“JTS’s Certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling provides an empowering range of Jewish learning and practice. I learned to turn and to sharpen the Jewish lens of spiritual healing and support, and use my studies every day as a hospital chaplain.”
—Linda Golding
Certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling at JTS
The Certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling offers an integrated curriculum, open to people of all faiths, that includes Jewishly grounded academic learning, professional skills development, and religious and personal identity formation. Our curriculum addresses caring for people from diverse backgrounds with awareness of gender and sexuality issues woven throughout the curriculum.
If you are interested in preparing for the world of professional chaplaincy, completing the certificate will put you in an excellent position to become a leader in the field. If you plan to become a rabbi, a cantor, or a religious professional in a synagogue, agency, or school, you will gain the in-depth pastoral training to serve the needs of your congregants, clients, and students with expertise in the rich pastoral resources of Judaism.
Admission Requirements
- Completion of or current enrollment in an MA program in Jewish studies or comparable field, or demonstration of the ability to complete master’s-level work.
- Application form and essays
- Two letters of recommendation
- Academic transcripts.
Send all application material to infocpe@jtsa.edu.
Certificate Requirements
- 9 credits in pastoral care and counseling.
- 2 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).
- Students may complete one unit of CPE at JTS; the second will generally be completed at a different ACPE-accredited center in the United States or Canada.
- A unit of CPE may be completed either in our full-time summer program or part-time during the academic year. Please visit ACPE for a directory of accredited sites.
- Submission of a thesis or capstone project in pastoral care and counseling in consultation with the advisor.
Note: Certification as a chaplain by either Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains or the Association of Professional Chaplains requires an MA and completion of four units of CPE. Some students may choose to complete a full-time CPE residency after graduation.
Tuition
The total cost of $15,670 (subject to change annually) includes fees for the two units of CPE needed to complete the program. For students who are enrolled full-time at JTS, the only additional cost for the certificate is the two units of CPE, which are approximately $800 each.
Note: Students in the certificate program who are not concurrently enrolled in a degree program at JTS are not eligible for financial aid.
Contact Us
For more information, or to submit application materials, please email infocpe@jtsa.edu.
Note: This certificate does not lead to any area of professional licensure.
