Professional and Pastoral Skills

Senior Lecturers
Miles B. Cohen
Daniel Nevins, Chair

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Laura Gold

Adjunct Lecturers
Ayelet Cohen
Edward Feld
Lisa Gelber
David Hoffman
Jeremy Kalmanofsky
Barry Dov Katz
Charles Savenor
Craig Scheff
Laurence Sebert
Jeffery Silberman
Gerald Skolnik
Mychal B. Springer
Jan Uhrbach
Simkha Y. Weintraub
Gerald Zelizer

Beit Midrash Faculty
Joshua Cahan

The Department of Professional and Pastoral Skills prepares students to meet their future rabbinic and cantorial responsibilities. Through courses, seminars, internships, rotations, and workshops, students acquire skills in leadership, pastoral counseling, communication, and administration.

Courses are designed to provide the skills and confidence students need to meet the challenges of the contemporary Jewish community. Each student is guided in the deepening of personal religious commitment, and is trained to articulate a vision of Jewish life that will inspire the next generation of Conservative Jews to embrace the traditional values and practices that give definition to the Jewish experience.

Classes not specifically designed for cantorial and rabbinical candidates are open to all JTS students.

The Beit Midrash program is supported by an endowment of the Leffel Family Foundation. Two instructors are designated the Rabbi Bernard Leffel Scholars. A third instructor is designated the Steven Glantz Scholar.

Courses required for Rabbinical School students (entering 2006 onward):

  • PRO 6001-6002: Mekhinah Seminar I and II
  • PRO 6101-6102: Year One Rabbinical Seminar I and II
  • PRO 7101-7102: Integrating Seminar I and II (Year 1)
  • PRO 6401: Rotations
  • PRO 7206: Homiletics
  • PRO 7401-7402: Professional Internship I and II: The Resnick Internship Program
  • PRO 7407-7408: Religious Leadership Colloquium (fourth-year seminar)
  • PRO 7409-7410: Senior Seminar
  • PRO 7510: Prayer and Prayer Life (week-long intensive—January)
  • PRO 7000: Conservative Movement (week-long intensive—January)
  • PRO 7000: Morris Gordon Seminar in Pastoral Care and Counseling (week-long intensive—January)
  • PRO 7550: Social Justice and Developing a Voice in the Public Arena (week-long intensive—January)
  • PAS 7431: Basics of Pastoral Care and Counseling
Search the Course Catalog for PRO and PAS Courses