Summer School on Jewish Studies in Moscow 2011
(July 6-12, 2011, 109 participants)
Last year's (2011) 
Summer school program was compiled with the recomendations of Sefer's Academic Board and the wishes of the participants of previous schools so as to meet a wide range of scientific interests of thr students. All proposed courses were divided into eight thematic threads: Ancient Near East and ancient Judaism, Jewish-Christian dialogue, Jews and Russia, Jewish thought, Jewish art, Jewish literature, Jewish communities, history and The present Israeli society. Leadin experts, teachers of the Jewish studies came from Israel and Belarus, the various regions of Russia especially to deliver lectures.
The most popular among the school participants (in attendance) were the courses of U. Gershovich, S. Stepanishchev, Y. Regev, W. Mochalova, D. Shevelev, V. Mesamed and Z. Hanin. This was evidence that the issues of modern Israel and Jewish philosophy were of high scientific interest to the students. According to the students' reviews the basis for success of the courses were such strengths of the lecturers as "professionalism," "charismatic delivery" of the material and "pithiness" , "a unique information". It is important to note that the courses, lagging the number of students, distinguished quality and depth: small class sizes allowed teachers to engage all participants in the debate, to take part in the analysis and to express their positions. As a result, all courses, without exception, were awarded the best reviews and highest ratings from the students.
It is worth noting that the summer school program was not limited to mandatory 
attendance part (lectures): everyone could sign up for special master classes that arose their interser, the subjects of which were also extremely diverse. Thus, the participants of the school had the opportunity to learn the basics of Hebrew and Yiddish, learn to write articles and even try the technique of massage. Deep into the night work was carried out in literary workshops. The unique part of the program, implemented with the support of "Bridges of Culture" and the Center for Chase, became Theatre Workshop under the direction of U. Gershovich and director G. Zeltser, where one could try himself as theater director and actor (in Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice").
In addition, the most active and interested students, recognizing the uniqueness of the event and academic encirlement, enjoyed the opportunity to talk and argue with their teachers: thus, when the formal framework of the educational program can be calculated according to the official schedule, out-of-class part of her cannot be even approximately assessed.
Download Summer School Program (rus)
