Providing powerful tools of learning and leadership to hundreds of community leaders, rabbis and educators each year, the Center for North American Leadership Initiatives is dedicated to strengthening Jewish communities in North America and enriching their experience and expressions of Jewish pluralism.   Through dynamic textual study, interdenominational dialogue and peer learning sessions, Jewish leaders examine the relevance and meaning of Judaism for contemporary life and are equipped with new thoughtful insights for enhancing Jewish life in their communities. Impacting educational, religious and community institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada, the Center for North American Leadership Initiatives is shaping a future for North American Jewry of intellectual renaissance and renewed inspiration. The Center comprises: Department of Rabbinic Enrichment Department of Lay Leadership Education Hartman North American Scholars Circle Melamdim Graduate School for Teacher Education Department of Rabbinic Enrichment   The Department of Rabbinic Enrichment provides hundreds of rabbis of all denominations with the tools to bring inspired, relevant and intellectually sophisticated messages and teaching to their communities. Countering the pressures of synagogue life and the lack of frameworks for ongoing study that often drain rabbis’ professional resources, the study seminars and yearlong programs of the Department provide rabbis with valuable opportunities for ongoing learning, intellectual and spiritual rejuvenation, and new ideas and resources for their rabbinates. Back to Top   Rabbinic Leadership Initiative Rabbinic Torah Study Seminar Rabbinic Students Seminar   Department of Lay Leadership Education   The Department of Lay Leadership Education provides a wide range of thought-provoking text-based study programs and seminars for Jewish lay leaders of all denominations and ages across North America. The Department strengthens and expands the intellectual horizons of community leaders, enabling them to respond more meaningfully to the contemporary issues and challenges facing Jewish life. The Department also develops study curricula and web-based resources for lay leadership. Back to Top    Global Beit Midrash Lay Leadership Summer Retreat Video Lecture Series   Hartman North American Scholars Circle   The Hartman North American Judaic Scholars Circle joins together a cadre of leading thinkers from across North America to provide sophisticated new responses to the particular moral and spiritual challenges facing contemporary North American Jewry. Representing a wide range of academic fields and Jewish denominations, the scholars constitute a unique new think tank on North American Jewish life. Back to Top    Melamdim Graduate School for Teacher Education   The Melamdim Graduate School for Teacher Education, generously supported by the Jim Joseph Foundation, trains an elite cadre of Jewish studies educators for North American community high schools, who are capable of delivering a compelling Jewish education to youth during their critical adolescent years. An MA program conducted in partnership with Tel Aviv University, Melamdim emphasizes Jewish philosophy, values and ideas alongside pedagogic practice, producing teachers with a deep grasp of the relevance of Judaism for contemporary life and the professional skills to effectively communicate such to their students. Back to Top