And the Winner is... MMY!
MMY celebrates their victory of the Annual Kedma Interseminary Choir Competition

After months of hard work , MMY 5772 has just been crowned the first place winner of the annual Kedma/Yeshiva University Inter-Seminary Choir Competition! When third place and second place were announced, we all held our breath... and let out a high-pitched scream when the students of 5772 brought the trophy home to MMY's new home on 60 Derech Chevron.

This is MMY's fourth victory in the 13 years since the competition was founded. That is an all time record. And after a 4 year dry spell - our longest one of those as we won in 5760, 5764 and 5767.  In fact the whole idea of the competition and its inauguration back in 5760 was the brainchild of an MMYer - Rahel (Bayar) Lwowski - who decided to take this on as her Chesed project (the competition raises large sums of money for tzedaka). So the nachas for us is compounded.

We wish the girls in the choir a big Ysher Ko'ach for their unbelivable performance: creative, energetic and beautifully harmonious! Click here to read more and see photos.  

Chanuka Chagiga

This year's annual Chanuka Chagiga featured delicious food, simcha music, dancing, and an incredible Dira competition of Chanukah themed presentations.

Ranging from dances, to music videos, to songs, to poems, the presentations were creative and hilarious.

The girls clearly put a lot of effort into their costumes and performances, and everyone had a great time.

Congratulations to Dira 4 for winning a Dira Ice Cream Party!

The party was MC'ed by Gabby Goodkin and Ayelet Roller, who scripted and acted in a very funny MMY re-make of the Chanuka story.

And of course, the lively music we enjoyed was played by Ari Yablok.

Thanks to Moe, our caterer, for the blintzes, sufganiyot, latkas, and all the other treats!

Click here to view more photos.

Alumnae Profiles / Testimonials
Batya Cohen and Oritt (Levi) Sinclair

Batya Cohen (MMY 5762) decided to stay in Israel after her year in MMY (5764). She spent a year doing Sheirut Leumi, figuring that it would be a great way to learn Hebrew, and learn about and contribute to Israeli society. Little did she know how much of an effect it would have on the rest of her life. Her Sheirut ended up being at Laniado Hospital in Netanya, in the delivery room. “I fell in love with the delivery room,” Batya said, “I realized that when I stood there, in a room where a new life was joining the world, I didn’t want to stand anywhere else.” Seeing how much she loved the work during her 8 months of volunteering, Batya decided to pursue midwifery as a career, with the goal of choosing for a career something she feels very passionate about. “I got really excited when I realized my parents named me Batya Chaya, which felt prophetic.”

Oritt (Levi, MMY 5764) Sinclair knew she wanted to make Aliya since a family vacation in Israel at age 10. After spending two years learning in seminary, Oritt’s Aliya plans became more concrete. “I was overcome with emotion and knowledge that I needed to be in Israel now because it is my home, the place I am happiest, the place I am meant to be and where Am Yisrael is meant to be,” Oritt shared. After officially making Aliya, Oritt was a madricha in MMY for 2 years (together with Batya) and an assistentit for one year. Concurrently, she studied accounting in Machon Tal, a religious women’s college in Yerushalayim. She is now finishing her internship to become a CPA.

In an uncanny statistical anomaly, Batya has actually been fortunate to deliver the babies of 4 MMY talmidot!  One of those, was her close friend, Oritt.    Read more>>

One of the special parts of living and learning in Eretz Yisrael, a land rich in the history of our people, is that the Torah we learn is not theoretical- it is alive in the land around us. One of the unique programs in MMY is our Nach Bekiyut program, in which girls learn 6-10 prakim of Navi per week, with a bi-monthly shiur to go over what we learned and explore themes and transformations. By the end of the year, the girls will have finished learning all of Neviim Rishonim. This is an incredible opportunity that allows students to see Tanach in its macro-form, covering a lot of material to gain a big picture of the Nach reality. In order to enhance the unbelievable breadth of material that we learn, we put the learning to action by going out to the places the stories actually took place and studying in-location. Our learning is more meaningful and memorable when we have the opportunity to add an image to the words, especially when covering all of Nevvim Rishonim, which took place in its entirety, in Eretz Yisrael. 

On our many tiyulim, we blend the fun with the learning. On our first tiyul of the year, to Tel Azeika (click here for photos), we read the psukim from Sefer Shmuel about David's victory of Golyat, while overlooking the valley where the events took place. Afterwards, we had an exciting getting-to-know-you program on the beach in Ashdod. More recently, on our three-day overnight tiyul to the Galil, with Shabbat in Tsfat (click here for photos), we went to Yotvat, where we learned about the ancient city of Yotvat from the Roman period, which was under seige for over a month (similar to Masada) because it's citizens refused to give themselves over to the Romans. Through the ruins, we learned about life during the second Bet HaMikdash. We also learned about modern Israeli history by hiking Shvil HaPalmach, a mountain critical to the Palmach soldiers during the War of Independence in 1948. And we blended the modern and the ancient with our tour of Tsfat- it's history and mystecism. Shabbat was full of ru'ach which lasted well into motzei shabbat when we danced the night away on boatride on the Kinneret. Most recently we went to Nachal tamar (click here for photos) where we went hiking, jeeping and rock climbing! We look forward to many more tiyulim throughout the year where we will visit: the Negev, Eilat, the Golan, the Dead Sea, Massada, Harei Yehuda, Gush Etzion, and more!