The Israel Experience

HUC-JIR is committed to engaging with Israel, to inviting our students to hug and wrestle with the issues which this fascinating land raises in our Jewish lives. To get a glimpse of how our Israel experience achieves this, check out this video by a recent graduate of our Year in Israel experience

HUC-JIR Year in Israel (2011-2012) Final Montage from Israbel Films on Vimeo.

The Year in Israel Program: HUC-JIR has led the organized Jewish world in placing Israel at the center of Jewish studies. It was the first seminary to demand that all its Rabbinical and Cantorial students study a year in Israel – a model which has since been adopted by all other accredited Liberal Jewish seminaries. We are also the first institution to make a Year in Israel compulsory for our full time students for an MA in Jewish Education or an MA in Religious Education. As such our Year in Israel program brings together Rabbinical, Cantorial and Education students to create a large, vibrant and creative community for their time in Israel. To find out more about the Year in Israel program, click here.

The SJNM Israel Seminar: As well as our Year in Israel program, we run a seminar for all our Students in our School of Jewish Non-Profit Management, every two years. The seminar takes students into the world of Israeli politics and society and introduces them to the figures and discussions which shape the Jewish homeland in the 21st century. Led by one of the leading experts in the field of Israel studies, students learn about the country in an intense, informative and eye-opening seminar. For more information, click here.

Our Israeli programs: The Jerusalem campus plays host to a number of programs aimed at educating the next generation of local Israeli Liberal Jewish leadership. Having these programs based at our Jerusalem campus allows the college to introduce our American and international students to their Israeli counterparts with whom they can form lasting bonds of friendship and collegiality. For information in Hebrew about these programs, click here.