Teen Beit Midrash
Teens who love to learn come together to explore the big questions of today through Talmud. Teens also may apply for our Moot Beit Din team.
Read “The Talmud of Tough Decisions”
- time 8th-12th grade
- location In person at Hebrew College OR Online
- duration Tuesdays in person, 6:00-8:30pm OR Wednesdays online, 6:45-8:30pm, September-May
Moot Beit Din (Jan-March)
About Moot Bein Din
For a second year, Teen Beit Midrash is excited to participate in the Maimonides Moot Beit Din competition. The Maimonides Moot Beit Din is a debate competition which poses contemporary issues to be answered by Jewish texts and ideas. This program is offered in collaboration with Hadar.
The 2025 case focuses the question: Should we fund educational programs from the taxes on gambling?
How it works
Students, in teams of three or four, build and present their arguments based on traditional Jewish text that they learn over the course of three months. The team studies the provided sources with a Teen Beit Midrash teacher. The team then travels with their teacher to a Shabbaton with 200 high school students from around the country. They spend Shabbat together and then on Sunday compete in the Moot Beit Din offering their arguments in front of other teams and a panel of judges. (Pictured: Our 2024 team)
This year, we hope to have at least one team if not more. Our teams will meet weekly from January through March and attend the competition and Shabbaton March 27-30, 2025.
Who can join a team?
Moot Beit Din is open to high school students.
What are the cases about?
Examples of past cases include:
- AI and the expectation of privacy in a digital world (Read about our team’s experience in spring 2024)
- Medical dilemmas
- #MeToo issues
Dates & Cost
Hebrew College’s Teen Beit Midrash Team sessions begin in January, 2025.
The Maimonides Moot Court High School competition takes place from Thursday, March 27, 2025 – Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Westchester County, NY.
The cost of the Moot Beit Din experience (10 sessions & the Shabbaton/Competition) is $850.00. This includes transportation to/from Westchester, accommodations, and food.
The cost is fully refundable BEFORE October 20, 2024. Cancellations before December 15, 2024 will result in a 50% refund. No refunds after December 15.