Curriculum

The Rabbinical School curriculum is a highly integrated, structured program designed to take you on a five- or six-year journey of growth and acquisition of knowledge.

The core curriculum is built around the two most famous cycles of traditional Jewish learning: Parshiyyot ha-Torah and Seder ha-SHaS (Oder of the Talmud).

Torah study, including a range of commentaries from ancient Midrash to contemporary literary analysis, links the five books of the Torah to the five-year course of study.

The Jewish Living Core follows (with some adaptation) the order of subjects in the Babylonian Talmud, covering the major areas of Jewish learning central to a text-based rabbinic education.

Several other courses are offered each year that relate to the theme of the Core Jewish Living course, offering an integrated, thematic curriculum.

Preparatory Year
Mekorot

Fouses on acquiring a foundation in Torah and Talmud, with as much emphasis put on the content of the learning as the skills needed to learn.

Year 1
Berakhot: Prayer and the Traditional Jewish Prayerbook

Centers on mastery of the liturgy: its meaning, structure, history, versions, laws and customs associated with prayer.

Year 2
Mo’ed: The Jewish Year and Festival Cycle

Focuses on laws, liturgical practices and key themes of the festivals and their religious significance and interpretations.

Year 3 (Israel)
Nezikin: Institutional and Communal Aspects of Jewish Life

Students spend the year in Israel, learning to work in the public arena and to deal with ethical and moral dimensions of religious leadership.

Year 4
Nashim u-Gevarim: The Jewish Life-Cycle

Centers on life-cycle ceremonies, family and marital issues and contemporary questions of gender in Jewish life. Students learn to perform life-cycle ceremonies, to counsel congregants regarding family issues and to deal with “halakhic” questions regarding medical issues and personal status.

Year 5
Kodashim — Theological Issues

Includes an in-depth exploration of several of the great theologies of Judaism, both classical and modern, provides the basis for students to clarify their own theologies through oral and written work.