Exciting Changes in Matan

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a lecture in Matan, where I study the Bible, Tanach. Dr. Brachi Elitzur spoke at the  siyyum, event that commemorated the end of the fifth year of the Al Haperek Program, in which the Na"Ch, Prophets and Writings have been divided into a six year learning program. We had just finished our studies of Divrei Hayamim, Chronicles, and that was the topic. Besides enjoying the lecture, I was happy to see lots of changes and renovations in Matan. I hadn't been there since the regular classes had ended in June.

The offices, Teachers Room and Beit Midrash, Study Hall have all been changed. There is now a large Bnai Akiva group studying full-time in Matan, and the students each have desk space all their own. There's still room for others to sit, but the desktop computers that used to be available for anyone to use are no longer there. Today, so many students have either laptops or tablets for what they can't do on their phones, making it unnecessary for Matan to provide computers.

Gd willing, pretty soon I'll be back for classes in Matan. And my friends and I will continue with Al Haperek, which is very exciting. We'll be in the sixth and final year of the program. It has given us all an opportunity to learn the Bible in a more thorough way than we had ever thought possible. Most of us did not have any Jewish education growing up, and even those who did insist that there is never enough time in school curricula for a fraction of what we have been learning. Also, learning the Bible as an adult is totally different from learning as a child for exams. And once this first round of Al Haperek is complete, I'm planning on starting it all over again! Believe me; once isn't enough!!