him to come speak to some young women at her apartment.
“We expected maybe ten twenty girls. But the door didn’t stop opening! We had girls crammed into every corner of the room. In fact” she jokes “it’s a good thing it was Tisha B’Av — everybody sat on the floor. There’s no way we would’ve have enough chairs for everybody!”
The success of that evening underscored the need for more programs for single women. Elisheva and Daphne conceived the idea of initiating a summer learning program and Rabbi Wallerstein agreed to give a regular Wednesday night “chaburah”; Elisheva and Daphne recruited other speakers to fill in the other nights.
Create a free account to keep reading.
