Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies


Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, located in Jerusalem, is an academic institution affiliated with Conservative Judaism.

History

Founded in 1984 by the Jewish Theological Seminary and Israel's Masorti Movement as a rabbinical seminary known as "The Seminary of Judaic Studies," the Schechter Institute has been located since 1990 in Neve Granot, a neighborhood behind the Israel Museum.
The campus in Jerusalem, in addition to its graduate school, is home to the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, TALI Education Fund and Midreshet Yerushalayim. The Schechter Institute also operates the Legacy Heritage Center for Jewish Culture in the historic former Cafe Lorenz building in Tel Aviv's Neve Tzedek neighborhood.
More than 600 graduate students specialize in fourteen Jewish study tracks including art, women's studies, family and community studies, teaching, informal education, and classical Jewish disciplines such as Bible, Talmud, Midrash, and Jewish Thought. Its newest program - Marpeh - unique to Israel - combines Health-care Chaplaincy with a degree in Family and Community Studies.
The Schechter Institute has 56 full- and part-time faculty members and over 1,200 M.A. graduates. Many work in the Israeli school system as principals and teachers, in the Ministry of Education in management positions, including curriculum planning, or in the nationwide Community Center Association. Schechter research centers include the Center for Women and Jewish Law, the Center for Judaism and the Arts, and the Center for Applied Jewish Law.

Notable faculty