The Rabbinical School of Hebrew College

Celebrating Diversity, Cultivating Engagement

The Rabbinical School of Hebrew College is the only accredited, pluralistic rabbinic education program in the world. Our 55 students and 47 graduates as of the 2012-2013 academic year come from 21 different states and 7 different countries, with a wide range of religious commitments and life experiences. Our students range in age from 22 to 60, with a median age of 27 and an average age of 34. In the Beit Midrash, tefillot, and the classroom, students are actively encouraged to explore their own and one another’s diverse beliefs and practices in an atmosphere of open inquiry and honest conversation. Our students graduate with an appreciation for the diversity of contemporary Jewish life and models for shared learning and friendship among Jews of different backgrounds and beliefs.

Fostering Community, Encouraging Authenticity

The personal quest for an authentic relationship to Judaism is nurtured within our welcoming and supportive community of students and faculty. We are a community, both within and beyond the walls of the classroom and the Bet Midrash. We study together, engage in communal prayer and celebration, and share the rhythms of the Jewish year and each other’s lives. We strive to treat one another well, and the school is infused with an atmosphere of creativity and joy. Having experienced our approach to community-building within the school, graduates are both inspired and prepared to create vibrant and inclusive communities that nurture personal connections to Jewish tradition wherever they serve as rabbis.

Embracing Tradition, Confronting Contemporary Questions

The Beit Midrash is the heart of our school. Students spend much of their time in hevruta delving into sacred text in the original, engaging questions of critical scholarship as well as questions of meaning.
With extraordinary faculty who are devoted to rabbinic education, our innovative, thematic curriculum and learning approach combine the best of the academic world and the yeshiva. Our students graduate with the ability to study Jewish sources in the original text and to think creatively about their contemporary relevance, so that, as rabbis, they can invite others into the rich interpretive tradition that we have inherited.

Practical Preparation, Successful Job Placement

We believe that Judaism teaches us to engage with, rather than retreat from, the world around us. Throughout our program, students gain the practical skills to serve the Jewish community and the wider world with wisdom and skill. Our full-time placement director works with students and alumni to help them find the right opportunities to serve as rabbis. Our graduates work as congregational rabbis in affiliated and independent congregations, Hillel rabbis and executive directors, hospital chaplains, educators, and organizational innovators in institutions across the country. Hebrew College has a strong record of preparing its graduates to participate in the process of revitalizing Judaism in the twenty-first century and of placing them in positions to do so upon graduation.