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Rav Dov Fischer's Part-time "Open Yeshiva" for Orange County Teens

 came to Irvine in Orange County California originally to be Orthodox Rav at Beth Jacob
It has been one generation, and then another and another, as Jews came into Orange County, California and organized as a community.  Little by little, the Jewish community of Orange County, California has evolved and grown, prospering and flourishing in one of America's most beautiful regions. 

Over time we have become rich in impressive Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative temples with fine rabbis, several Lubavitch-Chabad institutions, and even two Modern Orthodox synagogues in Irvine.  Orange County sports a beautiful Jewish Community Center in Irvine, a dynamic Hillel that operates on several local campuses, an Eruv in Irvine, a Judaica Gift Store in Irvine, a kosher butcher in Tustin, several kosher caterers, a soon-to-open Irvine Community Mikveh, and even some variations on Jewish Day Schools. 

The Morasha School, under Conservative auspices, did a fine job for boys and girls, but it closed down.  The Hebrew Academy of Huntington Beach at Westminster does an even more thorough job, even extending through high school for girls, but ends at eighth grade for boys.  Tragically, at the other side of the continuum, the school that is called "Tarbut V'Torah" ("TVT") has a lovely campus but fails in a fundamental mission because it does not offer substantive Judaic study in primary texts or, for that matter, meaningful prayer opportunities, or Judaic training compatible with the standards many Orange County Jewish parents would expect -- and for which they pay so very heavily.

In light of the continued absence in Orange County of satisfactory formal Judaic education meeting our Rav's standards for educating Jewish teen boys,  Rav Dov Fischer launch in September 2009 the "Open  Yeshiva" for Orange County Teens, a part-time Jewish Learning Experience for O.C. Teens, in which he personally teaches high school teens actual inside-the-book Torah text, including sugyot of Talmud and meaningful portions of Chumash-and-Rashi text, as well as Jewish laws and customs.  There also is real exposure to real davening on an ongoing basis. 

Our part-time "Open  Yeshiva" for Orange County Teens meets one weekday afternoon each week in Irvine for informal learning with Rav Fischer, and at a local Coffee Bean every Thursday evening  for casual learning and conversation with our professional Youth Director. The program runs for thirty weeks.  The program is suitable as a Judaic Studies supplement for teens who are leaving Tarbut V'Torah (TVT) as they enter or proceed through high school, for Jewish teens otherwise attending public or secular private high school, or for that matter as a substantive Judaic Studies supplement even for teens attending TVT.  It is neither endorsed by nor associated with Tarbut V'Torah (TVT) in any manner, nor is it affiliated with any institution other than as an adjunct of Young Israel of Orange County's initiative to introduce to Irvine the concept of substantive Torah education for teens.  There will be no overlap with any other program because we will be teaching actual substantive Torah text and engaging in davening (prayer), academic and Judaic offerings that are not otherwise institutionally available to Jewish teens at TVT (Tarbut) or anywhere else in Orange County. 

This program is a serious academic enterprise.  But it also is fun -- and it is a free Jewish Studies service provided to the community's Jewish teens and  sponsored by Young Israel of Orange County.  For more information about Rav Dov Fischer's "Open  Yeshiva" for Orange County Teens, a part-time Jewish learning Experience for O.C. Teens, please contact Rav Fischer.

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