GED Plus

In response to numerous requests, Touro College in Israel is initiating a course of study to prepare young women to take the GED (High School equivilancy) examination.

The SHORT TERM GOALS are to provide these girls with intensive GED preparation, as well as relevant Jewish studies and Hebrew language education, in a wholesome environment. The GED will provide our students with options to pursue higher education, and the limudei kodesh will imbue them with guidance and a sense of pride and responsibility to the nation and land of Israel. Most importantly, our hand-picked staff will instill a lifetime love of learning.

FACULTY (in alphabetical order)

MRS. CHANI HADAD has been an educator for nineteen years: for thirteen, teaching high school English and History, and eight as an English instructor in college. She holds two graduate degrees, one in English Literature, and the other in Humanities and Social Sciences. As a published author and a professional editor, Mrs. Hadad is uniquely qualified to advance her students’ reading and writing capabilities. Mrs. Hadad made Aliyah in 2003.

MRS. ELIZABETH LIFSCHITZ brings forty impressive years as a high school math teacher. With advanced degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Secondary Education, Mrs. Lifschitz has taught Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, and Statistics, both at the general and the advanced placement levels. Currently she teaches College Mathematics at Touro College, when she isn’t tutoring students in advanced mathematics at Neve and online.

MRS. BEVERLY SIMKIN is a registered nurse by trade, with a graduate degree in Education. Mrs. Simkin boasts nine years experience teaching high school sciences and child development to teenage girls. With a particular penchant for teaching biology through supervised experimentation, Mrs. Simkin deliberately develops in her students a healthy curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. Mrs. Simkin made Aliyah from California in 2006.
MRS. CHANI TANNENBAUM received her B.A. in Jewish Studies from Stern College and an M.S. from Bernard Revel Graduate School in Ancient Jewish History. Mrs. Tannenbaum is currently completing her doctorate at Yeshiva University. In 1993, she received the Baumel Award, a prize bestowed upon the most outstanding faculty member at Yeshiva University. After making Aliyah in 1997, she taught at Bar Ilan University and served as the Founding Dean at Sha’alvim for Women.

RABBI CHAIM WEINBLATT is currently the Director of Collegiate Programming for the Center for Jewish Values, Rabbi Chaim (as his students call him) followed his BS in Accounting from the Sy Syms School of Business with many productive years of learning in the Gruss Kollel. He obtained Smicha from Shema Yisroel and became a popular Halacha teacher in a NY girls’ high school before making Aliyah in 2003. In addition to his Directorship, Rabbi Chaim is a much-in-demand speaker and teacher making the rounds in several Israeli seminaries.

MRS. ALIZA WEISS occupies a particularly effective role as an Ulpan instructor by virtue of her own Aliyah experience as a girl. Following her study of Communications at the Loyola College in Chicago, Mrs. Weiss taught Jewish Studies at a girls’ high school in Chicago before making her secondary Aliyah as a young, married woman. Her two decades of living in Israel, plus raising teenagers of her own, has given Mrs. Weiss a thorough understanding not only of Israeli Hebrew, but culture and civics as well. Mrs. Weiss has a unique method of immersing students in the study of Israeli language and society.