Master of Arts in Religious Education
The School of Education in New York offers a Master of Arts in Religious Education (M.A.R.E.) degree in several formats: a three-year full-time degree; a longer part-time M.A.R.E. degree, for those students who need a more flexible setting (mid-career change students with less mobility); and a program for practitioners and clergy already in Jewish education who want to upgrade their credentials; or for general educators who wish to work in Jewish education. Each student will complete the same Judaic and Education core courses, a Capstone Project and two years of supervised internships. Students will be prepared to work in all areas of the Jewish community: synagogue, religious schools, day schools, camps, central agencies and communal organizations
Hebrew and Judaica
To be accepted into the M.A.R.E. program, a candidate must demonstrate two years of college-level Hebrew proficiency. Several alternatives will be available to help students achieve the required Hebrew level, including: study at the Jerusalem learning site, an ulpan in Israel and intensive Hebrew immersion programs at other local institutions.
All full-time students travel to Israel with the beginning rabbinical and cantorial students. The program begins with all students attending an 8-week summer seminar in Israel. Students will participate in HUC-JIR's summer ulpan, a specialized touring program combining ancient and modern Israeli and Jewish history and Jewish literacy classes.
While completing their first year in Israel all students are required to take intensive Hebrew classes as well as other courses in liturgy, history and Jewish texts. Some of these courses are also taught in Hebrew depending on one’s level. Upon their return to the New York campus students continue their Hebrew studies for another year with their rabbinical and cantorial classmates.
Course of Study
FIRST YEAR IN ISRAEL PROGRAM – (Jerusalem School)
Modern and Classical Hebrew Studies
Seminar: Education and Values in Israel
SECOND YEAR (New York School)
Fall Semester
Bible 401 -Pentateuchal Narratives
History 411 -Proto-Rabbinic Period
Hebrew JJL- Dikduk and Sifrut
SOE 401 -Teaching and Learning
SOE 431- From Talmud Torahs to Learning Communities (History of Jewish Education in America)
Education Elective
Spring Semester
Bible 402 – Historical Narratives
History 412 - Modern History
Hebrew JLL- Dikduk and Sifrut
SOE 445 – Professional Learning / Staff Development
SOE 572- Philosophy/ Ideologies of Jewish Education
Education Elective
THIRD YEAR
Fall Semester
Rabbinics 401- World of Rabbinic Literature (not for Year-In-Israel students)
Bible 510/SOE 510 – Teaching Bible to Adults
Rabbinics 412 - Midrash
SOE 443 – Curriculum and Instruction
SOE 421- Educational Leadership
Elective
Spring Semester
Philosophy/Theology J10 – Modern Jewish Thought
SOE Teaching Tefillah
SOE 411 – Human Development
SOE 413– Organizational Dynamics and Change Theory
Education Elective
Elective Courses
Each semester 2-3 education electives are offered on a rotating basis. Students are required to take a minimum of four education electives. All electives have a curricula component. Partial listings of the elective offerings are:
Teaching the Shoah
Why Teach Israel?
Finding Your Family In Text
Kedushat ha Guf
Sacred Aging
The Changing Jewish Family
The Nexus Between Adult and Family Learning
Other to Brother: Inter-Faith Dialogue
Moral Education
Working with Interfaith Families
The Spirituality of the Family
Teaching Adult Learners
Experiential Learning
Year in Israel
Full time students must complete their first year in Israel. This year includes intensive Hebrew study and specialized educational tours of Israel, using the Torah text as a road map. Students will receive both Hebrew and Judaic credits for the seminar, as detailed above. Education students also have a year-long education seminar with all education students from both the New York and Los Angeles campuses.
Students spend their first year of study at the Jerusalem Campus. Upon return to the New York school, they would complete two additional years, making it a three-year program.
There is two-week seminar in Israel over winter break for those students completing the degree on a part-time basis.
