Our Campuses

With the destruction of the centers of higher Jewish learning in Europe during the Holocaust, HUC-JIR became one of the few surviving Jewish academic institutions in the world. As a successor institution to the European yeshivot and academies of Jewish education which had flourished for a millennium, the College-Institute was charged with the responsibility of raising a new generation of Jewish scholars and perpetuating the continuity of Jewish spiritual and material culture. Inspired by the legacy of all that was lost, HUC-JIR has strived to develop its centers of learning as vibrant sources of learning radiating Jewish knowledge to communities throughout the world.

Today, HUC-JIR is an international institution with campuses in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, and a global outreach capacity through distance education programs. The College-Institute is strategically situated to maximize student recruitment, expand student and faculty field service to congregations and communities, enrich educational outreach, and sustain support.

Congregations benefit from the proximity of HUC-JIR's students who provide necessary services; many of these congregations could not otherwise afford the services of a rabbinical, cantorial, education, or synagogue management intern. Among the Union for Reform Judaism’s nearly 900 congregations there are over 400 small synagogues, many of which survive through the service of monthly and biweekly student interns who commute from the nearest regional campus. Large congregations, similarly, thrive through the services of HUC-JIR students as rabbinical, cantorial, educational, and youth group interns and religious school student teachers.

HUC-JIR's four centers:

• provide geographic proximity to Reform congregations and institutions in disparate regions
• foster expanded field work and mentorship opportunities throughout North America to enhance students' practical skills training
• facilitate student internship placements in student pulpits, religious schools, regional URJ departments, youth groups and college Hillels, hospital chaplaincies, and Jewish communal agencies
• disseminate student services throughout North America and enhance the vitality of the Reform Movement from coast to coast
• encourage recruitment of students who seek to continue to study and work close to their home communities
• broaden the base of HUC-JIR supporters

The growth of HUC-JIR's four campuses has created a university distinguished for its depth and breadth of offerings. By utilizing these extensive resources and facilities, HUC-JIR is uniquely able to train transformational leaders and create innovative programs for the Reform Movement, the Jewish people, and the larger world.