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pwnering2

Can anyone share some suggestions of baalei teshuvah yeshivot in Israel?

I know there’s tons of Yeshivot out there for baalei teshuvah and I’m not sure where I’d fit in best. A little about me/ where I’m holding and what I’m looking for in a Yeshiva in hopes people can give suggestions, I’m open to English speaking or Hebrew speaking Yeshivot depending on how much time I end up spending in Yeshiva:

I’m 26, and have been growing for ~4 years. Currently Shomer Shabbat/kashrut/negiah, I’ve been learning daily for 2-3 years now, so I’m not looking for a beginner track and am hoping to learn for ~6ish months or from Elul-Pesach, but don’t think I’d be willing to commit to a full year for various reasons. I’m looking for other students who are professionals or are more mature (I was in a frat in college so I’m past that stage of life hahah). I’m looking for a strong ulpan that will get me as close as possible to fluent speaking abilities. I love learning about different nusachot/minhagim so I’d like to have the freedom to explore those communities during the week and/or during off Shabbats. I use Chabad’s nusach for tefillah because I became I observant through Chabad, my Rav is a Lubavitcher, and my parents are from the former USSR, so I have a kesher with Chabad in that way, but my main Beit Knesset is a teimani Beit Knesset because I LOVE their tefillah and minhagim (so being able to go to a teimani Beit Knesset during the week would be great but I can understand how a yeshiva might not be okay with that). I also don’t really connect with black hat environments (I’ve only been to black hat shul’s, so not sure if that atmosphere is reflected in other black hat institutions) and do not want to take on styles of dress that include black hats, kepotas, streimels, gartels, bekishes, etc

My Rav has suggested Mayanot to me, but I recently spoke with someone who learned there for ~1 year and told me their ulpan is not great and is definitely not meant for speaking abilities. I also don’t think my Rav is so familiar with non-Chabad Yeshivot, so not sure what other suggestions he might have for me, but it’s something we can discuss. An Aish/olami Kiruv Rabbi I’m somewhat involved with suggested Shappel’s after we had a brief conversation about what I’m looking for, but he doesn’t know me very well (both personally and my religious/hashkafic level), so not sure how much stock to put into that suggestion.

Sorry if I shared unnecessary info about myself, I just wanted to give people a clear picture of where I’m at religiously and what I’m looking for, thank you in advance for any suggestions and I’m happy to answer any other questions :)

Posted Mar 8, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

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