Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
11/11/2024
Schechter’s 2024-2025 (5785) school year begins this month.
On Schechter’s campus and via zoom, classes, projects and programs are opening their classroom doors to new and returning students. At last count, almost 90 classes are starting this semester including in the various MA programs, at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary (SRS), throughout the country via Midreshet Schechter and in English language community learning opportunities.
A Schechter education is predicated on, and has always been, delving into Jewish texts and expressions of Judaism. Studying and learning these elements, whether alone or in a hevruta or group, whether in the library, beit midrash, field or museum, is the foundation of Jewish civilization.
A Dvar Torah on the first day of studies in the Beit Midrash of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary
Schechter Institute president Prof. Ari Ackerman notes, “Schechter represents one of most diverse and largest MA academic Jewish studies programs in the country. In addition, this year we are welcoming students to new diploma programs such as Bibliotherapy and Psychodrama, created after the catastrophe of October 7th, thus providing therapeutic tools for a range of professionals in educational and communal settings.”
Schechter’s leaders know that the Academy is not an Ivory Tower and are pivoting to provide techniques for building and maintaining resiliency.
For instance, in response to the shock and ordeals of October 2023, an online class on the Book of Job, explored Job’s suffering and distress in light of the situation in modern Israel. Led by Dr. Marva Marom Shalev, the Golinkin Chair in TALI Jewish Education, the online encounter enabled participants to search for meaning and clarity in their own lives while utilizing the Job story as a paradigm.
Since October 2023, Israelis have been clamoring for assistance and therapy in helping handle the overwhelming trauma that everyone in the country has experienced. Many in the population, both religious and secular, are seeking therapies with a connection to Judaism and its sources. To meet this growing demand, Schechter’s diploma programs are offering methods for increasing resilience for therapy practitioners to bring to their customers. These programs are now an integral part of Schechter’s forward-looking strategy.
Two new programs in Schechter’s course catalogue, BiblioTherapy and PsychoDrama, join Israel’s only recognized accredited Spiritual Counseling diploma curriculum: Marpeh Spiritual Care.
Students pay apt attention in Marpeh Spiritual Care seminar
The Bibliotherapy Certificate program provides educators with the pedagogic tools to offer their students interactive, engaging learning of the Jewish texts. In large part, this program was created to furnish a Jewish education response to the trauma and mental health crises precipitated by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. Bibliotherapy brings Jewish sources to life thereby giving students a creative opportunity to connect with Jewish stories, themes and messages in a personal, dynamic way.
Psychodrama at Schechter, known as “Creating Hope,” is a group psychotherapy centered on human drama in action. It assists a person create his/her own authentic voice to reveal inner strengths. The dramatic healing process is played in the ‘Psychodramatic stage’s safe space,’ enabling a person to move from fragmentation to recuperation and growth.
At the center of the therapeutic process, with the group’s help, the person plays significant characters from their life based on real events. This process is based on psychodynamic methods and on the Jewish perspective of creating hope, based on the idea of Unity: body and Nefesh/Neshama
This program is operated in collaboration with the Jerusalem Institute for Psychodrama.
Taken together, Schechter’s is placing itself at the center of Israel’s healing efforts.
Dr. Noa Yuval Hacham, Dean of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies writes in her open letter to students for the beginning of the year, “This school year is opening with the country in a state of emergency. We have prepared for all the necessary situations. This year we will continue to provide support and backing to all our students serving in the reserves, their spouses, and families, to the best of our abilities. All of us at Schechter are prepared to assist in every possible manner to ensure that our students succeed in their studies in an optimal manner during these times.”
