Rabbinical School Fellowships

JTS prepares its students to be skilled practitioners who bring the wisdom and compassion of Jewish tradition to enrich the lives of the Jewish people and others. In addition to the professional training received by all students in our academic and field programs, JTS students may also apply for special fellowships designed to train them for entrepreneurial rabbinic leadership:

• The Gladstein Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Rabbinic Leadership was made possible by the vision and generosity of Ned and Jane Gladstein to prepare students to become transformative Jewish communal leaders. Gladstein fellows develop the skills of social entrepreneurs, through intensive mentoring and experience in practical rabbinics, inspired religious leadership, and community development. Selected in their first year, the fellows spend three years in the program before being placed into a teaching community, where they intern with a gifted congregational rabbi, and in a learning community, which the student serves as rabbi during monthly visits. Gladstein Fellows receive generous financial support through their years at JTS, and commit to begin their rabbinic careers in an emerging community.

• The Myers Fellowship in Rabbinic Leadership was made possible due to the generosity of the Inez and David Myers Foundation, and was designed to help our students gain the skills and experience to be entrepreneurial leaders. All rabbinical students take the courses Non-Profit Management and Rabbinic Leadership, which expose them to the academic study of leadership as well as to remarkable practitioners from the field. Rabbinical students are then invited to submit grant proposals for their own projects. Successful applicants are provided with specialized training in grant writing, budgeting, implementation, and assessment. They are provided with individual mentors and seed money of up to $15,000 to launch their project. Several of these grants have grown into larger programs and even full-fledged organizations.

Other Fellowship Opportunities

With support from JTS, a number of our students receive prestigious fellowships from outside organizations, including: the Wexner Foundation, American Jewish World Service, JOIN for Justice, T’ruah, AIPAC’s Leffell Fellowship, the New Israel Fund, the Hartman Institute, and many other organizations. These programs provide valuable opportunities for additional training and, in some cases, generous financial support.