Undergraduate Chabura

Education Built upon Relationships for Life

The Chabura offers interested incoming YU talmidim the opportunity to significantly expand your learning during your undergrad years. Chabura members opt to complete college more gradually - 3 years' worth of school over the course of 4 years. This opens up time in the afternoon for a partial afternoon seder - now you're learning 3 sedarim a day for 4 years, instead of 2 sedarim a day for 3 years.

Moreover, in addition to increasing the quantity of your learning – an additional year learning in yeshiva, and an added afternoon seder throughout the 4 years – the Chabura expands the scope of your learning as well. The afternoon seder is dedicated to limmud halacha b'iyun – taking relevant, intriguing areas and following them from the gemara and rishonim, through Tur and Shulchan Aruch to halacha le-ma’ase.

FAQs

Members of the Undergrad Chabura in good standing pay no tuition for the added 4th year, so cost should not be a concern.

The official afternoon seder chabura slot is scheduled between 4:30pm-6:15pm, Monday through Thursday. You’ll seek to schedule your college classes during the other slots (e.g., 3:00pm and 6:45pm, rather than 4:30pm).

It’s likely that you may have a conflict during some semesters. For instance, say you have an unavoidable class at 4:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays. In that case, we’ll help you find an afternoon chavrusa who has the same scheduling conflict, and you’ll learn at 4:30 on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as at a mutually agreeable hashlama time (e.g., Sundays at 2pm, or Fridays at 9am).

No. Feel free to pursue the major of your choice at Yeshiva College or at Sy Syms: mathematics, English, history, marketing, accounting, political science, psychology, and so forth. However, at present, the scheduling demands of following two concentrations are more challenging to combine with the Chabura: pre-med and the 4-year Computer Science major.

For those interested in pursuing chinuch or rabbanus subsequently, we recommend considering the “community track” within the Psychology Major, which incorporates the opportunity to take graduate courses at Azrieli Graduate School of Education and Wurzweiler School of Social Work. After four years you will have the quality, respected college degree you need to pursue general employment and will be uniquely prepared for your aspirations in chinuch or rabbanus.

Sure!

Absolutely. In fact, several talmidim are presently combining both.

In order to lock in the discounted tuition rate (4th year free), you must elect to join the program at the beginning of your college career. Of course, talmidim may apply to join the extra learning and sedarim at any point.

It is not limited. In fact, most members of the Chabura do not plan to subsequently learn for semicha.

Yes! If you do plan to continue to learn for semicha after graduating college, you will find that learning in the Chabura during your college years will enhance your semicha limmud in several ways:

You will already have had several years of experience learning halacha be-iyun before you begin to learn major topics such as basar be-chalav, and you will enjoy the sharpened skills and enhanced perspective that flow from your experience.
The Chabura will enable you to learn a number of topics in far greater depth than the semicha limmud alone, including several areas (such as hilchos mezuza, yichud and bishul nochri) which are very relevant in many rabbanus situations.
The Chabura bechinos you take after learning several of these areas in the Chabura be-iyun will also already cover semicha requirements in those areas.

Please contact Rav Josh Frohlich at josh.frohlich@yu.edu or our Rosh Chabura, Rav Tanchum Cohen, at tancohen@yu.edu.

You will need to complete this online form and solicit two recommendations.

Application deadline: March 20, 2024 | י׳ אדר השני תשפ״ד
In order to apply, you must have already applied to be an undergraduate on the Wilf Campus, either at Yeshiva College or at Sy Syms School of Business.

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