ABSTRACT
The administrator showed me Bruria’s spring schedule. For advanced students, a typical Wednesday could start at 8:00 a.m. with morning prayers. From 8:30 to 9:30 students studied the teachings of the Hasidic master Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, with Rabbi Brovender. From 9:30 to 11:00 students went down to the bet midrash, the study hall, and prepared in pairs, called hevruta, for their Talmud class, which met from 11:00 to 12:30. She said the advanced students, mostly married women, were studying more Bible than Talmud this year. Since they had less time for studying than men did, and given the many hours and years Talmud study required, a great deal of Talmud study didn’t make sense. Most women, she said, seemed to prefer Bible study, because it was immediately inspiring and directly connected to their lives. Nonetheless, some women felt their children provided enough immediate gratification so that they didn’t need it from their studies: “That woman will learn 52Talmud and law without budging. She wants the whole picture, the intellectual stimulation.”
