Most seminary students find their time in sem exhilarating. But they’re not the only ones enjoying the experience; their teachers do so as well. “Teaching seminary girls is the absolute best job in the world” exclaims Shira Ernster* a teacher in several seminaries for close to twenty years. “It meets all my needs: spiritual emotional and financial (albeit for a simple lifestyle). Few women my age get to learn grow and be exposed to ruchniyus in the way that I get to do daily.”

“I never had to leave seminary” echoes Dvora Beckman* a veteran teacher in a number of different institutions. “I tell people I’m in ‘shanah yud-tes.’ Watching my students make courageous changes in their lives obligates me to move upward in my own life.”

Shulamis Leibenstein a long-time teacher currently in Meohr Bais Yaakov calls sem education a “thrilling experience.”

“I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to impact girls at such a pivotal stage. It is enormously gratifying to help my students mold healthy wholesome futures.”

Rabbi Menachem Nissel a renowned teacher in several Jerusalem seminaries and author of Rigshei Lev: Women and Tefillah: Perspectives Laws and Customs (Targum 2001) shares a thought from his rebbi Rav Moshe Shapiro shlita on chinuch at the seminary level.

“When I first began teaching I asked my rebbi: ‘How do I approach teaching girls when they don’t have an obligation to learn Torah?’ My rebbi answered ‘You’re not in the business of harbatzas Torah; you’re in the business of hatzalas nefashos.’

“Rabbi Noach Orlowek echoes this concept. He told me ‘When you sit in front of a class you can’t see thirty Jewish women; you need to see thirty Jewish homes.’ This thought keeps me hyper-motivated even when teaching the same material year after year. I feel I’m building people and homes rather than teaching a particular subject matter.”

Most educators voice breathless views on their personal enjoyment of the job. But is life as a seminary teacher exclusively rosy? What are some of the challenges and issues in teaching girls for a mere nine months — in what some would consider a distinctly artificial setting?

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