Beth midrash

A beit midrash (Hebrew: בֵּית מִדְרָשׁ, romanized: bêt midrāš, lit.'house [of] study'; pl.בָּתֵּי מִדְרָשׁ, bātê midrāš), or beth midrash, is a dedicated study hall, often located within or adjacent to a synagogue, but sometimes housed in its own building, where Jews engage in intensive Torah study, including of the Hebrew Bible, Mishnah, Gemara, Halakha, Midrash, and other Jewish classical texts. It is distinct from a beit knesset (בֵּית כְּנֶסֶת, bêt knésset, 'house [of] assembly')—a synagogue—though the two are often coextensive.

In Yiddish, the beth midrash may be referred to as a zal (Yiddish: זאַל, lit.'hall'). Beit midrash can also refer to a yeshiva gedolah (יְשִׁיבָה גְּדוֹלָה, yĕšīvāh gĕdōlāh, 'great academy'), which is a post-secondary, undergraduate-level program commonly attended by Orthodox Jewish young men. The Arabic term madrasa (Arabic: مَدْرَسَة, lit.'place [of] study') is derived from the same Semitic root and refers to any type of educational institution. The root ד־ר־שׁ (d-r-š) is then generalized to mean "to expound" or to "interpret".