Tisch/Star Fellows Program

In 2006, Bonnie and Daniel Tisch envisioned an enhanced approach to rabbinical education: a co-curricular program dedicated to leadership development beyond traditional seminary training. Their vision led to the establishment of The Tisch Fellowship at Hebrew Union College, a transformative initiative, specifically for the New York campus, designed to prepare rabbis who could reimagine and revitalize Jewish communal life for the twenty-first century. Soon after, Sara Crown Star extended this vision to cantorial students by creating the Star Fellowship, which runs in parallel with the Tisch program, ensuring that future cantors have access to the same extraordinary opportunities for growth and leadership development.

The Tisch Fellowship is far more than an academic program — it is a comprehensive community of learning, mentorship, and community building. Fellows study the sociology and history of American Jewish life while spending meaningful time with both Jewish changemakers and innovative thinkers from beyond the Jewish world. The curriculum challenges students to further articulate and refine their own religious commitments through intensive reflection on God, Torah, and the Jewish People.

The fellowship’s impact has exceeded its founders’ ambitious goals. More than 70 alumni have emerged as recognized changemakers across the American Jewish landscape and the Reform movement, with their influence extending internationally to communities in England and Australia. These graduates now lead some of the largest and most dynamic congregations in North America, fulfilling the program’s original vision of transforming the American synagogue into a spiritual and moral center for contemporary life.

The Tisch Fellowship represents a remarkable investment in the future of Jewish leadership — one that has demonstrably changed the trajectory of Reform Judaism and synagogue life across continents.

Tisch and Star Fellows take part in a sacred community:

• where personal relationship is valued,
• where the presence of God is tangible,
• where we make ourselves present to and for one another,
• where we all take responsibility for the success of the program and of each other, and
• where we count on each other for honesty, compassion, mutuality of respect, intellectual rigor, and seriousness of purpose.

Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman is the program director and Rabbi Joseph A. Skloot is the associate program director.

The Tisch Initiative for Synagogue Excellence, which is open to rabbinical students, was established through the generosity of Bonnie and Dan Tisch. Cantorial students in the program are funded by Sara Star.