More than 5,000 participants attended Herzog College’s 31st annual “Yemei Iyun B’Tanakh” Bible Study Days, with more registered for the parallel “Tanakh Nights” events held in Jerusalem and Modi’in.
The four-day event draws Israeli teachers, olim old and new, students, and multi-generational families from across Israel and around the Jewish world to the shared campus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and Herzog Academic College in Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion. The sessions are also live-streamed to over a thousand remote viewers in Israel and abroad, and recorded for later viewing by subscribers. A fifth day offers participants guided tours of historical sites around Israel, Tanakh in hand.
Lectures are given in Hebrew and English by senior Rabbis from the Yeshiva and lecturers from Herzog College, alongside visiting scholars from Israel and abroad. These included Dr. Nechama Price and Dr. Moshe Sokolow from Yeshiva University, Prof. Mira Morganstern of the City College of New York, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom from Los Angeles, and Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot from New Jersey.
What distinguishes Herzog’s approach is its focus on the present-day relevance of Biblical texts as a foundation of Jewish and national identity. Several lectures this year addressed current events and the ongoing war directly. On Sunday – the same day Israel’s next election date was announced – the English-language program featured a track relating Israeli politics and the upcoming elections to stories in Tanakh. On Tuesday, many of the English lectures focused on the sources of our Tefillot (prayers) that are found in the Tanakh.
Herzog College President Prof. Avishalom Westreich explained the event in the context of the broader mission of Herzog Academic College: “We train teachers for schools in Israel and also contribute to Profprofessional development programs for Jewish Studies teachers in Jewish day schools around the world. Making the study of Jewish texts relevant to our young students is a key element of what we offer. Especially in these days, when the State of Israel and the Jewish people face complex internal and external challenges, the study of the Tanakh is not merely an echo from the past, but illuminates our life in the present, offering us a path for understanding current events.”
Purchase a subscription to watch the lecture videos from the 2026 Yemei Iyun B’Tanakh here.
