“ I feel like this was an incredible opportunity to learn in a casual setting. I spent my whole life learning Torah in day school but when I got to college it was a lot harder to keep up with that learning on a regular basis. Additionally, my partner is incredible — she became more than just a Torah study partner. I feel lucky to call her a friend!”

“The experience I’ve gained is not only about the beautiful things I got to learn and also can continue learning but also the people I got to know and learn with them. It’s beautiful connecting with people around the world to learn Torah, to get to know each other and even build friendships.” 

“I wasn’t spending much time learning, if any at all. This program made me learn every week and my chavruta was incredible. I looked forward to it every week and I felt productive each time! I am so happy I was a part of this program because it brought Torah back into my life !!!! Thank you!”

“I went into this project knowing very little about Judaism. I have always loved learning in general and I wanted to learn more about my background. I am a science person and that has taught me to be skeptical of things that I cannot see with my eyes, but the way my chavruta explained these stories our Judaism to me, and through some evolutionary connections I taught her, I was able to learn so much about our religion. Even though I only learned for a short time and even though I don’t consider myself to be super religious, I feel like I’ve gained so much pride for being a Jewish person because my Torah partner taught me how AMAZING we are!”

“It was awesome studying with someone from an entire different continent. It was great seeing how much we have in common and how connected all the Jews are from all over the world.”

“I thought the $25 for 25 project was an incredible initiative and I am so privileged that I had this opportunity to connect and learn with other Jewish students from around the world. Joining college is quite difficult as we aren’t in our Jewish environments anymore and it can be more difficult to often touch base with our Judaism. This project gave students a great opportunity to connect to Jews around the world and learn more Torah. 25 minutes a week is a short time but can make a huge impact on someone’s week!”

“Through my chevruta I realized that there are a lot of people that love interacting with Torah but are not engaged on campus. That inspired me to create a new program that reaches day school students with solid Jewish backgrounds that enjoy learning.”

“It was a very eye opening experience learning with someone who knew virtually nothing about Yiddishkeit. It taught me to be more careful with my words”. 

“This has been the most beautiful experience. My chevruta is so full of light and love for Judaism. I am so grateful to have gotten to experience these amazing past 6 weeks with her! We were discussing spiritual moments we’ve experienced and she brought up how she felt when she first landed in Israel for the first time. She knew no one, she felt like she knew nothing about Judaism, and she was overall extremely nervous. She’s from [state redacted], and right as she got off the plane she saw a sign with Hebrew that said “Visit [state redacted].” She felt like that was a confirmation that she was in the right place, as silly and small as that sign was.”

“It was such a well-run program. The constant words of encouragement from the organizers generated a positive atmosphere that was simply exciting to be a part of. I had the opportunity to meet someone my age from across the country who has lived his own Jewish journey quite different from my own, and I think we both grew from the chavrusa (learning partner / 25er) experience tremendously.”

“The best part of the experience was when my 25er would send me an article or a message about the topic we had discussed in previous weeks. It allowed me to realise that he was really enjoying  and engaging with the learning, which was incredibly rewarding. He also asked for my help in other matters outside of our learning which showed me the impact and the achdus of this project.”