Ziegler School Restructures to Meet the Needs of the Future

By Mimi Pollack

The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of the American Jewish University is proud to announce a revolutionary approach to rabbinic education in North America, responding to the changing needs of the Jewish community by offering a program that is accessible, streamlined, and focused on training future rabbis. They have created a bold curriculum, shortened the length of the program, added a year of onsite residency, and designed an intensive Israel summer program.

The Jewish world is changing rapidly with serious implications for rabbinical training and the future of the Jewish community. Graduate education is now more expensive for students and for institutions. Many insist on a more cost-effective training period before serving. In 2007, five of the liberal rabbinical schools enrolled 100 students in their incoming classes. In 2022, they enrolled 52. Fewer students entering training programs and reports of a steep shortfall of rabbis available to fill open positions put the rabbinate in crisis.

These needs are too pressing to ignore, and the Ziegler School has devoted considerable time to an intense and extensive process of consultation, exploration, and conversation to innovate a solution. Their discussions included the Ziegler Faculty Steering Committee, alumni, students, independent focus groups, the Ziegler School Advisory Board, the AJU Board’s Committee on Academic Affairs, and the AJU Faculty Senate.

Some of the changes that have already been adopted and several that will be implemented going forward:

1. To give everyone access to a solid rabbinic education, the Ziegler School has reduced their tuition to $7,000 per year.
2. In the past, Ziegler students attended class in Israel for a year. The new curriculum creates a more concentrated program in which the learning and activities are focused intensively on Israel. In consultation with the Honey Foundation and their educational and rabbinic partners in Israel, the Ziegler School will now offer an intense two-month summer program in Israel that will dive deep in three distinct areas: contemporary Hebrew; an exploration of the modern state of Israel and its diverse communities and cultural, political, and social challenges and opportunities; and biblical and rabbinic texts especially pertinent to the Land of Israel.
3. As part of streamlining the curriculum, the Ziegler School will advance the in-person coursework during the first three years of rabbinic school while reserving the fourth year as a rabbinic residency. Students will be placed off campus in a congregation, school, camp, medical, mental health facility, penal facility, or business. While they focus on learning practitioner-based skills in the field, they will also take online courses, allowing them to reflect critically on their experiences in a professional setting. These residencies will allow students to live anywhere in the country in their final Ziegler year.
4. The Ziegler School created a new four-year curriculum, allowing students to graduate much sooner than with the traditional five- to six-year rabbinic programs. They remain committed to in-person learning as the only way to foster religious formation and spiritual discipline, to experience the rhythm of life in a Jewish community, and to benefit from being part of a fellowship that takes mitzvah observance and halakhah seriously. The accelerated pace includes courses that train rabbis to teach the significance of Jewish sacred writings that will allow them to empower communities to express authentic Jewish values of welcome, companionship, and holiness.

The foundation of the curriculum is geared toward mastering classical texts written in both biblical Hebrew and rabbinic Hebrew. The program is dedicated to providing students the ability to progress more rapidly in both the understanding of Hebrew grammar and its development, leading to a connection between Hebrew language and Bible and rabbinics. Courses in rabbinics will be introduced by ideas and themes from within rabbinic literature, giving students a broader appreciation of the sweep of Judaism’s wisdom, insight, and applicability.

The curriculum will continue to provide focused exploration in the expertise needed by rabbis to sustain and nurture the people and the institutions they serve. Students will develop homiletics, chaplaincy, professional, and identity skills. They will gain the tefillah expertise necessary to lead services; chant Torah, Haftarot, and Megillot; provide pastoral counseling; and organize social action and community projects. They will also learn how to manage staff, donors, members, and institutions.

In the next issue of Chadashot, we will bring you more information on the changes taking place at the Ziegler School. You can also learn more online at www.aju.edu/ziegler.