At Hebrew Seminary, our students learn to practice Judaism like the Baal Shem Tov. He taught that a Jew should strive to attain devekut, attachment to God, not only through fasting and ritual practice, but also through dance, joyful prayer, singing, signing and becoming one with God and the Hebrew letters and language. We vigorously include all who want to become rabbis and who would love to serve the many Jewish communities in America, including Jewish communities and individuals who have been disenfranchised from Judaism, for either halachic or social reasons.

We are proud to achieve Ruach HaKodesh in the modern age. We strive to achieve the Holy Spirit so that we might learn how to hear the Voice of God, not with our ears but with our souls.  We know it is possible to hear God in contemporary times. And we do this through prayer and the different kinds of meditative practice that our great spiritual scholars have written into the Jewish tradition. We do this through an in-depth study of the Kabbalah and the different healing texts that are associated and part of the mystical tradition. We see very often that the study and practice of Kabbalistic texts, combined with contemporary medicine can aid greatly in the recovery of many of the illnesses that plague us today.

Hebrew Seminary is dedicated to training and educating men and women to become rabbis and teachers of both Deaf and hearing Jewish communities all over America.  To this end, we vigorously study and include in our curriculum the core rabbinic texts, such as the Talmud and its commentaries, the Midrash and its commentaries.  We also study in depth the Jewish Bible, with its medieval Hebrew commentaries.  Also, all our students are mandated to learn and be educated in American Sign Language (ASL), so that they might be able to communicate with Deaf families in their community.

All our ordinees are eligible for admission to the Chicago Board of Rabbis. We also have a highly successful rate of placement for our graduate rabbis. Come and take a stroll through our web site and see and experience our many exciting offerings.

I look forward to meeting and teaching each student personally.

Rabbi Dr. Douglas Goldhamer, z’l
Hebrew Seminary Founder