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Hebrew College is an accredited college of Jewish studies
Jewish studies

Jewish studies is an List of academic disciplines centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is Interdisciplinarity and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies....
 in Newton Center, near Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1921, Hebrew College is committed to Jewish scholarship in a transdenominational academic environment. The president of the college is David Gordis. Hebrew College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, Hebrew-language training, summer institutes, a rabbinical school, a cantorial school and continuing-education programs. Internationally renowned architect, Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, Order of Canada is an architect and urban designer. He was born in the city of Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine now Israel....
, designed and built the institution's facilities located in Newton, Massachusetts.






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Hebrew College is an accredited college of Jewish studies
Jewish studies

Jewish studies is an List of academic disciplines centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is Interdisciplinarity and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies....
 in Newton Center, near Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1921, Hebrew College is committed to Jewish scholarship in a transdenominational academic environment. The president of the college is David Gordis. Hebrew College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, Hebrew-language training, summer institutes, a rabbinical school, a cantorial school and continuing-education programs. Internationally renowned architect, Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, Order of Canada is an architect and urban designer. He was born in the city of Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine now Israel....
, designed and built the institution's facilities located in Newton, Massachusetts.

History

Founded in November 1921, Hebrew College was one of eleven Hebrew teachers colleges established in the United States in keeping with the Hebraist
Hebraist

A Hebraist is a specialist in Hebrew language and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, at a time when Hebrew was little understood outside practicing Jewish communities....
 model of Jewish teacher training. Hebrew College was originally located in Brookline
Brookline

Brookline is the name of several places in the United States of America:* Brookline, Massachusetts* Brookline, New Hampshire* Brookline , Pennsylvania...
, Massachusetts. The school opened with 23 students, with registration doubling by the following year. The founder of Hebrew College was Louis Hurwich. Nissim Touroff, former director of the Hebrew school system in Palestine, was appointed as its first dean. The Hebrew High School opened in 1923.

Eisig Silbershlag became the dean of Hebrew College in 1947 and was named president in the late 1960s.

In the early years, all classes, regardless of the subject matter, were taught in Hebrew. In the early 1980s, as Jewish studies programs opened at more colleges and universities around the country, the policy began to change. Increasingly, classes were held in English, and Hebrew was reserved for language courses and advanced Jewish text study.

During the 15-year tenure of Eli Grad, the fifth president of Hebrew College, the focus moved from teacher training to an emphasis on Hebrew culture programs and courses for the wider community. In January 1987, after a period of decline, Samuel Schafler
Samuel Schafler

Samuel Schafler was a New York-born rabbi, historian, editor and Jewish educator. He was Superintendent of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago and President of Hebrew College in Brookline, Massachusetts....
 became the sixth president of Hebrew College and introduced new programming that expanded the student body significantly. In the late 1980s, adult education classes were introduced that became the forerunner of the Me'ah program. In 2001, Nehemia Polen established the Hasidic Texts Institute for the study of foundational Hasidic texts.

Academic partnerships

Hebrew College maintains cross-registration agreements with many of Boston’s accredited colleges and universities including Boston University
Boston University

Boston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839....
, Northeastern University, Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School

Andover Newton Theological School, located in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, is the oldest graduate school of theology in the United States. It was founded in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1807....
, Simmons College
Simmons College

Simmons College may refer to:*Simmons College of Kentucky - A historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky.*Simmons College - a liberal arts women's college in Boston, Massachusetts....
, Boston College
Boston College

Boston College is a private university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, in the city of Newton, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the United States, rendering it neither in Boston nor a college....
, and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. When Hebrew College moved to its new campus in 2002, cooperation with the nearby Andover Newton Theological School (ANTS) led to the creation of the Interreligious Center on Public Life and several interfaith programs.In 2006, it signed a collaborative agreement with Nova Southeastern University
Nova Southeastern University

Nova Southeastern University, commonly referred to as NSU or Nova, is a selective, private university, coeducation, nonsectarian, research university located in Davie, Florida, Florida, USA....
 in South Florida, the second largest Jewish community in the United States. In July 2007, it formed a partnership with Northeastern University in Boston. Hebrew College is now collaborating with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, one of whose founders was Hebrew College president Eli Grad.

Library facilities

The Rae and Joseph Gann Library has over 125,000 books, including special collections in modern Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature

Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. Beyond comparison, the most important such work is the Hebrew Bible ....
, Jewish medical ethics
Jewish medical ethics

Jewish medical ethics is a modern scholarly and clinical approach to medical ethics that draws upon Jewish thought and teachings. Pioneered by Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits in the 1950s, Jewish medical ethics centers mainly around an applied ethics drawing upon traditional halakhah....
, Jewish education, Jewish geneaology, Holocaust studies, Hasidism, and Jewish children’s literature. Through the Research Libraries Information Network students can access a database of 53 million books, journals, maps, records and cassettes drawn from Judaica collections across the United States. In addition, the College is a member of the Fenway Library Consortium, allowing access to local college, museum and public libraries.

Youth programs

In keeping with the idea of Jewish education as a lifelong pursuit, Hebrew College runs Prozdor and Camp Yavneh
Camp Yavneh

Camp Yavneh is a residential Jewish camp established in 1944 and affiliated with Hebrew College. The camp is accredited by the American Camp Association and is located in Northwood, New Hampshire, in the United States....
, an overnight summer camp in Northwood, New Hampshire.

Notable Faculty

  • Nehemia Polen
  • Arthur Green
    Arthur Green

    Rabbi Arthur Green is an educator and a scholar of Jewish mysticism and hasidism who has played an influential role in bringing the language of spirituality into mainstream American Jewish life....
  • Steven Copeland
  • Rabbi Danny Lehman


Notable Alumni

  • Arnold Band
  • Theodore White
    Theodore White

    Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, best known for his accounts of the United States presidential election, 1960, United States presidential election, 1964, United States presidential election, 1968, and United States presidential election, 1972 presidential elections....
  • Walter Ackerman
  • Daniel Margolis
  • Aaron Cohen


External links



See also