Mesila Mesivta Program – Financial Literacy Course for Mesivta Students

By: Rabbi Shalom Abramczyk
from Yeshiva Emek Hatorah

Category:
Real-World Learning

Subject(s) of entry:
Financial Literacy / Economics

Pedagogy:
IBL - inquiry based learning

Grade(s) to which this was taught:
12th

Grade(s) for which this will be useful:
10, 11, 12, High school

Through the Mesila financial literacy course, I am helping students in the ultra-Orthodox world develop life-long financial responsibility and skills for facing serious challenges to the Jewish community today: the loud and alluring commercialism and media that pound me-first materialism into our lives; social pressure that causes many Jewish families to live beyond their means and end up in debt; and a general lack of knowledge about smart, proactive financial behavior. Built on a solid foundation of Torah sources and Jewish values, this course addresses the issues of money and money management openly and systematically, through age-appropriate content that includes real-life creative activities and assignments on topics such as responsible spending, understanding consumer culture, withstanding social pressure, budgeting, prioritizing, making informed choices, the potential hazards of credit cards and loans, investments, ethics and integrity and social responsibility.