For over a decade, enrollments at some of the country’s most prominent non-Orthodox rabbinical schools have dropped, ramping up synagogue goers’ anxieties about leaderless congregations.
But some rabbinical schools are seeing a comeback, welcoming their largest classes of future rabbis in 15 years this upcoming fall, The Forward first reported. Rabbinical school leaders say new recruitment strategies are helping to boost their graduate programs. Some also believe rising antisemitism and political polarization have spurred new reflection on Jewish identity, driving interest in the rabbinate in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza.
Jewish Theological Seminary, a hub of the Conservative movement in New York City, is welcoming a new cohort of 25 future rabbis this fall, the institution’s largest class since 2011. Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion—a bastion of the Reform movement, with campuses in New York, Los Angeles, Jerusalem and a virtual pathway—saw similar gains. Their incoming cohorts almost doubled over the last few years, from 23 new students in 2023 to 42 starting this year.
NSF Won’t Fund Research Involving Chinese Scientists
