The Leadership Institute is guided by the vision of the New York School of Education at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and is fully funded by the UJA-Federation of New York. This historic opportunity will enable HUC-JIR and JTS to join together to further the leadership capacity, pedagogic skills and Judaic knowledge of congregational school educators. This program is open to candidates from all denominations in the New York, Long Island, Westchester and the greater metropolitan area.

To qualify, educators must have at least two full years of experience leading a congregational school or other similar Jewish programming. While there is no fee for the Institute, congregations must be willing to contribute to the cost of local transportation and half the principal’s round trip airfare from NY-Tel Aviv. Small grants will be available for both the Professional Learning Project and the Individualized Learning Plan.

There is a participation tuition for educators outside of the catchment area (New York City, Westchester and Long Island).

Clergy, lay leadership and faculty are a very important component of the Leadership Institute. Each educator will create a leadership team including a clergy member, lay representative, and a faculty member, to participate in a five session module during the first year. With the educator, they will explore issues around vision, goal setting, and change strategies to develop a new learning pilot. The leadership team will be invited to two Leadership Institute days of learning with leading scholars from both institutions in the fall of 2011 and 2012. This aspect of the Leadership Institute has been designed in partnership with the Experiment in Congregational Education (ECE) and The Jewish Education Project of New York.

Read what others have said about the Leadership Institute:
(Off-site links will open in a new window)

• JTS Summer Programs Attract Students and Professionals from Around the Country
  Summer 2012
• HUC News Photo of the Week
  June 21, 2012
• JTS Davidson School Newsletter
  Spring 2012
• HUC-JIR: Changing the Mindscape and Landscape of Jewish Peoplehood: New Paradigms for Educational Leaders
  February 2012
• HUC Chronicle Article [PDF download, p.21]
  Fall 2011
• The Jewish Week of New York, What's New in Jewish Education
  August 17, 2010
• Leadership Institute Seeking Applicants for Third Cohort of Program, HUC
  May 2010
• Israel as Text, Tutor, and Classroom
  Spring 2009
• HUC-JIR Leadership Institute Heads to Israel
  February, 2009
• Leadership Institute Provides Congregational School Educators With Tools to Inspire Students
  December 9, 2008
• HUC-JIR: Leadership Institute Opens New Cohort; Holds Alumni Network Symposium
  February, 2008
• The Jewish Week of New York: Follow the Leader
  August 21, 2007
• The Forward Newspaper, Reform, Conservative Movements Collaborate on Principal Training
  January 14th, 2005
• New Jersey Jewish News, Reform, Conservative seminaries partner to train synagogue school principals
  December 23, 2004
• The Jewish Week of New York, Teaming Up For Education
  November 12th, 2004
• The Jewish Week of New York, Principal Focus
  July 15, 2005
• New Jersey Jewish News, Extreme makeover - the Hebrew school edition
  July 21, 2005

For more information please contact:

About the leadership of the Leadership Institute:

Sheila Adler has been a mentor in the Leadership Institute for the past 8 years and is the former Educational Director of Bet Torah Religious School and Community Hebrew High School where she served for 36 years. She is also a consultant with the Center for Training and Development where she develops and delivers seminars on communication and management skills for major corporations and educational Institutions. Sheila received her M.A. in Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary where she was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate. She is past president of the Westchester Association of Hebrew Schools Principal's Council and past president of the Jewish Educators Assembly. Sheila has directed and participated in several leadership initiatives for training principals in Jewish Education under the auspices of Brandeis University, JESNA, JTS and HUC. She created the Educational Leadership Institute for High School Teens and served as its Coordinator in Westchester. She has also been an active member of the United Synagogue National Commission on Jewish Education.

Program Associate, Beth Lutzker Levick, earned her B.A. in Early Childhood Education and Judaic Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She worked for five and half years at The Jewish Theological Seminary in the Public Events Department, planning lectures, conferences, commencements, academic convocations, and more. Beth is an active member of Town & Village Synagogue, and is involved in Jewish communal life.

Dr. Barry W. Holtz is Dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he is also the Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education. In addition, he is Associate Editor of the Journal of Jewish Education and Editorial Chair of the Jewish Education Book Series at JTS Press.

As author and editor, Professor Holtz’s books include, among others: Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts (Simon and Schuster), Finding Our Way: Jewish Texts and the Lives We Lead Today  (Jewish Publication Society) and Textual Knowledge: Teaching the Bible in Theory and in Practice, (Jewish Theological Seminary Press) which won the National Jewish Book Award for education in 2004.

As of July 2012, Evie Levy Rotstein has moved to her new position as the director of the New York School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, having previously been the director of the Leadership Institute for Congregational Educators since the beginning of the project in 2004. Prior to this position she was a congregational school educator and developed programs for faculty learning, teen mentoring and parent education. Evie began her career in Jewish education as a camp director for Young Judaea. She holds an M.A. in Foreign Language education and a Doctorate in Jewish education from The Jewish Theological Seminary. Evie’s research interests include interfaith families, adolescent identity development, professional learning and mentoring. She teaches courses in the New York School of Education at Hebrew Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion and consults to congregations on various projects. Evie has published chapters in What We Now know about Jewish Education (2006), a chapter The Gender Gap, and in the International Handbook of Jewish Education.

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