Capstone Project and Practicum
All students (working with an individual faculty advisor) must write a Capstone Project which is a curriculum project filled with lesson plans related to their area of interest. Students are supported through the process of writing by faculty members in and outside of the classroom. They must formally present a portion of their project to the entire HUC-JIR NY school community at a senior education practicum.
Senior Education Practicum
In their third year, and/or their final year of our program, all students must complete a Curriculum Capstone project. During the month prior to graduation, students have the opportunity to share their Curriculum Capstone by presenting portions of it to the education students and faculty at their Senior Education Practicum. They offer a rationale for their project, explain who the target audience is for the curriculum, and share a lesson or a segment of their curriculum with the group. Finally, the students and faculty ask questions and provide feedback to the presenter, which they can then incorporate into their curriculum before their final submission.
Part-Time Study Opportunities
The M.A.R.E. degree is offered as a longer part-time degree program for students who need a more flexible setting: for second career students; for field practitioners who want to upgrade their credentials; or for general educators who wish to work in Jewish education.
Course Offerings
For more information, please see the Academic Catalog.
Field Work
First Year Internship: Individually chosen clinical faculty members will supervise and mentor M.A.R.E. students in their teaching internship placements. Clinical faculty members meet with the individual student they supervise. The clinical faculty will also meet as a group for training and review of student progress. Student placements are designed to enable students to put theory into practice. By reflecting on their work in the field, in a supervised setting, students move towards greater professional growth.
Second Year Internship: During a student’s second year in New York the internship has a special focus on leadership. This work enables the student to see the other aspects involved in being an educator in various settings. Some of the things students have the opportunity to do include: supervise faculty, lead professional development sessions, attend board meetings, and run staff meetings. All of this takes place while being mentored by the director of education in all aspects of their learning experiences in the field.
Academic Mentors
Each student also is assigned an academic mentor who is a member of the NYSOE faculty. They help the students apply what they are learning in the classroom to their work in the field. Students and their faculty mentors meet regularly in one-to-one meetings and group meetings, throughout the school year
M.A.R.E. Seminar Brunch and Learn Series
The School of Education sponsors a Brunch and Learn Series invites experts in the field to teach current students. Past presenters include leadership from professional organizations such as NATE (the National Association of Temple Educators); innovative educational entrepreneurs working in areas such as special needs, technology, and the arts; and representatives from Hillels, Reform movement congregations, summer camps, and day schools.
Special Days of Learning
Counseling Seminar (Fall Semester)
All education students participate in a Counseling Seminar, during the fall Education Yom Iyyun. It is taught by a licensed counselor/therapist who has worked within the Jewish educational community. Students are introduced to terms and concepts related to counseling and how best to utilize them in their work. Through text study, scenarios pulled from current issues educators are met with, and through exercises which enable them to practice certain counseling skills, students learn how to turn difficult conversations in productive ones.
Special Needs Seminar (Spring Semester)
All education students participate in a Special Needs Seminar, during the spring Education Yom Iyyun. As a graduate program preparing the next generation of Jewish leaders, we recognize and value the importance having of our students becoming active participants in creating Jewish environments that are inclusive to individuals with special needs. This seminar, through the use of Jewish texts, research, experts in the field, etc., gives students the knowledge and understanding about special needs that will truly impact the Jewish communities in which they take on leadership roles.
Joint Degrees
Rabbinical Ordination or Cantorial Investiture and the M.A.R.E. Program
Current rabbinic students in their third year of the rabbinical program can apply to the one-year education program. They then take a year off from the rabbinical program to study education and receive a MARE degree at the end of that year. After three years in the rabbinical program, these students have completed the core Judaica studies courses (also required for education students) and spend the year focusing on the education core. They are placed in a “leadership” internship, where they experience the work of an educational leader such as: supervision of teachers, curriculum writing, running faculty meetings, attending board meetings, meeting with parents and lay leaders, working on budgets, etc. Joint rabbinical program students must also complete a curriculum capstone project. They have education faculty as academic mentors and meet regularly throughout the year to discuss application of their learning to the field.
