Move comes as part of an ongoing effort to produce students well versed in Jewish law.
By MATTHEW WAGNER
Sha'arei Mishpat College, a private law school in Hod Hasharon, will establish a beit midrash (religious study hall) on campus as part of an ongoing effort to produce students well versed in Jewish law.
"We want our students to change the face of the Israeli legal system," said Prof. Eliav Shochetman, a specialist in Jewish jurisprudence and a driving force behind the creation of the yeshiva on campus. "The idea is to encourage students who already have a strong religious background to apply Jewish law and thus become a force of change."
Some 20 percent to 25% of the students at Sha'arei Mishpat are religious.
The new program, which provides grants of up to 80% of the NIS 26,000 annual tuition, will be open solely to religious students who have extensive Torah education.
Sha'arei Mishpat has an interest in attracting more religious students.
Sources said religious students tended to be more successful at passing the bar exam. Sha'arei Mishpat and other private colleges such as Ono Academic College, Ramat Gan College and Netanya College tend to have a significantly lower bar exam success rates than the universities' law schools, due to the colleges' lower entrance demands.
"After much thought and preparation we have created a beit midrash that will produce students who are skilled at drawing from the classic Jewish sources and from eternal Torah, the cultural centerpiece of the Jewish people," said Dr. Aviad Hakohen, Sha'arei Mishpat's dean, who is a candidate to be named a Supreme Court justice.