In addition to training new rabbis, Hebrew College's Rabbinical School will soon expand its reach to experienced rabbis—and invite them to become students again.

In June, the Lasko Foundation of West Chester, Penn., awarded the Rabbinical School a $135,000 planning grant to create an institute for continuing education for rabbis. Entitled HATMED—Hebrew for "study always, keep learning"—the transdenominational Institute for Continuing Rabbinic Education of Hebrew College will be the first program of its kind in the U.S.

Dr. Arthur Green, Rector of Hebrew College's Rabbinical School, will oversee the program, which he views as a natural progression in the rabbinate's tradition of lifelong learning. As demands on rabbis have grown with congregants' needs, many rabbis have found that filling multiple roles—pastor, preacher, counselor, manager and community representative in addition to educator and legal authority—leaves little room for study.

"Rabbis have lost the time to continue their own commitment to learning," says Green. "Other professions, such as medicine and law, have made much more progress in this area—the rabbinate must now recover its place as the original career of lifelong learning."

Starting in 2006, the Institute will meet each summer and midwinter; throughout the year, participants will continue their studies via regular online classes. Welcoming rabbis of all backgrounds from North America and beyond to study at the College, this transdenominational course of study will encompass a broad spectrum of classical texts in addition to Talmud, including the Bible, midrash, Hebrew literature and mystical tradition as well as Jewish arts and history.

Dr. Natan Margalit, director of HATMED and adjunct assistant professor in rabbinics, emphasizes that the program will enhance rabbis' textual skills with interdisciplinary study, enabling them to derive a deeper sense of meaning and communicate classic ideas to their congregants with fresh insight.

Margalit, who has taught in both rabbinic and academic settings, received his PhD in Talmud from UC Berkeley and taught at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College before coming to Hebrew College this year. "HATMED will be a way to push academics to make their theories really relevant," he says, "and a means to push rabbis to stretch their thinking and reach congregants in new and different ways."

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