Seminary
As more American Jews intermarry, seminaries face calls to ordain intermarried rabbis
Lex Rofeberg was a junior in college and thinking about becoming a rabbi when he hit a roadblock: he was dating a non-Jew.
If Jewish Seminaries Are Empty, Let's Merge Them
Rabbi Andy Bachman has a solution for the dwindling number of non-Orthodox rabbinical students: Combine existing seminaries for different denominations into one school.
German Jews Get Europe's First State-Run Divinity School
Europe’s first state-run Jewish divinity program, the School for Jewish Theology, has opened at the University of Potsdam outside Berlin.
Conservative Movement to Launch Rabbinical Seminary in Germany
The Conservative movement will open a seminary in Germany near Berlin.
Aaron Panken Named President of Hebrew Union College
Rabbi Aaron Panken was elected president of The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion by its board of governors.
Reform College, Bowing to Pressure, Will Rethink Rabbi Intermarriage Policy
After discussing it with “the cabinet” of advisors to HUC president Rabbi David Ellenson, Marmur decided to initiate a faculty-wide discussion across HUC’s campuses in New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.
Modern-Day Rabbi Must Be CEO, Teacher and Spiritual Leader at Once
The rabbi of today must be a shrewd entrepreneur, media-savvy speaker and compassionate spiritual healer. Are seminaries preparing the next generation for the demands they face?
2012 Rabbinical Ordination in Cologne at Roonstrasse Synagogue: Jewish Revival in Germany
For the first time since the Nazis took power in 1933, a rabbinical ordination takes place here at the synagogue in Cologne. The revival of the Jewish community in Germany is not only happening in big cities like Frankfurt, Berlin or Munich it’s also happening in many small towns around Cologne, along the left and right banks of the Rhine River, a region known as the Rhineland. The Jewish religious infrastructure, which is emerging in many places in Germany, is now receiving a stable spiritual foundation from the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. Like many other young rabbis in Germany, the four rabbis ordained in Cologne completed studies at the Hildesheimer seminary, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer, forced to close in 1938 by the Nazis, and reopened in 2009 by the Central Council of Jews in Germany. In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah, the Jewish bible after the completion of a grueling learning program in the codes of Jewish law or Hallaha. With this ordination ceremony the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary is continuing to contribute to the revival of Jewish life in Germany through the training of young rabbis. Another historic moment - this is the first such ceremony in Roonstrasse Synagogue in over 70 years. Roonstrasse Synagogue is one of the five pre-Nazi synagogues which existed in Cologne, it was destroyed on November 9, 1938 during nation-wide attacks on Jewish-owned property when Germany was under Nazi rule. The Roonstrasse …