About RTI
JTS’s Rabbinic Training Institute is the premier continuing education program for Conservative rabbis in the field, bringing participants together for five days of intellectual, professional, personal, and spiritual growth. RTI is open to all Conservative rabbis.
RTI will be held from Sunday, January 8, to Thursday, January 12, 2023, at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center in Reisterstown, Maryland.
Registration for RTI 2023 closes on November 30.
All RTI attendees are required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and to receive all booster shots for which they are medically eligible. Additional requirements may include PCR testing in advance of RTI, rapid testing during RTI, masking, and/or other measures.
JTS is grateful to the Rabbinical Assembly for co-sponsoring RTI 2023 through a grant to support elements of the program that promote the mental health and sustainable professional lives of our colleagues.
Five Days of Learning
A deeply stimulating and nurturing experience, RTI prepares participants to return to their communities rejuvenated in mind, heart, and spirit, and with new skills to serve as even more thoughtful and capable leaders.
Meeting at an offsite retreat center from Sunday to Thursday, RTI participants engage in text study and professional skill building with a faculty of world-renowned scholars and consultants, while also reflecting with peers on individual and shared experiences. The program offers:
- Torah lishmah
- Professional skills courses
- Facilitated groups for personal and spiritual reflection
- Meaningful davening and divrei Torah
- Yoga, meditation, and private massage (optional)
- Supportive and fun hevreschaft
View a sample schedule for RTI
Expert Faculty
The teachers and consultants who guide participants come from JTS and from diverse institutions around the world. Faculty for RTI 2023 will include:
Text Study
- Dr. Miriam Goldstein, Professor of Arabic, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Gerard Weinstock Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University
- Dr. Michal Raucher, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, and JTS Fellow
- Rabbi David Silber, Founder and Dean, Drisha Institute for Jewish Education
Professional Development
- Rabbi Aaron Brusso, Senior Rabbi of Bet Torah, Mt. Kisco, New York, and Financial Secretary of the Rabbinical Assembly
- Dr. Rob Weinberg, Executive Coach and Strategic Consultant for Rabbis and Senior Leaders
Personal/Spiritual Development
- Mary Jo Barrett, MSW, Executive Director, Center for Contextual Change
- Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, PhD, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS
- Marsha Jacobson, MBA, Adjunct Lecturer in Professional Skills, JTS; Management Consultant to Nonprofits, Leadership Coach, Writer and Writing Coach
- Rabbi Adam Lavitt, Director of Program Design and Facilitation, Jewish Studio Project
- Dr. Linda Stone Fish, MSW, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University
Fees and Registration
The fee for RTI 2023 is $1,000. This covers tuition, all study materials, accommodations, all meals throughout the institute, round-trip transportation via group shuttle from BWI airport and train station to the Pearlstone Center, and a surcharge to offset the costs of Covid safety measures.
The actual cost to JTS is approximately $2,000 per RTI participant. The registration form will allow you to make an additional donation if you are able.
Discounts and Scholarships
- First-time participants receive a 25 percent discount.
- Rabbis within five years of ordination (ordained in 2018 or later) receive a 50 percent discount.
- Generous need-based scholarships for female colleagues are available.
- Limited additional scholarship funds are available for rabbis not in the above categories who cannot afford the full cost of RTI.
We are able to offer these subsidies thanks to the generosity of Marc Gary, executive vice chancellor emeritus of JTS, and Michelle Kravtin Gary (z”l).
What People Are Saying
“RTI is the best professional development I do all year. It nourishes my body, mind, and soul. It provides me with tools to serve my congregation and the Jewish people better. An amazing time of learning, living, and being.”
“As rabbis we teach and preach about the need to create sacred space for our congregants, yet overlook that need for ourselves. RTI fulfills that need, and I return each year from RTI spiritually and emotionally rejuvenated and invigorated.”
“RTI is an invaluable opportunity to personally connect with colleagues as they are, with all of our rabbinic masks taken off. We cut straight to the tachlis, the practicality, and strive to help one another in whatever stage we are at in our careers and in our mindset or emotional state.”
Contact Us
For more information and/or to apply for a scholarship, please contact Rabbi Julia Andelman at rabbinicresources@jtsa.edu.
