Shalhevet Women’s Kollel of St Louis focuses on intensive, text-centered learning. No priorTalmud study, competency in Aramaic, or even exposure to Hebrew is required.

Read about Alice Thomas’ experience studying at Shalhevet.

Rather than beginning with building basic skills or hand-picking certain sugyot (segments), Shalhevet’s pedagogical approach has been to begin at the start of a masechet (tractate) and to struggle with the text as it unfolds. We study the simpler pieces together with the more complex, the popular sections together with the lesser known, and throughout it all, we find ourselves learning more about the evolution of halakha (Jewish law), the intricacies of rabbinic thinking, and the underlying basis of modern day Judaism.

Shalhevet meets on alternate Tuesday evenings from 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm. To join the mailing list, or for more information, e-mail maharat@baisabe.com.

Shalhevet is generously supported by the Targum Shlishi Foundation

Our Logo

Our logo, designed by Dr. Tessa Gardner, features the rare four-pronged shin, considered by some to represent the hidden 23rd letter of the alephbeis, and used as the origin of a flame symbolizing the fire and inspiration of Torah.  Shin is the “mother letter,” a source of fire, and represents many groups of three: peace, perfection, truth; love of Torah, God and Israel; the pillars of Torah, prayer, and acts of lovingkindness. The simplest analogy for the two different shins is that the unusual 4-pronged shin represents the four matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and the traditional 3-pronged shin represents the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, on whose foundation our tradition rests.  However, there are deeper associations. The 4-pronged shin, created by the outlines of the 3-pronged shin either carved into the luchos(tablets) or written in ink on a Torah scroll represents the reflected light of the luchos and the white spaces between the letters. While the 3-pronged shin represents the written revealed Torah, the 4-pronged shin smbolizes the concealed and as yet unrevealed Torah, as Rav Kook wrote “the white parchment around the letters is an integral part of the Torah; without it, the Torah scroll is disqualified…[and]…the white space is a higher form of Torah…analogous to the white fire of Sinai — a sublime, hidden Torah that cannot be read in the usual manner. “  He continues “There is a delicate balance between black and white in the Torah. The shirot, the poetic portions in the Torah…are the loftiest parts of the Torah. Consequently, they have more white space, as they contain a greater measure of the esoteric white fire. If a scribe were to write other sections of the Torah in this special layout, the Torah scroll would be rendered invalid.  After the Torah was revealed and restricted to our limited world, it must be written with the appropriate ratio of black to white” and “We can deepen our understanding of the white and black fires by considering another example of white space in the Torah. Extra space is left blank to separate sections of the Torah. The Sages explained that these separations allowed Moses to reflect upon and absorb the previous lesson. In other words, the white fire corresponds to the loftier realm of thought and contemplation. The black fire of the letters, on the other hand, is the revelation of intellect into the realm of language…”

The four-pronged shin is found only on the left side of the tefillin shel rosh (phylacteries worn on the head), while the 3-pronged shin is found on the right side, and together they are the physical embodiment of the commandment that we should “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might” and that these words “shall be a sign upon our hands and a reminder between our eyes.”  In choosing the four-pronged shin, we do not forget the men who have influenced Judaism or our forefathers who also serve as the base of our community; the three-prongs of the more common shin can be found within the white space of the four-pronged shin, literally and symbolically embraced by it.  In addition, the 4-pronged shin is inclusive and represents all Jews—Cohanin, Leviim, Israelites, and righteous converts. With the four-pronged shin we also symbolize our learning, which looks at both the black space and the white space: we study the black space–sacred words printed in our Torah, and we explore the white space that exists between the words– the stories, discussions, and debates that comprise the oral tradition as recorded in the Talmud. In our learning we join the generations that came before us, exploring every corner of our tradition, adding our voices to the vibrant discourse, and continuing together to search for understanding.