Patio chairs were at a premium this summer at Hebrew College, but the students outside the Alumni Dining Hall weren't simply grabbing lunch. A record number were hitting the books for one or more of the College's Eli and Bessie Cohen Summer Institutes.

Some participated in new offerings, such as the Jewish Special Education Institute and an intensive study program on classical rabbinic and Hasidic sources held at the Rabbinical School's Bet Midrash. Even the U.S. Air Force got into the act, sending a select group of officers to a customized Hebrew language program.

Others enrolled in a wide range of courses that have become summer staples, including eight levels of Hebrew language instruction, Ulpan immersion classes, two-week graduate level core-text classes and weeklong intensives for NETA curriculum Hebrew teachers and Hebrew College Online master's students.

Next summer we'll save you a seat on the patio.

To prepare for a language proficiency test and a possible career overseas as a military attaché, lieutenant Kelly Borukhovich, 21, participated this summer in an intensive Hebrew Language program for a select group of U.S. Air Force officers. After an international search and evaluation, the Air Force's training partner, REEP Inc., chose Hebrew College for its "superb curriculum and professional approach to teaching the culture and language," says Major Cara Aghajanian. Law professor Alan J. Weisbard traveled from Madison, Wis., to attend this summer's Bet Midrash program focused on rabbinic and Hasidic sources. "The power of these texts, in conjunction with this method of study, to forge links among the participants and bring us together so quickly was astonishing, and testimony to the incredible power of this part of the tradition," says Weisbard.

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