A Word From the CEO and Academic Dean
What an incredible time to be at AJR! We are seeing unprecedented growth. Our student body is diverse and deep. Our students range in age from their 20’ s through their 70’ s. Our pluralism expresses itself in diversity in religious practice and philosophy, age, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, and geographic location. th
We are about to celebrate AJR’ s 70 th
anniversary. In this post October 7 world, AJR has stood up as a Zionist institution. We are proud of our alumni, our students, our faculty, and our beautiful, warm, supportive community. This feeling about AJR’ s position in the Jewish community and in the realm of clergy education was reinforced recently as Atra’ s new study,“ From Calling to Career: Mapping the Current State and Future of Rabbinic Leadership,” became available. 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. The results of this intensive study make clear not only that we at AJR are not experiencing this concern or declining enrollment, but that AJR is exactly the answer to the“ problem” the study was addressing. 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 been leading the way in Jewish clergy education already for many decades: We were the first to emphasize rabbinical and cantorial studies for second career students. 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 ordain cantors, and to regard cantors as leaders alongside rabbis. We have mastered distance learning with serious academic rigor. It’ s not only that AJR is well-positioned to be doing the action-items learned from the Atra Study, but rather that this is what AJR has been doing all along. AJR is a trendsetting seminary. The study’ s recommendations could be a blueprint for how an AJR education has always worked: Recognize the many different paths there are to clergy education, including previous careers, diverse communities, and a variety of stages of life. The importance of second career clergy students. Providing more flexibility to students would make clergy education easier. Recognize the many different areas in which clergy work and create training that makes these different opportunities viable. Stress the importance of mentorship and guidance with clergy providing support to students and prospective students. AJR has always prided itself on exactly these areas. We recognize that our students have lives and we work with them with respect for their lives, and with flexibility in how they go through the program. We have always encouraged our alumni to reach out and encourage others to become clergy as well, and we often see the fruits of these conversations and mentoring relationships in our student body. It is simply remarkable that the Atra study recommendations in essence are describing the AJR experience. Come learn more about AJR, and be part of the future of clergy education( which is happening right now!).
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Dr. Ora Horn Prouser