It’s What We’ve Been doing: AJR’s Response to Atra
Many on this platform have been discussing the findings of Atra’s new study, “From Calling to Career: Mapping the Current State and Future of Rabbinic Leadership,” on the rabbinical pipeline. The primary anxiety that this entire study addresses is the “Declining Rabbinic Pipeline” – the declining enrollment and rabbinical ordinations at non-Orthodox seminaries in the US. Will there be enough rabbis to meet the vast communal need in American Jewish life in the years to come? Follow up pieces have bemoaned the lack of cantorial roles in these discussions of clergy leadership. Others have described rabbinical school education as being unresponsive to today’s world and inadequate in training clergy to face our current climate.
While I understand these concerns, and feel the pain expressed in some of these responses, I need to share that at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), none of these concerns really ring true. We are growing in unprecedented ways, accepting over fifty new students in the last two years, bringing our current student body to over 100 students. AJR’s flexibility allows students to study at their own pace and from any geographical location. AJR spearheaded the training of cantors as equal partners in spiritual leadership and has been ordaining (rather than investing) cantors since the creation of our cantorial program. AJR’s curriculum and coursework absolutely respond to today’s climate and needs, whether as regular classes, or as responsive additions to address our changing contemporary reality.
First of all, let us acknowledge that while for many, AJR is the community where they find a spiritual home, and a community of serious learners and leaders, there are too many who are not sufficiently familiar with our institution. AJR is a pluralistic seminary based in Yonkers, NY, celebrating our 70th anniversary in 2026, and with the largest student body in the history of the school, currently at 107. We offer mainly remote learning for aspiring rabbis and cantors, a master’s program, a kolbo program (both rabbinic and cantorial ordination), and a program for ordained cantors to become rabbis. We are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, the gold standard accreditation in theological education.
In reading through the Atra study, and in paying attention to the follow-up conversations, we must say that there is nothing in this conversation that is unfamiliar. One might say that we are positioned perfectly to address what the Atra Study says is needed. But it is much more than that. AJR has already been leading the way in Jewish clergy education for many decades and is already doing what the Atra study is recommending.
AJR’s education is top-notch.
AJR has talented faculty who provide excellent Jewish education and rigorous training to our future Jewish clergy. There is rich Jewish learning happening here, and we provide support to help students improve any deficits in Hebrew skills, Jewish background knowledge, and other skills that were listed as deterrents in the Atra Study for prospective students to apply.
AJR’s remote and synchronous classes work for our students.
The Atra study found that one of the greatest obstacles to seminary enrollment is geography, and AJR has managed to circumvent this challenge and welcome students from 37 US states, and Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, the Republic of Georgia, and Israel.
AJR offers a flexible approach to pursuing coursework and program requirements.
AJR permits students to go at their own pace through their coursework and program requirements without sacrificing academic rigor, and students usually work concurrently while they attend our program. This means that students can make their rabbinical or cantorial program reasonably work together with the professional, familial, or other commitments they have in their lives.
AJR has always thrived on welcoming second (and third!) career students.
We have students in their 20s and in their 70s, those beginning their first career, and also those on their second or third. AJR allows for people at all stages of their lives to choose to pursue cantorial and rabbinical studies, with many joining us after successful career but with a full possible career ahead of them, and this significant life and professional experience allows them to begin their rabbinic or cantorial leadership with an advantage over their colleagues who are younger in their careers.
AJR’s coursework is responsive to the contemporary Jewish world.
The topics of our traditional text courses are selected with the utmost attention to relevance – whether “major themes” such as the problem of evil or interpersonal responsibility or passages about Shabbat that give us insight into how the ancient rabbis envisioned creating a Shabbat experience – our approach to Talmud is about how it resonates for Jews across the religious spectrum today. The regular final assignment in many of our courses, including advanced Talmud classes is to create something relevant – a series of lesson plans, a sermon, etc., something that synthesizes what they have learned in a practical form that students can pick up and apply in a variety of contexts. The focus of our texts courses is, and has been, precisely on translating ancient Jewish wisdom for the contemporary Jewish world.
As a school committed to a broad vision of Zionism, in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, we immediately innovated several new courses starting that spring and summer including Israel Post-October 7th, Teaching Israel, and Leading Through Crisis, that prepare our students to respond to the rapidly changing landscape. Similarly, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we created classes in how to lead prayer online, conducting healing services, and in using technology in innovative ways.
Over the past several years the rabbinic curriculum at AJR has rapidly responded to the shifting needs of the moment. We introduced a requirement for Science and Judaism with classes such as pharmacology for clergy, preparing our students to meet the pastoral need of our highly medicated population; we created a required course in Peace Studies, as well as launching a new certificate program in Conflict Healing, to respond to the growing polarization all around us; we carved out space for two required courses in entrepreneurship; and we just added a required course in Responding to Antisemitism because that is what the current moment demands.
Pluralism is at the heart of our institution.
We cherish differences and believe that the meaningful and respectful exchange of ideas, beliefs, and practices makes us all better people and clergy.
We are a proudly Zionist institution, and have found a way to be able to talk about our political and ideological differences with respect and compassion.
At our core, we are a vibrant, intimate community that supports each other as we thrive, grow, and learn. It is a great place to be.
AJR has always led the way.
AJR’s trailblazing approach to clergy education is not new.
- We were among the early seminaries to ordain women and people with LGBTQ+ identities, and we remain proud to be an inclusive and safe community. We are delighted to continue to have Queer Jews, Jews of Color, Jews by Choice, and so many other historically marginalized groups well-represented among our student body.
- We were the first to emphasize rabbinical and cantorial studies for second career students.
- We were the first to ordain cantors, and to regard cantors as leading spiritual leaders alongside rabbis.
- We have mastered distance learning with serious academic rigor.
We feel proud that the data and studies now reinforce what we have known all along as to how to train clergy for the Jewish community and are very grateful to be able to serve in this time of great need. What the data gets supports which does apply to AJR is that we need more financial support to make it possible for more students to attend seminaries. If you’re a funder, we invite you to invest in the Jewish future and the rabbinical and cantorial pipeline by investing in institutions like us.
And if you’re someone who is thinking about rabbinical or cantorial school, please reach out. AJR is here to support you and the entire Jewish community doing what we do best – training exceptional rabbis and cantors at whatever pace works for you and wherever in the world you may be.
