End-of-Year Report from Rabbi Dov Linzer and Ruthie Simon

This has been one of the most remarkable years in the history of YCT.

When so many organizations faced devastating effects of the pandemic, you, our cherished partners, increased your support, propelled us to new heights, and we thrived.

Your investment enabled us to continue to produce stellar rabbis who are supporting individuals and transforming Jewish communities.

Your support allowed us to grow our student body, to increase our Torah offerings and communal programming and to expand our Torah-based leadership training to reach beyond our rabbinical students.

As our partners, you have a portion in our growth and success. Read on to learn more.

A Year in Review

This year we focused on two areas: Torah and Torah-based leadership training. It was a year of tremendous buzz and excitement, increased impact, and powerful momentum for the coming year.

This new vision and our slate of new programs attracted a record number of students and brought in four million dollars of support and investment in the future.

Here are just a few of our achievements of this last year:

New Leadership Programs

We expanded our unique visionary leadership training and distinctive Torah to reach greater audiences:

• Rabbinic Leadership Training for Israeli Rabbis – a leadership program for mid-career Israeli rabbis bringing them the best of YCT’s training and Torah.
• Kollel for Contemporary Halakhic Studies – a program for scholarly rabbis, to cultivate them as future halakhic authorities who embody the ethos of our community.

New Torah Initiatives

Public Programming. We partnered with more than 40 of our communities worldwide to launch nearly two-dozen virtual programs, reaching 2,000 participants. Topics included:

• Covid-19 halakhic and pastoral challenges
• Climate crisis and the Jewish response
• Disabilities and inclusion in Jewish law
• Changemakers in the Jewish community

ASL and closed captioning for all programs to ensure that our learning is accessible to the entire Jewish community.

Rabbi Linzer’s Torah. We launched three initiatives featuring:

• 3-minute Torah videos, one on parsha and one on halakhic questions and answers – because our busy lives can sometimes make it hard to carve out time for Torah learning.
• WhatsApp groups, so people can get these videos delivered directly to them. Click to join our over 450 subscribers for the parsha and halakha videos.
• Rosh Yeshiva Responds blog was launched, which features R. Linzer’s halakhic responses to rabbis in the field.

Alumni Support & Engagement

We increased our investment in our rabbis to support their work and deepen their impact. We:

• Counseled and supported more than 90% of alumni through regular check-ins and process groups during Covid-19
• Developed the Zakkai Fellowship for Rabbinic Innovation – an alumni matching grant to spur innovative programming, increasing engagement and furthering the values and ethos of YCT.
• Finally, our rabbis attained key leadership positions over the past year: Executive Director at Penn Hillel; Head of School at Ann Arbor Hebrew Day School; and the first Rabbi of Kehilat Harlem.

Our Thanks to You

Thank you for partnering with us, and may we continue to build on these accomplishments and become even greater.

Invest in Our Mission