A Transformative Step in Rabbinical Education
At Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, we are shaping the future of rabbinical leadership with a redesigned curriculum that meets the needs and challenges of a rapidly evolving Jewish landscape. That means a flexible educational experience where holistic growth is guided by learning outcomes that prepare students for the multifaceted demands of the 21st-century rabbinate and a post-October 7th world.
Rigorous Study in Pursuit of Sacred Service
We offer a nurturing seminary education that integrates rigorous academic study with spiritual formation and professional development. Students learn from and form lasting relationships with leading scholars and exceptional practitioners who are invested in helping their students prepare to serve God and the Jewish People as HUC-JIR ordained rabbis.
A new curriculum to meet the moment.
Our redesigned curriculum uses innovative learning modules and new multidisciplinary courses to prepare dynamic, visionary, versatile rabbis. The knowledge, skills, and habits of heart and mind that students learn — now with the option of a virtual pathway of study — help them build and sustain thriving Jewish life in an increasingly complex global context.
An Integrated and Innovative Approach to Learning
Our innovative curriculum was designed for our campus-based rabbinical program and new virtual pathway through a multiyear process informed by research and collaboration among faculty, experts in higher education, and hundreds of alumni.
The guiding principles of our new curriculum.
HUC-JIR’s curriculum is rooted in the principles of Reform Judaism and includes academic scholarship and critical inquiry; a firm grounding in Hebrew and Jewish history; an open and expansive concept of Torah; prophetic leadership and a dedication to social justice; ongoing theological reflection; worship as a practice and an art form.
These priorities are guided by a deep commitment to pluralism, Israel, and the global Jewish People nurtured through extended study in Israel.
The hallmark of an HUC-JIR education is the integration of Judaic studies, leadership development, and spiritual formation. We provide hands-on learning opportunities through a new Tefilah Leadership program developed with our Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, along with clinical pastoral education, spiritual direction, and supervised fieldwork that makes the most of our unparalleled network within the Reform Movement and beyond.
Hallmarks of the new curriculum.
- Outcomes-based, measuring progress by mastery of competencies, literacies, and orientations, not simply by courses or credits;
- Individualized, taking into account each student’s prior learning and experience, and focusing on their holistic development;
- Cohort-based, allowing students to develop close and supportive relationships with their classmates;
- Flexible, accommodating diverse life circumstances;
- Innovative, offering courses structured in diverse learning modules: from semester- and year-long courses to intensives and seminars focused on timely topics;
- Multidisciplinary, highlighting the intertextuality of Jewish literature and diversity of interpretive approaches;
- Integrated, reinforcing the connection between rigorous academic study, spiritual formation, and hands-on work in the community.
Our Programs
Rabbinical Program
Built on an academic model, our rabbinical program integrates textual study, professional experience, and spiritual growth to prepare the next generation of innovative Jewish leaders.
Whichever pathway you take, you will become part of a diverse, dynamic community of learners and an expansive network within the Reform Movement and beyond, joining our thousands of alumni who are making a difference in people’s lives, making sure Judaism flourishes, and making the world a better place.
A New Avenue Toward Ordination:
Rabbinical School Virtual Pathway
Our new virtual pathway is designed to enable highly qualified, motivated students in diverse locations and circumstances to fulfill their calling to become a rabbi. Bringing together learnings from nearly 150 years of rabbinical education, our new pathway increases access to the rabbinate while building the dynamic, visionary, learned, and spiritually rooted rabbis the progressive Jewish world needs today.
Israel Rabbinical Program
The mission and purpose of the Israel Rabbinical Program is to train rabbinical leaders in order to bring change in Israeli society through communities, education, culture, and tikkun olam. 129 rabbis have completed their studies in the IRP and now serve in diverse positions in the communities of the Israel Reform Movement.
Our Programs
Rabbinical Program
Built on an academic model, our rabbinical program integrates textual study, professional experience, and spiritual growth to prepare the next generation of innovative Jewish leaders.
Whichever pathway you take, you will become part of a diverse, dynamic community of learners and an expansive network within the Reform Movement and beyond, joining our thousands of alumni who are making a difference in people’s lives, making sure Judaism flourishes, and making the world a better place.
Our Impact
Learn About Our Impact-
Alum
Serving a community for many decades is a special blessing! My congregants and my work as an advocate and activist for the LGBTQ+ community have shaped me. My teachers, both rabbinical and lay leaders, have enriched my Jewish heart and soul.
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Alum
As the only ordained Reform Deaf rabbi in the world, my role is quite unique.
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Alum
One of my friends said that I should become a rabbi. I thought, “Wait a minute, me? You think I should become a rabbi?” I prayed on it, and I realized that as a rabbi, I could serve God and serve my community.
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Alum
I love the extent to which we balance academics and practical experience at HUC-JIR. Whether it’s the entrepreneurial Be Wise fellowship, or pastoral care, service-leading with cantors, or my various internships, there are lots of ways to apply my learning.
Our Impact
Learn About Our Impact
Alum
Serving a community for many decades is a special blessing! My congregants and my work as an advocate and activist for the LGBTQ+ community have shaped me. My teachers, both rabbinical and lay leaders, have enriched my Jewish heart and soul.
Alum
As the only ordained Reform Deaf rabbi in the world, my role is quite unique.
Alum
One of my friends said that I should become a rabbi. I thought, “Wait a minute, me? You think I should become a rabbi?” I prayed on it, and I realized that as a rabbi, I could serve God and serve my community.
Alum
I love the extent to which we balance academics and practical experience at HUC-JIR. Whether it’s the entrepreneurial Be Wise fellowship, or pastoral care, service-leading with cantors, or my various internships, there are lots of ways to apply my learning.
96%
Featured Faculty
Rabbi David H. Aaron, Ph.D.
Professor of Hebrew Bible and History of Interpretation
Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D.
Director, Jewish Language Project; Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Linguistics
AJ Berkovitz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Liturgy and Ancient Judaism
Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Ph.D.
Regenstein Professor in Medieval Judaism and Islam
Daniel Fisher-Livne, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and the Languages of the Near East
Rabbi Joshua D. Garroway, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies/Professor of Early Christianity and the Second Commonwealth
Kristine Garroway, Ph.D.
Professor of Bible
Rabbi Lisa Grant, Ph.D.
Eleanor Sinsheimer Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish Education
Alyssa Gray, J.D., Ph.D.
Emily S. and Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman Chair in Rabbinics; Professor of Codes and Responsa Literature
Leah Hochman, Ph.D.
Director, Louchheim School of Judaic Studies; Associate Professor of Jewish Thought
Jason Kalman, Ph.D.
Gottschalk-Slade Chair in Jewish Intellectual History; Co-Director, HUC Press
Sharon Koren, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medieval Jewish Culture
Rabbi David Levine, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Talmud and Halacha
Rabbi Michael Marmur, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Jewish Theology
Rabbi Dalia Marx, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash
Bruce Phillips, Ph.D.
Professor of Jewish Communal Service
Rabbi Haim Rechnitzer, Ph.D.
Professor of Jewish Thought
Rabbi Richard Sarason, Ph.D.
Director, Pines School of Graduate Studies; The Deutsch Family Professor of Rabbinics and Liturgy
Rabbi Joseph Skloot, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Intellectual History
Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics; HUC-JIR Rabbinical School Director
Rabbi Nancy Wiener, D.Min.
Founding Director of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Center for Pastoral Counseling; Dr. Paul and Trudy Steinberg Distinguished Professor in Human Relations; Fieldwork Coordinator
Rabbi Wendy Zierler, Ph.D.
Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies
