Center for Pastoral Education Receives Generous Grant from the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Nina Jacobson
Office: (212) 678-8950
Email: nijacobson@jtsa.edu

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June 16, 2010, New York, NY

The Center for Pastoral Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) has received a $180,000 grant from the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women (JFEW). The grant will provide tuition stipends of $20,000 per year to three women who are rabbinical or cantorial students concentrating in pastoral care and planning to undertake an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) residency in New York City after ordination or investiture. The grant will provide these stipends over the course of a three-year period.

The Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women (JFEW) is devoted to the professional education of women. Rabbi Mychal B. Springer, director of the Center for Pastoral Education, says, “The Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women recognizes that chaplaincy is an under-developed branch of the rabbinate and cantorate and that many more women could become certified in this field with proper support. Their commitment to the students at JTS will be part of ensuring that people who are suffering will get the expert care they need and that the next generation of women rabbis will be able to become leaders in the field of pastoral care.”

The Center for Pastoral Education was established in 2009 with the goal of teaching seminary students—Jewish and non-Jewish—and rabbis and ordained clergy of all faiths the art of pastoral care. Accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education as a satellite of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Center for Pastoral Education at JTS turns day treatment programs for the mentally ill, drug and alcohol rehabs, nursing homes, hospitals, and the housing of the homebound elderly into actual classrooms.

This is the second grant from the JFEW to JTS. Earlier this year, JFEW awarded JTS a one-year, $42,000 grant for stipends for women engaged in 2010 summer CPE programs.

JFEW is a private, nonsectarian organization that provides scholarships to women with financial need who live in the New York City area. JFEW has been supporting women in attaining their educational goals and becoming economically independent for almost 130 years. JFEW helps women of all backgrounds and all ages.

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