Electives/Requirements

Dear Rabbinical Students in Israel,

We continue to hear good reports from all of you regarding your academic and experiential programs; the problems that typically arise are being addressed promptly. If you have other concerns, certainly be in touch with us.

Many have asked about the policy for taking additional courses while in Israel, and how these might be credited towards graduation requirements. We have worked on this issue and have established the following policy:

A.    --  JTS students may take up to one additional course per semester for credit. A second additional course may be audited, but students must give primary attention to their required courses, including the Makom experiential program. We believe that the six Schechter classes plus Makom seminar add up to a full semester.

B.   --   Additional for-credit courses may count for an elective in a student’s concentration (old curriculum) or distribution requirements (new curriculum) at JTS, but not for a specific required course, and not for more than one course in any given department.

C.    ---Courses required as part of the Israel year (e.g. the Israel history class) do not count also towards JTS elective requirements. This is true for both 2^nd and 3^rd year students. If a student receives permission to substitute a different Schechter class for one of the JTS program courses, then it counts toward the Israel year requirement, not the subsequent graduation requirements.