Dr. Rabbi Yohanan Kapah was appointed Head of the Masters Degree Program at Orot’s Rehovot campus. Rav Kapah has taught at the College for many years, and recently served as Dean of Students.
The Master’s program comprises three courses of study: Bible and Rabbinical Literature, Education Systems Management and a School Counselors course. Each course has a two-year cycle with 21 subjects and 42 credits in scope. Up until this year, School Counselor’s studies were held only at the Elkana campus. The challenge facing Rav Kapah is to establish the course on the Rehovot campus.
The primary objective is to train teachers in a unique Torah atmosphere and in the spirit of Religious Education, with the aim to enable the students, most of whom are already teachers in practice, to enrich their domains of education and research. Setting up a Torah Consultation course at Orot Israel College's Rechovot campus is a great innovation as for the first time student-teachers seeking to serve as School Counselors can undergo training in the Torah atmosphere they are accustomed to. We envisage that many students who could not attend the course previously will come to Orot Israel College's Rechovot campus.
From Rav Kapah’s perspective, the great importance of training teachers in a Master’s studies program is indicated by its various domains:
- Expanding knowledge and education
- Upgrading teaching skills
- Acquiring scientific tools for research
- Opportunity for advancement to senior positions in the Education system.
All this is apart from the great benefits of returning to the classroom. A teacher who studies sends out a clear message to his colleagues, students and surroundings: a good teacher is one who continues his studies, one who highly values wisdom and learning. An instructor who learns is one who can spread the love of wisdom and love of Torah to his surroundings.
The Orot Israel College's Rechovot campus currently contains three groups studying the Bible and Rabbinical Literature course and two groups studying Education Systems Management. This of course is apart from the many groups of women students. We expect to double the amount of students in these courses, and plan to open four groups of School Counselor’s courses for men.