The yeshiva is designed for English-speaking post-high-school students from outside Israel. Midrash Shmuel also has an introductory program called Aliyos Shmuel for college graduates and older students who seek to learn at a beginner's level, and a kollel program which enrolls approximately 90 married students. All classes are held in English.
History
Midrash Shmuel is part of the widespread trend since the 1970s of yeshiva Torah study programs in Israel for post-high-school students from America and other English-speaking countries. In the 1970s there were only a handful of such programs for overseas students at the Mir, Brisk yeshiva, and Ponovezh yeshiva. Today, there are dozens of such yeshivas. Moskovits opened Midrash Shmuel in the early 1990s at the urging of his students and with the heartfelt encouragement of Torah giants of the generation, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Rabbi Elazar Menachem Mann Shach, among others.
Educational activities
Midrash Shmuel recruits students from America, United Kingdom and France who have completed yeshiva highschools and its dean is active in this regard. Students in the rabbinic ordination program receive semikhah directly from the rosh yeshiva Rabbi Moskovits. Students develop personal relationships with the rosh yeshiva and rabbinic lecturers which continue after graduation, as alumni participate in reunions and yeshiva fund-raising events in communities where they settle.
Curriculum
Moskovits' gemara lectures are heavily influenced by Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky, while his ethical lectures are influenced by Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein. Moskovits emphasizes a strong textual reading of relevant sources. Every student in the yeshiva delivers, at a minimum, two chaburos per month. The Yeshiva places a strong focus on student surveillance and there are over 20 surveillance cameras placed throughout the study hall and student dormitories.
Guest speakers
The yeshiva also invites noted rabbis from the international English-speaking Torah world to address the yeshiva. In past years, these have included Rabbi Avraham Chaim Feuer, formerly of Kehillas Beis Avrohom in Monsey, New York; Rabbi Harvey Belovski, rabbi at Dunstan Road Synagogue in England, and Rabbi Aharon Kaufman, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Waterbury, Connecticut Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky Neve Yerushalayim.
Summer programs
Midrash Shmuel runs summer programs for high school students from England, Canada, the United States, and South Africa. The programs combine in-depth gemara learning and halakha, mussar, and hashkafahshiurim with recreational outings and activities.
In August 2010, actress and dancer Rachel Factor, whose husband studies at the Midrash Shmuel kollel, opened Midreshes Shmuel, a post-high school women's Torah learning and performing arts program, under the direction of Moskovits. However, this branch of the school closed in 2012.
Notable alumni
Notable graduates of Midrash Shmuel include:
Rabbi Josh Bennett, Rabbinical Coordinator at the London Beth Din
Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the "Zoo Rabbi", author of one dozen books on Torah and science. Slifkin's first book, Lying for Truth: Understanding Ya'akov's Deception of Yitzchak, was initially published by the yeshiva with an approbation by Rabbi Moskovits.
Rabbi Yisrael Shaw, Torah educator at Machon Yaakov, Har Nof, and editor-in-chief of the Daf Yomi publications of Kollel Iyun Hadaf
Rabbi Jonathan Shooter, author of The Haftara Handbook: Lessons from the Prophets for the Contemporary Jew ;
Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman, assistant rabbi of the Seed Programme in Edgware, London
Rabbi Daniel Salter, Rebbi at Menorah Boys High School in Edmonton, Canada
Reb Dave Siderson, Talmid of the Rosh Yeshiva and of fellow alum of Rabbi Daniel Salter.
Mordechai Zuroff, esteemed leader of young jewish communities in both Detroit and Cincinnati. In his time in Yeshiva, many have said that it was the influence of Reb Dave Siderson who inspired him to greatness in his Yiddishe endeavours.
