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 extending to New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

To qualify, educators must have at least two full years of experience leading a congregational school. Candidates must also demonstrate support from the congregation’s Rabbi, Board President, and Education Chair to establish the terms of the financial and time commitments. 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 Action Research Project and the Individualized Learning Plan.

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

• 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:

Evie Levy Rotstein has 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 a B.A. from Binghamton University, an M.A. in Foreign Language education and an Ed.D. 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.

Program Associate, Beth Lutzker, 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.

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