Chavruta Study in Korea

This past summer two PhD candidates at Bernard Revel Graduate School coordinated a lecture in Seoul for Korean educators and graduate students interested in Jewish studies. The lecture was initiated by Jeong Mun Heo, a current doctoral candidate in Jewish Philosophy at Revel and a native of South Korea.  With the diverse background of computer science, mathematics, and Christian theology, one of Jeong’s current interests is Jewish learning methodologies, such as the chavruta system, where partners study together. Since the Korean educational system has a significant focus on rote memory, Jeong wanted to share the more interactive chavruta system with his Korean colleagues. Rabbi Mordechai Becher, a fellow doctoral student at Revel whose dissertation focuses on the historical development of laws of prayer, agreed to deliver the lecture. Rabbi Becher, currently senior lecturer at Gateways Organization and instructor at Yeshiva University, has a rich and varied resume of Jewish education and outreach, and was also passing through South Korea as scholar in residence for a Jewish tour there this summer. On August 13, 2019, seven Korean educators and graduate students attended and enjoyed Rabbi Becher’s lecture about the educational philosophy and history of chavruta learning. Rabbi Becher remarked, “It was a wonderful opportunity for some cultural exchange, and to explain some key aspects of Judaism to an educated group who had very little access to traditional Jewish thought.”