Many on this platform have been discussing the findings of Atra’s new study, “From Calling to Career: Mapping the Current State and Future of Rabbinic Leadership,” on the rabbinical pipeline. The primary anxiety that this entire study addresses is the “Declining Rabbinic Pipeline” – the declining enrollment and rabbinical ordinations at non-Orthodox seminaries in the US. Will there be enough rabbis to meet the vast communal need in American Jewish life in the years to come? Follow up pieces have bemoaned the lack of cantorial roles in these discussions of clergy leadership. Others have described rabbinical school education as being unresponsive to today’s world and inadequate in training clergy to face our current climate.

While I understand these concerns, and feel the pain expressed in some of these responses, I need to share that at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), none of these concerns really ring true. We are growing in unprecedented ways, accepting over fifty new students in the last two years, bringing our current student body to over 100 students. AJR’s flexibility allows students to study at their own pace and from any geographical location. AJR spearheaded the training of cantors as equal partners in spiritual leadership and has been ordaining (rather than investing) cantors since the creation of our cantorial program. AJR’s curriculum and coursework absolutely respond to today’s climate and needs, whether as regular classes, or as responsive additions to address our changing contemporary reality.

First of all, let us acknowledge that while for many, AJR is the community where they find a spiritual home, and a community of serious learners and leaders, there are too many who are not........

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