Seminary Hebrew Program Helps Potential Clergy Level Up Their Language Learning

September 10, 2024

Two students having lunch outside talking and smiling

Jason Schwartz said he spent three years making the decision to apply to rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. One thing that prolonged this “period of discernment,” he said, was his realization that, “despite my passion and commitment to Judaism, my Hebrew skills were not good enough to accomplish the course work of a rabbinical student,” and his concern that “due to my lack of Hebrew proficiency, I may not be able to start the rabbinical program.”

But then, Schwartz found out about the Seminary Hebrew Program, an online course now in its fourth year, designed to support current and future applicants to HUC-JIR’s graduate programs, so they can develop stronger Hebrew language skills to meet matriculation requirements and go on to succeed academically. He enrolled in the Fall of 2023 and continued his courses remotely from his home in Washington, D.C. through the Spring of 2024.

“My teachers were wonderful and committed to my progress and the progress of the other students. By the end of the Spring coursework, after two semesters of classes multiple times a week, I was ready to take the evaluation. Due to the work of my incredible instructors, I passed with flying colors,” said Schwartz, who has now begun his Year-In-Israel program in Jerusalem as a first-year rabbinical student.

Rabbi Adam Allenberg M.A.J.E. ‘05, ‘07 Senior Director of the Office of Recruitment and Admissions at HUC-JIR, helped launch the program with Rabbi Andrea Weiss, PhD., Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost and Associate Professor of Bible, and Rabbi Lisa Grant, Ph.D., after they became aware that more and more would-be applicants were having problems fulfilling the Hebrew language prerequisite for several programs. In past decades, he said, admissions officers had counseled people to “go out there and find the Hebrew that you need” by taking courses at a university or in their area. But while that worked for many decades, because “every major college or university had a small Hebrew department, we have really found that Hebrew departments have shrunk or disappeared” in recent years, Allenberg said.

“We were really wrestling with the resources that were out there, the inconsistency of the offerings that exist,” Allenberg said. “Not to mention, it just felt inadequate not to be able to offer own solution. We are Hebrew Union College! It felt strange that we were always sending applicants to other universities and other resources, which were often very expensive and may not have the same curricular goals as us.”

Allenberg presented this problem to the administration, and with the help of a grant from the M. B. & Edna Zale Foundation, HUC-JIR created the Seminary Hebrew Program. The program provides modern Hebrew language learning while exploring connections to classical sources of Jewish tradition and wisdom from which the poetry of the Hebrew language emerged. Classes are offered across multiple levels, and while tailored to the needs of prospective students, this program is also open to prospects and applicants at a subsidized rate.

“Our first goal is to get folks ready to be able to matriculate into the Year-In-Israel,” Allenberg said. “But a very close second for us is to really welcome people into Jewish language – not the only Jewish language, but certainly the first, which I would argue remains the core language of the Jewish people. We’re trying to help our students unearth a part of Jewish culture that you can’t access in translation in the same way.”

Allenberg said more than 40% those who take the Seminary Hebrew courses have gone on to enroll in HUC-JIR degree programs so far. He adds that, in May, the program offered an additional month of instruction for those who were heading to Israel the following month. This academic year, more than 50 students are enrolled across five sections and three different levels, including the first course taught entirely in Hebrew – approximating Israel’s ulpan leveling system.

Allenberg said he is hoping to build on the initiative’s reach and positive results for HUC-JIR students and the strength of the institution’s curriculum and atmosphere more broadly. “We have fantasies about growing this program, so that we get to lean into that kind of celebration and exploration of Hebrew culture. There is a demand out there by Jews who want to know Hebrew, and it’s not only those interested in becoming clergy. It’s an unmet need for the North American Jewish community, and if we had the resources, I think we could fill two or three times as many classes.”