Academy for Jewish Religion

Rabbinical Program Goals

1. Students will demonstrate recognition of the legitimacy of multiple points of view and approaches, both historically in the Jewish tradition and in the interplay of contemporary Jewish movements and schools of thought.

2. Students will demonstrate competence in Jewish texts, history, and culture. This encompasses competence in traditional and academic approaches to reading and interpreting biblical, rabbinic, liturgical, and philosophical texts. Students will demonstrate competence in reading and comprehending ancient, medieval, and modern texts in their original languages of Hebrew and Aramaic.

3. Students will demonstrate competence in the professional and pastoral aspects of their clerical roles.This encompasses core knowledge of counseling, education, the role of music in Jewish liturgical chanting (nusah and trope), and the skills to officiate at worship services and life-cycle events.

4. Students will demonstrate knowledge of contemporary American, Israeli and world-wide Jewish communities–including the roles of the rabbi and the cantor–and a range of skills to creatively address long-standing issues as well as the most recent developments.

5. Students will demonstrate engagement in the development of their identity as spiritual leaders and spiritual seekers in the Jewish community.