May 31, 2022 (Jerusalem, Israel) — The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) broke ground on its new Tal Campus for women in Jerusalem, Israel on Monday evening with a gala reception. The new facility marks a notable academic and socioeconomic milestone Jerusalem.

Currently, Machon Tal serves over 2,100 women studying at JCT. Slated for completion in 2025, the new women’s campus will be the permanent home of academic excellence for up to 3,000 female students in nursing, computer science, industrial engineering, accounting, and management. The campus is poised to provide increased opportunities for religious women to pursue higher education and attain quality employment in scientific and high-tech industries. It will enable the opening of an industrial engineering and management track as well as a new nursing program for Haredi women, a new pharmacy track, and the College’s recently announced business administration program for women which will be offered in English.

Attended by major international donors, former administrators, and dignitaries including the noticeably pleased Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion. The groundbreaking ceremony highlighted how the $100 million Tal Campus project amplifies JCT’s decades-long role in bolstering the Israeli capital’s economic and cultural footprint. The men's division began in 1969, known as Machon Lev.

The Machon Tal offers a sensitive environment for religious women and has helped many women break the cycle of poverty through greater access to higher education while connecting them with gainful employment and ambitious career paths upon graduation. 

Speaking via video, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “[JCT] has been providing a unique Israeli educational experience – one that combines quantitative subjects with the study of Torah. Many of the Center’s alumni have found their place in engineering, life sciences, health, management, and more. Today, I celebrate with you as you lay the cornerstone of the new Tal Campus, a new hope for women to study academia and Torah. This new home of Torah and Mada is the next step in fulfilling the center’s vision to bridge academic studies with Jewish studies.”

Also sending best wishes on video was Israel First Lady Michal Herzog who in her previous capacity with foundation work had interacted with Machon Tal over the years. The event was live-streamed to international donors unable to attend, with special mention to 102 year-young Kurt Rothschild.

JCT reflects how the 4,700-student college makes disproportionately large contributions to academic excellence in nursing, computer science, and engineering in the city of Jerusalem and across Israel. The school is a leader in integrating Haredi men and women into the workforce and is home to over 2,000 Haredi students. The school boasts the best nursing school in Israel with its Selma Jelinek School of Nursing which has the largest number of undergraduate and graduate nursing students studying in Jerusalem and nearly fifteen percent of Israel’s female undergraduate students in computer science. 

Thus, with healthcare and hi-tech sectors significantly understaffed in Israel, JCT is filling those vital voids with quality talent. 

“Sadly, for too long, we have not appreciated what you at the JCT have always known,” Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion said. “For too long, the religious women of Jerusalem,

have not had the facilities they deserve to study and gain qualifications. [Yet] this important community is already becoming the rosh pina, the cornerstone of Jerusalem’s high-tech economy.”

“Part of JCT’s mission has been to identify pressing socioeconomic needs in Israeli society, which in the past has included integration of Russian and Ethiopian students over the decades. And now, we are at the forefront of Haredi integration,” said JCT Vice President Stuart Hershkowitz acting as Master of Ceremony. “The new Tal Campus expansion will allow us to integrate Haredi women in a state-of-the-art facility. We are simultaneously empowering religious women to shatter stereotypes of their lagging interest in science and technology, igniting an ongoing wave of Haredi integration into the workforce, and combating the unacceptable levels of poverty in Jerusalem. The new Tal Campus will operate as the fulcrum of this socio-economic revolution.”

 The current President of Lev Academic Center Professor Chaim Sukenik greeted  Professor Joseph Bodenheimer, JCT’s fourth president (1993-2009) who attended.  

Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon, the Rabbinic Head of the Jerusalem College of Technology and the head of its Batei Midrash, emphasized the importance of educating women in his remarks, adding he is the father of eight daughters. 

During the program, it was announced a Tal graduate was a recent winner of an Israel Defense Prize. However, as in the past, those award-winning projects have no photos or names released for security reasons

President Sukenik told BJL "Breaking ground for the Tal Campus is a dream come true. Creating a state-of-the-art facility that will allow religious women to integrate into the highest levels of the hi-tech world and as health care professionals will send a powerful message. These women will be active players in the start-up nation and will provide the health care system with much-needed personnel. We are proud to be at the forefront of these important contributions to Israeli society."