ALEPH is distinguished from other seminaries by two main features:
1. It’s a “seminary without walls,” a “low-residency” program in which students from all over the world come together a few times each year, but otherwise attend video-conference courses, retreats, and participate in other “learning modalities” to reach their academic goals, rather than attending a campus-based school. Each ALEPH student designs a yearly learning plan under the direct supervision of their Director of Studies, ultimately accumulating the equivalent of 15 semesters of study, even though there is no strict expectation of how many years that would require. Therefore, each student’s academic experience is unique.
2. Inspired by the guiding hand of its co-founder, renowned spiritual pioneer Reb Zalman (Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l), ALEPH is affiliated with the Renewal Movement, which seeks to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and musical practices. Mysticism, meditation, gender equality, and ecstatic prayer are all components Renewal congregations find sustenance in. Consequently, required courses run the gamut from pastoral counseling and traditional liturgical practice, to studies in the Zohar and approaching texts through a feminist or other “non-traditional” lens.
As always, the SRSC welcomes your thoughts and concerns! Please share at this address: rabbisearch@wjcshul.org. And access earlier reports on the WJC website: https://www.wjcshul.org/rabbinic-search/
You can explore their website here: https://aleph.org/
To be as prepared as possible, the committee has begun to familiarize itself with the different rabbinical schools the applicants may have attended. This is the first in a series called, “Know Your Seminary!” to share with the community what we are learning about these schools.
As always, the Committee welcomes your thoughts and concerns! Please share at this address: rabbisearch@wjcshul.org