Cantorial students can also apply to the one-year education program, after their fourth year of the cantorial program. Completing the same requirements listed above for the joint rabbinical program which enables cantorial students to receive the MARE degree.
School of Jewish Non-Profit Management and the M.A.R.E. Program
For students who wish to combine the study of Jewish education with an emphasis on Jewish communal service, the Joint Master's program allows students to earn two separate degrees. In addition to the three years of the M.A.R.E. program, joint Master's students spend the summer after the Year-in-Israel program and the summer between the New York academic years studying at HUC-JIR's School of Jewish Non Profit Management. The clinical placement during the second year of study involves work in a communal agency, and during the third year involves work in an educational setting. Students must complete a capstone project for each program.
Faculty and Administration
Go directly to Faculty and Administration
Special Programs
Summer Institute Program
Special intensive summer courses, called “mini-mesters” are offered through the School of Education. These courses (from mid-May- the first two weeks of June) are usually three-four weeks long and cover a full semester’s work. The SOE brings together specialists and practitioners from the field and professors from the College-Institute to teach in the program. Education elective courses are offered in the following areas: Adult Learning, Working with Inter-Faith Families; The Family as Educator; The Spirituality of the Family; Working with Students with Special Needs; Kedushat ha Guf: The Resilience of the Soul; Moral Education. These courses are open to students from all of our campuses and alumni.
Miller High School Honors Program
A the Miller High School Honors program is a special two-year program for students entering 11th and 12th grades from congregations in the greater New York metropolitan area. The program, funded by Claire and Arthur Miller, provides committed Reform high school students the opportunity to study Jewish texts, liturgy and Reform Judaism, while meeting with lay and professional leaders from the Reform movement. Students are nominated for the participation in the program by their rabbis and educators. The program is taught by current rabbinical and education students and is supervised by the Director of the New York School of Education. Meeting twice a month from 10:30 to 2:00 PM on Sunday mornings at the HUC-JIR NY campus, students meet with peers from around the NY area to study together and learn from one another when sharing d’vrei Torah or leading services.
Leadership Institute for Congregational Educators
NYSOE Alumni Association
The NYSOE Alumni Association serves many roles. Firstly, it works to support the continuing education of alumni through yearly Lunch and Learn programs (which are also open to current students and are great networking opportunities for both alumni and students), through webinars, updates on the NYSOE Alumni Facebook page, reports from the director and faculty in a regular NYSOE Alumni online Newsletter and through meetings at various education events: NATE conferences; Education Summit at the Biennial; etc. Secondly, alumni are a wonderful resource for prospective students. They often serve as mentors who share their experiences as a student at the school, and as an educational leader in the field. Alumni also assist prospective applicants in the preparation of their application to the education program.
Resources
Klau Library
The Klau Library on the New York campus collects preserves and provides access to a carefully selected variety of library materials. Among its specific strengths are Hebrew language and literature, Jewish history, music, and religious thought. The Library supports the educational program of the School of Education, as it does each of the school’s programs, and also supports the specific research needs of their faculties. It also meets the Judaic research, cultural and information needs of the students and faculty of New York University; scholars in the New York area and, by means of interlibrary loan, outside of New York; the national staffs of the URJ, the CCAR, NATE, and the New York Area community. With its microfilm resources and facilities, the Library also functions as a branch in New York of both the American Jewish Periodical Center and the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati.
HUC-JIR Museum-NY
The HUC-JIR Museum in New York is the visual extension of the spiritual, cultural, and educational life of the College-Institute, which provides graduate and professional programs for students. The HUC-JIR Museum, including the Joseph Gallery, Petrie Great Hall, Klingenstein Rare Book Room, Chaim and Rivka Heller Archives Gallery, and Backman Gallery, present exhibitions illuminating Jewish history, culture, and contemporary creativity. The School of Education works closely with the museum and offers students an opportunity to work as interns in museum education.
