Hadar

Hadar (formerly Mechon Hadar) began as an experiment with a big question: Is there an audience for high-quality, content-rich, gender-egalitarian Torah study
in an immersive context? After 12 years it has not only proven that the answer is yes, it has opened the doors to meaningful Judaism for as many Jews as possible. Now the educational institution is the only place in North America offering intensive, full-time Jewish text learning. In the past decade, it’s grown from an eight-week summer program to a large list of immersive experiences spanning from one-o  events and one-week seminars to yearlong programs. It’s increasingly able to reach the rest of the world by offering online classes, sharing concerts and lectures on podcasts, publishing books, and expanding in-person programming beyond the New York area. 

Hadar believes Torah and Jewish content can richly inform contemporary lives and seeks to engage with the issues of our day. A Jewish newlywed can enroll in “The Balancing Act: Being a Jewish Parent.” A musician seeking to learn more about Jewish arts and culture can take “Bob Dylan: A Jewish Journey Between Home and Exile.” Someone looking to slow down can find inspiration in “Mindfulness and Judaism.” To create community around its content, Hadar offers Project Zug, online havruta learning where students study with a partner face-to-face over video chat. In 2017, Hadar launched its first expansion to a new city, Washington, D.C., bringing along its full suite of programing. In Philadelphia, it started the Rising Song Institute as a place to cultivate Jewish grassroots musical- spiritual creativity and reinvent music as a communal Jewish spiritual practice. Hadar now has 600 alumni of summer and yearlong yeshiva programs, and 1,800 alumni of its eight weeklong programs, to whom it offers leadership training and practical resources. Hadar has shown that there is a genuine desire for high-quality Jewish content—and given the right opportunities, people will show up, eager to learn. Hadar is providing them with these opportunities and proving with every new offering, new city, and new program that its experiment is working.