Planning Your Bet Midrash

You’ll find a number of questions below to help you organize your thoughts, ideas, and dreams for your practicum, and we strongly recommend you find a time to meet with your mentor before the end of September to start reflecting together about your dreams and schemes!

Six-to-Eight Week Planning Guide

• Create a WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY for your bet midrash:

• WHO do you want to reach?
  • Do you have a particular learner base in mind?
  • Is your bet midrash for a specific identity group / affinity group?
  • Is your bet midrash catered to a specific kind of experience with Hebrew language / text study?

• WHAT do you want the structure of your bet midrash to be?
  • Chevruta & shiur together or separate?
  • How many weeks is it?
  • Do you want to partner with an institution or run your bet midrash independently?
  • What text do you want to teach?

• WHERE will your bet midrash meet?
  • Will you meet in person?
    • What is the physical location you’ll use & what prep do you need to do to get it ready?
  • Will you meet on Zoom?
    • What kind of tech support & structure do you want?
  • What needs to happen to / in your space (whether online or in person) to ensure it is maximally accessible? What are the access norms you can communicate about the space to your learners?

• WHEN is your bet midrash?
  • What are the dates?
  • What time of day?
  • How long will sessions be?
  • Do you want a siyum?

• WHY are you running this bet midrash?
  • What are you hoping to achieve as a facilitator? 
  • What aspects of COMP do you want to focus on?
  • What are you hoping will happen as a result of the bet midrash?