ADMISSIONS AND FEES
JSLI welcomes you and views your life experience as a unique opportunity to enrich all of us. Our students come to us with varying skill sets and life experiences, although all applicants MUST be able to read Siddur Hebrew and additional requirements as set forth below.
Our curriculum is advanced, concise, and based on the needs of our students and Jewish communities. In other words, we offer a focused and practical response to training rabbis for the modern Rabbinate and each weekly module of study at JSLI correlates to a semester of study at a mainstream seminary.
To ensure that all of our students meet our entrance requirements (and these include knowledge of Jewish history, Jewish texts, Shabbat, Jewish Festivals, the High Holidays, rituals, and life cycles), upon review of your application, we will contact you to schedule an interview (see below for more on this). During the interview, we will be able to tell you if you need to complete extra Jewish learning before becoming a Rabbinical or Cantorial School student at JSLI.
As ongoing spiritual work is an integral part of the program of study, completion of JSLI’s curriculum must be understood to be a beginning, not an end, of lifetime study.
Requirements for admittance:
- You must be committed to a life of personal spiritual development and service to humanity
- You Must be Supportive of Interfaith Marriages
Jews who have married non-Jews make up a large proportion of the Jewish population, yet they are largely ignored by Jewish organizations. JSLI is different: we teach our students to minister to and focus on the needs of the Jewish interfaith (as well as the needs of the Jewish unaffiliated). Therefore it is a core requirement that you are supportive of interfaith marriages.
- You must prepare for and attend weekly classes
Your time commitment to JSLI as a Rabbinical School Student is dependent upon you. Completing the coursework in preparation for attending class might take a student anywhere between four to eight hours per week.
We meet weekly as a study group (havurah) via video conference (contact us to find out which day). Each class is approximately 2 ½ hours long.
During online classes, the Rabbi who is teaching the course will make a presentation on the topic, engage in an interactive discussion, and help to expand our vision of modern Judaism and the history, scholarship, and rituals that created and sustained it.
The topics we focus on are taken from our curriculum.
If you must miss a class, you are required to view a recording of the session and submit a synopsis.
- For each class, you must write a D’var Torah on the portion of the week
Students are required to study weekly Torah portions and present Divrey Torah at each class session as either scholarly interpretations (Drashot) or as sermons.
- Your Commitment to Learning Outside of JSLI
We expect you to attend weekly services at Jewish houses of worship, as well as occasional services at non-Jewish houses of worship (as a greater understanding of the modern world’s faiths is intrinsic to your development as a modern spiritual leader). Sim Shalom, our affiliated online synagogue, offers daily online services.
When to Enroll
The Rabbinical School program consists of two semesters – one beginning in September and the other beginning in January.
How to Enroll
Visit the Apply Online page.
The Enrollment Process
After you have applied online we will arrange an interview with our Founder and Dean, Rabbi Steven Blane.
There are additional enrollment requirements (including agreeing to abide by (JSLI’s Code of Ethics) and paperwork.
Fees to Enroll
Our tuition is only a fraction of the amount you would spend at a traditional seminary. For those accepted to JSLI, there are TWO Semesters of study and our tuition is all-inclusive and as follows:
JSLI- Two Semesters- Begin Study January 2024 – Ordination December 2024
Non Refundable Registration fee: $300
Full and complete tuition for two semesters: $18,750. This is the full tuition and includes two semesters leading to S’micha in December 2024. Payment plans are available. There are additional fees for required texts.
The Ordination Weekend in Dec. 2024 will be Online.
Or
JSLI – Two Semesters- Begin Study September 2024- Ordination June 2025
Non Refundable Registration fee: $300
Full and complete tuition for two semesters: $19,250. This is the full tuition and includes two semesters leading to S’micha in June 2025. Payment plans are available. There are additional fees for required texts.
The Ordination Weekend in June 2025 will be Online.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
Payment Plans are available. Call to discuss.