The Academy for Jewish Religion California (AJRCA), is a Jewish seminary in Los Angeles. It trains rabbis, cantors and chaplains to serve congregations and organizations of any Jewish denomination.^[1]

History

The school was conceived as a transdenominational alternative to the more established rabbinical schools by two Los Angeles rabbis, Stanley Levy and Stephen Robbins, later joined by a third, Mordecai Finley, who became president of the school soon after its establishment in 2001. Initially conceived as a branch of the New York City-based Academy for Jewish Religion, it soon became independent.^[1]

In its first years the school was housed in a small temple in West Los Angeles,^[2] later moving to the Yitzchak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA. It ordained its first three rabbis in 2003, and provided a means for students to pursue rabbinical studies while still working in other jobs.^[1]

In 2010 the school partnered with Claremont School of Theology (CST) to provide a Jewish component for CST's interfaith curriculum.^[3] In January 2013 Tamar Frankiel became the president of the Academy for Jewish Religion, making her the first Orthodox woman to lead an American rabbinical school.^[4][5] The school itself is transdenominational, not Orthodox.^[5] Later in 2013, the Academy relocated from UCLA to a building in Koreatown shared with two other Jewish organizations.^[6] The Academy returned "home", to UCLA Hillel in the fall of 2017.

Building

The Yitzchak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life is a center for Jewish cultural, religious and spiritual education at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[7][8][9] The Hillel has been home to the Academy since the new building was dedicated in 2002.^[10]

References

External links

• Website