Pardes Jewish Educators Sabbatical

Program Description

Rekindle your spirit

Refresh your text skills

Realize your potential as a day school educator

Now is the perfect time to invest in your most important resource: YOU

After several years in the classroom giving your heart, soul, and mind in order to teach, inspire, and grow it is time to renew, recharge and reJewvenate. We created this fully subsidized program because you deserve no less.

The Pardes Jewish Educators Sabbatical is designed for veteran educators (4+ full-time years as an educator) who want to spend a year at Pardes in Jerusalem. This is a golden opportunity to take a breath and draw from the wellsprings of Torah learning, vibrant community, world-class faculty, and experienced pedagogy coaches at Pardes. 

This program includes core components of the Pardes Year Program, plus: customized Hebrew language ulpan with Ulpan Or; educators’ seminars on text and context, spirituality and tefilah in Jewish day schools and Israel education; one-on-one mentoring with expert teaching coaches;  career coaching, job placement assistance and alumni support. Participants will also engage in peer teaching and an independent project.

Graduates of this program earn a Certificate in Jewish Studies from Pardes.

Prerequisites:

  1. 4+ years of full-time teaching experience
  2. Experience with Jewish text study and Hebrew language

Admission Requirements:

  • Online application
  • Placement tests for Hebrew language and text levels
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Personal essay
  • Interview

Post-Program Commitment:

Graduates commit to working as a Jewish educator in a North American Jewish day school for a minimum of two years upon completion of the program.

Pardes Jewish Educators Sabbatical is completely subsidized. Benefits include:

  • Pardes tuition fully funded for one academic year
  • Ulpan tuition fully funded
  • Living stipend of $1200 per month for up to 10 months

The information on this page does not represent a funding guarantee for any current or future PCJE or Pardes student. All accepted PCJE students sign individual contracts with Pardes that confirm program dates, obligations, funding amounts and stipulations for the repayment of funds should program obligations be unmet. Please note that PCJE is not fully funded. As such, PCJE students that receive grants, scholarships or fellowships from other organizations must make reasonable contributions from these funds towards PCJE program costs. In some cases, Pardes coordinates such payments directly with the relevant organizations, institutions or programs; in other cases, the students themselves will need to coordinate these payments. Please address any questions to PCJE staff.

Pardes students usually rent apartments in Jerusalem. Pardes provides helpful housing resources to accepted students, including a listserve. Click here for more info about finding housing in Jerusalem.