The goal of the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School curriculum is to create rabbis who are talmidei chakhamim, poskim and spiritual leaders. YCT trained rabbis are able to openly engage the challenges that the modern world presents to a life of faith and religious commitment.

Torah

Talmud and Halakha form the core of the curriculum, and are supplemented with classes in Tanakh and Jewish Thought.  YCT applies an interdisciplinary approach to Torah learning, complementing classical approaches with relevant academic methodologies.

Talmud:

Talmud is studied intensively throughout all four years of the semikha program.  The Talmud curriculum produces Torah scholars who are fluent in Talmud and Rishonim, the medieval commentaries.  The core classes focus on lomdus (conceptual analysis) and integrate historical and source-critical methodologies. Students emerge with the strong analytical skills, love of learning, reverence for Chazal and the deep knowledge necessary for a lifetime of Torah-committed leadership.

Halakha:

The Halakha curriculum creates knowledgeable, skilled and sensitive halakhic decisors who use mature judgment in rendering halakhic rulings.  Students study the laws of Shabbat, Yoreh Deah, Niddah, Kiddushin, Geirut and Aveilut. Students also delve into the laws of Orah Hayim - prayer, synagogue, and holidays - and the laws relating to lifecycle events.  Seasoned poskim guide students in the analysis of Talmudic sources through its commentaries, Shulchan Arukh, and classical and modern responsa.

Students benefit from practical training with a veteran posek in responding to real-world halakhic questions.  They learn how to dissect a case into its relevant legal components, identify the necessary follow-up questions, research new fields and – most importantly – use sound judgment in the art of weighing and applying various rulings.

Special weeklong seminars are devoted to End of Life Medical Ethics, Beginning of Life Medical Ethics, and Physical and Behavioral Disabilities.

Tanakh:

The study of Tanakh is an integral component of Talmud Torah and critical to nurturing the spiritual and moral character of future Jewish leaders.  Tanakh study exposes students to the classical mefarshim and their distinctive approaches, as well as to the moral messages of the texts.  Students emerge with the skills to study and teach Tanakh and with an appreciation of its messages, meanings, and spiritual-religious ethos.

Jewish Thought:

The Jewish Thought curriculum fosters the development of rabbis with intellectual integrity whose world view is grounded by traditional Jewish texts.  Jewish Thought classes cover a wide range of topics including fundamentals of Jewish Thought, the development of Jewish denominations, death and suffering and the challenges of theodicy, and the challenges of Modern Orthodoxy.

Pastoral Counseling

YCT’s groundbreaking Pastoral Counseling program recognizes that rabbinic education must include an understanding of psychology and a mastery of pastoral skills so that rabbis can respond sensitively and competently to the issues brought to them.  They need tools to assess, counsel and refer. Pastoral counseling classes are required throughout all four years of yeshiva. 

The program rests on a three-part foundation: 1) didactic instruction in the classroom, 2) practical experience in hospitals, rabbinic internships and fieldwork and 3) individual awareness through special group work and supervision.

Didactic:

Courses include basic pastoral interviewing, marital and family guidance, and areas of distress such as anxiety, depression and addiction.  The curriculum covers lifecycle events, blending practical halakha with counseling techniques. 

Students explore the impact of having a disabled child, the spiritual life of young children, adolescence, dating, courtship and the creation of mature intimate relationships. Issues of infertility, adoption, infidelity, and domestic violence are also examined. Students leave YCT better able to address the increasingly complex questions in our society and with a basic comfort in the halakhic parameters of common psychological issues.

Field Work:

Second year students participate in the Harry H. Beren YCT Chaplaincy Training Program, in which they work with experienced clergy in hospitals and other medical settings while studying a parallel curriculum on the laws of bikur cholim and medical ethics. Students process and discuss the powerful experiences evoked by sitting at the bedsides of ill and dying patients.  Pastoral fieldwork rotations for third and fourth year students include working with the senior population in nursing homes, supporting patients in psychiatric facilities, and working with families through the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. All students are supervised by a staff member at the agencies in which they are placed.  In addition, they meet regularly with the Pastoral Fieldwork Supervisor at YCT.

Process Groups:

In addition to class and experience based learning, YCT incorporates a unique forum for personal development – the process group. Every week, throughout the entire program, a mental health professional meets with each class of students and facilitates open and confidential discussions of topics that arise spontaneously. Students learn and build on critical skills such as reflective listening, mediating moments of crisis within the group, and coping with irresolvable conflicts.

Professional Development

The Professional Development program provides students with the professional skills to be effective, dynamic and visionary leaders. Students are specifically trained in leadership and practical rabbinics.

Leadership:

All students participate in leadership seminars, which focus on applying the lessons of business leadership to the specific challenges of the rabbinate.  They learn techniques for working effectively with synagogue boards, the press, and other Jewish institutions. Seminars are taught by prominent rabbis, and lay leaders with backgrounds in social and political activism. 

Professional Training:

Before their third year, students have the choice to pursue either the Pulpit Track or Educators Track.  Students who have interest in both tracks, or in a campus-based rabbinate, will take a hybrid curriculum. Below are the components of these tracks:

Israel Henry Beren Senior Seminar in Practical Rabbinics

This seminar focuses on rabbinic issues confronted by rabbis in the field. The seminar will provide senior YCT students with an opportunity to grapple with these issues within the construct of their rabbinic training.

Homiletics 

Students learn to give a thoughtful, well-organized and clear message through delivering drashot and other oral presentations.  Students work with an acting coach to develop their speaking styles.  In group work, they provide and receive constructive feedback about their oral presentations. At various junctures throughout the semester, leading orators, rabbinic and non-rabbinic, share their insights on communicating the message to congregants.

Pedagogy

All students receive pedagogical training in informal and adult education.  Educators Track coursework covers basic pedagogy, Jewish and general educational philosophy, curriculum design, student assessment, and classroom management techniques.  Special attention is paid to curriculum–specific pedagogy, linking the learning of Gemara, Tanakh and Machshava in the morning seder with the related pedagogy courses in the afternoon.

Harry H. Beren Seminar in the Rabbi and Lifecycles                                                                                                                                                        Students develop the professional skills necessary to officiate at lifecycle events such as weddings, funerals, bar and bat mitzvahs, and conversions. YCT trains rabbis to bring the moments alive and imbue them with spirituality, so that participants connect meaningfully to these milestones in their lives.  Students are taught to integrate the various roles of a rabbi: halakhic decisor, pastoral counselor and spiritual leader.

Internships                                                                                                                                           

Third and fourth year students shadow their mentors in year-long internships. In pulpit internships, students are exposed to the varied responsibilities and demands of the rabbinate. Practical internship experiences include delivering sermons, teaching, conducting prayer services, shadowing lifecycle events and making pastoral counseling visits.  Students also gain experience dealing with the varied administrative responsibilities that come with being a rabbi. Students share and reflect upon their internship experiences in the Israel Henry Beren Senior Seminar in Practical Rabbinics.

Students pursuing the Educators Track are placed in mentored teaching internships on campuses and/or in Jewish Day Schools.  In school internships, students shadow their mentor, develop curriculum, and teach lessons that they have prepared.  Campus internships involve building relationships with students across the denominations, giving classes, facilitating minyanim, and working with student groups. 

Students come together for weekly practicum seminars, during which they reflect upon their ongoing teaching, share internship experiences and receive instruction from a master teacher.

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