Beth Medrash Govoha Lakewood NJ, commonly known as BMG Lakewood, is a small private university with a coed campus that primarily offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Yeshiva Beth Michael Geller (BMG), commonly referred to by Hasidic scholars as a “kollel”, is one of the world’s largest Jewish seminaries, famed for its rigorous Talmudic studies program that has produced many scholars and leaders within Orthodox Jewish communities worldwide. BMG has also become well-known among its alumni due to their vast number of alumni pursuing careers in education, law and business after graduating.
The college is a non-profit 501(c)3 entity accredited by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education, offering only Talmudic and Rabbinical Studies as its only major. Acceptance rates for enrollment at this college are high and students can choose either on-campus housing or off-campus apartments for living arrangements; additional activities offered include Torah study groups and chesed projects.
Recently, BMG students have become the subject of heated discussion both locally and nationally. Some outsiders believe their presence contributes to overdevelopment as well as traffic jams and strain on public school resources; other supporters claim the yeshiva provides much-needed services while creating a tightly knit religious and intellectual community in Lakewood.
Many graduates from BMG go on to work in business, law and healthcare fields – as well as fulfilling rabbinical roles – and they cite their intensive style of Talmudic study at BMG as giving them an advantage in college classes over their non-BMG counterparts.
BMG differs from most American colleges by not offering traditional student life activities like clubs and organizations, though some students do participate in Torah study groups, chesed projects, and other related activities which complement its philosophy and mission.
BMG requires students who wish to enroll as Kollel Students first complete an undergraduate-level yeshiva and reach the required level of mastery before enrolling at its postgraduate institution, Kollel Mizrachi Ganuz (BMG). Average entry age for BMG students is 22. In order to be successful at this curriculum, high levels of analytical abilities are necessary and students often spend much of their time delving deep into ancient texts and engaging in rigorous intellectual discussion; many former kollel students say this type of study sharpened debate and analytical abilities among its participants.
