In 2007, HUC-JIR/Jerusalem created a leadership program in Pluralistic Jewish Education that includes a Master’s degree from the Hebrew University. Called Rikma, the Hebrew word for tapestry, the program grew out of the shared conviction that pluralism is critical to building community within Israel’s religious, socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, and throughout the global Jewish Diaspora.
Rikma offers a pedagogical framework that produces a shared language for pluralism and inclusivity within educational settings, thereby softening the divisive barriers that segment much of Israeli Jewish society and the Jewish people at large.