About RTI
The Rabbinic Training Institute is the premier continuing education program for Conservative and Masorti rabbis in the field, bringing participants together for five days of intellectual, professional, personal, and spiritual growth. RTI is offered by JTS in cooperation with the RA and is open to all Conservative rabbis.
RTI 2027 will take place from January 10-14, 2027 at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Reisterstown, MD.
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, art workshops, and private massage (optional)
- Supportive and fun hevreschaft
View a sample schedule for RTI
Expert Faculty
The expert teachers and consultants who guide participants come from JTS and leading organizations devoted to personal development and organizational change. Below is a listing of faculty for RTI 2027. We will continue to update this section with additional confirmed faculty.
Text Study
Rabbi Pamela Barmash, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Hebrew, Washington University and Co-Chair, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, The Rabbinical Assembly
Dr. Sandra Fox, Robert S. Rifkind Chair in American Jewish History, JTS
Rabbi Gordon Tucker, Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement, JTS
Professional Development
Rabbi Pamela Barmash, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Biblical Hebrew, Washington University and Co-Chair, Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, The Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbi Elan Babchuck, Executive Vice President at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
Personal/Spiritual Development
Mary Jo Barrett, MSW, Executive Director, Center for Contextual Change
Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell, Senior Core Faculty, Institute for Jewish Spirituality
Dr. Linda Stone Fish, MSW, Professor Emerita of Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University
Rabbi Jack Moline, Rabbi Emeritus, Agudas Achim Congregation
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
RTI is directed by:
Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, Pearl Resnick Dean of The Rabbinical School and Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership, JTS
Cantor Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg, Director, H. L. Miller Cantorial School, JTS
Tani Schwartz-Herman, Program Director, Division of Lifelong Learning and Professional Studies, JTS
In consultation with Rabbi Ilana Garber, Senior Director of Rabbinic Leadership, RA
For more information and/or to apply for a scholarship, please contact us at rti@jtsa.edu.
