Focusing On Spiritual Growth

As a result, the rabbis and the other Jewish professionals we train have to work with out lay leaders to shape institutions, especially the synagogue, which of necessity must do three things. First, to offer a compelling vision of Judaism which can speak directly to people. If people are to become seriously involved in Jewish life, they need to understand the difference that Judaism can make in their lives. Second, that vision must be supported by a vibrant educational program of the highest quality, which can make a difference in the lives of children and adults alike. Finally, synagogues, Hillels, and other institutions have to become communities in which individuals worship, study, and live Jewish lives together; communities which are dedicated to bringing in people from the periphery into the core of their experience. In order to give our rabbis the skills needed to shape such institutions, seminaries must invest much thought and energy into five basic areas of the educational process.

1 Unlike the purely academic institutions, the mandate of a seminary is to maximize not only the academic growth of its students, but their spiritual growth as well. Although our primary task is to provide them with a rigorous academic program, which gives them the knowledge base and hones the necessary professional skills to be effective rabbis, it is not sufficient. To insure their success in today's Jewish community we must help them focus on their own spiritual lives both in the classroom and outside of it. To do this, we as faculty are expected to serve as models for our students of how the Jewish tradition speaks to us personally. We have to be willing to share our own struggles with out texts and not merely convey to our students the analytic skills to decipher them. Concomitantly, we must convey to them our passion as Jews for Judaism and for Torah study, which is the reason why we chose to teach at a seminary to begin with. Faculty have to be models of empowerment. The classroom cannot be a place of power, but rather one of dialogue. Although students need to learn the skills to analyze the text and know the conventional reading of the text, we have to be secure enough to know that ours is not the only possible voice found in it. The texts of our past are multivocalic; each student, each reader must find his/her own voice in them. Opportunities for dialogue outside of the classroom are necessary as well, in which faculty and students together can speak openly about what we believe, how we observe, the meaning of prayer for us, and even our personal struggles. This must even extend to faculty opening their homes to their students, so students see them more clearly as Jews and as human beings and to studying together outside of the classroom, I'shma, without worrying about credits and evaluation.

2 If faculty must serve in part as the spiritual guides or mentors to their students, the students in turn need to develop the skills to assist others in shaping their Jewish identity and spiritual journey. Curricular and co-curricular programs need to be designed which will prepare future rabbis to be able to help reshape the synagogue and other Jewish institutions into vehicles for Jewish outreach and identity formation. Such programs would not only raise the consciousness of students about what constitutes effective worship and educational experiences, but would impart them the skills to help transform the institutions themselves which they will serve.

3 In rethinking the skills necessary to meet the challenges of today's American Jewish community, we are compelled to focus upon educational skills suited to informal settings. Rabbis need to be adept at conveying basic Jewish knowledge and skills to lay people of all ages and exciting them about Jewish life. Adult education contexts, retreats, small youth group settings, and camps are becoming increasingly important contexts for rabbis to help shape Jewish identity and commitment.

It is incumbent upon our seminaries to gear their curricula for the training of alternate rabbinic models of service, though the synagogue will and should remain the primary context to which rabbis will choose to dedicate themselves. Careers in Hillel, youth work, Jewish institutional life, and chaplaincy are finally being recognized as crucial venues of rabbinic service. These institutions need models of spirituality and religious commitment, which can touch people's lives though they are outside the synagogue.

4 In enhancing the students' professional skills, it is also crucial that supervised in-field training be a primary educational component. No longer can future rabbis receive training in such areas as education, counseling, and youth work by merely taking formal courses at the seminary. Hands-on experiences under the watchful eye of trained mentors are invaluable components that need to be programmed in as required curricular elements. Even the student pulpit experiences, which our seminaries require, must have on-site supervisors as a primary component. By working in residence under the guidance of rabbis in the field who have received mentorship training, students learn from real life experiences with the help of seasoned rabbis.

5 Finally, there are so many areas of expertise and such a broad knowledge base that the potential rabbi must master, that it is impossible to do all of this in the course of a four or five-year curriculum. As much as the training in our seminaries has improved over the last decade, we must understand that rabbinic training is a lifetime enterprise. The seminary and the moment's constituencies, in our case, the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, must be serious about creating a mandatory continuing education program for rabbis, as well as our other professionals. We must move to the point at which continuing study and professional development is not only desire of every rabbi, but the expectation of every congregation of its rabbi. Congregations then will need to facilitate such a commitment.