Yeshivat Hamivtar

Yeshivat Torat Yosef - Hamivtar (ישיבת תורת יוסף - המבתר) is a men's yeshiva located in Efrat in the West Bank. The Roshei Yeshiva are Rabbi Yonatan Rosensweig and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. The institution is primarily focused on post college-aged students and is part of the Ohr Torah Stone educational institutions founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi Chaim Brovender. Yeshivat Hamivtar is closely associated with the Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist/Dati Leumi schools of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. The Yeshiva emphasizes teaching its students how to become more independent learners, especially in Talmud. It caters to both students with strong religious backgrounds, and students adopting a more observant lifestyle. It is located just outside the southern gate of Efrat, between the city and the Kibbutz Migdal Oz - located in a campus called Kiryat Shoshana. Programs The institution has a non-rabbinical and rabbinical track. Students who do not opt for the rabbinical track often enter other Yeshivot or the workforce in Israel or other countries. Rabbinical/Semicha Program Students accepted into the Semicha program (ordination) are required to spend three-years studying Halacha in the afternoon seder, in addition to the morning seder of Gemara with the rest of the Yeshiva. The three years' study consists of: Shabbat, Nidah, and Issur v'Heter. Other classes in the track include Hashkafa (questions relating to "worldview") and Practical Rabbinics; a mandatory beki'ut (survey / overview) program in Talmud was instituted beginning with the 2008-2009 year.