Academy for Jewish Religion-California

Mission Statement

The Academy for Jewish Religion, CA is a transdenominational institution dedicated to the training of rabbis, cantors, and chaplains. Its mission is to develop religious leaders steeped in Torah wisdom and tradition and capable of transforming Jewish communities into places where all Jews can grow toward spiritual wholeness and well-being.

The Academy sees itself as especially attractive to individuals who, after years of diverse professional and work endeavors, experience a kindling of their spiritual calling to serve the Jewish community and God. The Academy will provide these students with an educational experience that is sound in scholarship, intellectually challenging, and capable of fostering the psycho-spiritual skills needed for the successful embodiment of the moral and ethical foundations supporting our faith.

To this end, the Academy has recruited clergy and Jewish scholars with impeccable professional reputations, remarkable intellectual breath, and outstanding qualifications to serve as teachers for students pursuing excellence in Torah studies, foundational texts, Jewish Law, rituals and traditions, as well as guides and mentors in spiritual growth and fulfillment.

It is the Academy's intent to graduate rabbis, cantors and chaplains who will serve as agents of transformation wherever they work, promoting genuine concern for the joys and pains of all Jews, dedication to moral living, and commitment to viewing Torah as foundational for human wisdom and spiritual practice.

In its few years of existence, the Academy has grown a community of faculty and board members, alumni, administrators, and students committed to bringing understanding, guidance, and Jewish wisdom to all Jews, as well as to the human community at large.