Modern American Jews seek a Judaism that provides wisdom and comfort as they try to understand the deeper meaning of their lives. They will be proud to give their children a Jewish education that is stimulating and embracing. Affirming the core Jewish notion that all Jews are bound one to another, we make our commitment to Jews overseas an organic part of our work as American Jews, supporting projects in Israel, Russia, and Ukraine. We have sought to achieve that goal by focusing on the synagogue worship experience and on the education of rabbis. Until recently, rabbinic education has been regarded primarily as an intellectual enterprise, with some attention to practical skills like sermon delivery, conducting funerals, and counseling the ill and bereaved.
New efforts focus on the development of rabbis as spiritual leaders.
One of our major grants for the training of rabbis as spiritual leaders was to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The New York campus will devote a year to planning a thorough revision of its approach to educating rabbis and cantors. A major goal of this process is to develop a more effective means to educate the heart as well as the head. As central as synagogues are to the continuity of American Judaism, they will never serve all Jews. We look for a variety of ways to bring Jews with spiritual needs into the Jewish community.