Community Blog Growing Community: New Rabbinical Students Take Part in Shannie Lightman Goldstein Annual Shabbaton

As we emerge from the holiday season, our new rabbinical students are hitting their stride as Hebrew College shifts into its regular rhythms. Joining us on campus from all across the United States (and England), these 16 future rabbis have worked as farmers and environmental organizers, Jewish educators and communal workers, financial planners and small business owners, artists, performers, and musicians. We are excited for their life and work experiences to infuse our community before they emerge into the wider Jewish world to write their own rabbinic job descriptions.

In a time of change, unrest, and deep uncertainty, we are proud of these students for stepping up to build community, offer support, enrich learning, and help steward the Jewish People. At Hebrew College, no one makes the journey to ordination alone. Whether studying in chavruta in the Beit Midrash, marking milestones, gathering to prepare and share meals at the Shul Lunch Co-op, or praying side-by-side, this community lives and learns together.

The incoming cohort was fully integrated into the community with last weekend’s Shannie Lightman Goldstein Annual Shabbaton (pictured above). The entire Rabbinical School community–students, faculty, staff and loved ones–gathered at Camp Ramah New England in Palmer, Massachusetts for this moment of transition into the regular learning of the academic year. The weekend represents something of a l’dor v’dor ritual for the school, as our new students are welcomed into the community while the graduating Shanah Heh class plans and leads this gathering.

“This is the one time each year that we all gather from across the Boston area to spend Shabbat together. It is so sweet to pray, sing, and dance as a whole community, closer to nature,” commented Shanah Heh student Max Davis.

As the semester unfolds, and the energy and spirit from the Shabbaton carries over into the Beit Midrash and daily life on campus, our new students are ready to add their voices to the chorus of the rabbinical school. This song will shape the future of Hebrew College, the Jewish community of Greater Boston, and Jewish communities around the world–one conversation, one lesson, one shabbaton at a time.

Meet students and faculty at one of our fall open houses, Ta Sh’ma (Come & Hear) November 18 (in-person) or online (Dec. 8). Learn more and register.

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