PRS is closed for Shabbat, Jewish holidays, and American federal holidays.
The full list of academic year school closing dates is listed at the end of this page.
2026
Year 1 = 2026-2028 COHORT
Year 2 = 2025-2027 COHORT
Summer Break: August 3 – September 4
Quarter 4: September 8 – November 10
Year 1: Talmud I
Slack-based + 4 Zoom sessions with dates TBA
Instructor – Rabbi Eric Wasser
- Required book
- Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law by Chaim M. Saiman
Year 1: Pastoral Care I
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Fredda Cohen
- Required books
- Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional & Contemporary Sources edited by Rabbi Dayle A. Freedman
- The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach by Carrie Doehring
- Professional Spiritual & Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain’s Handbook edited by Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts
Year 2: G-d’s Mouth to Our Ears – Torah Interpretation through the Ages
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Jill Levy
- Required book
- Back To The Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts edited by Barry W. Holtz
- Recommended book
- My People’s Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries Volume 2 edited by Lawrence A. Hoffman and David Arnow
Year 2: Jewish History: The Roots of Modern Jewish Civilization II
Slack-based
Instructor – Rabbi Sandy Zisser
- No required books
Smicha Day
Sunday, December 13, 2026
PRS Closed Dates 2026
Monday, September 7 – Labor Day
Monday, September 21 – Yom Kippur
Tuesday, September 22 – NO CLASS (Day after Yom Kippur)
November 26 & 27 – Thanksgiving
Friday, December 25 – Christmas (as this is a federal holiday)
2027
Year 1 = 2027-2029 COHORT
Year 2 = 2026-2028 COHORT
Quarter 1: January 3 – March 5
Year 1: Of Prayer and Prayerbooks (Jewish Liturgy I)
Instructor: Rabbi Josh Cahan
Slack-based
- Required books
- Entering Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service by Reuven Hammer
- Recommended books
- Ritual: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Stephenson
- Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice by Catherine Bell
Year 1: Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas
Instructor: Rabbi Jill Levy
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
- Required book
- The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality edited by Elliot N. Dorff and Jonathan K. Crane
Year 2: Hebrew Language
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Students will take only 1 Hebrew class, based on their Hebrew proficiency level
Modern Hebrew (Beginner-Intermediate)
Instructor: Danny Mond
- Required book
- The First Hebrew Primer: The Adult Beginner’s Path to Biblical Hebrew, 3rd Edition | Hebrew Edition by Ethelyn Simon, Linda Motzkin, Irene Resnikoff
Derech Shir (Intermediate-Advanced)
Instructor: Hadassah Wrightman
- No required books
Year 2: Practical Rabbinics
Slack-based
Instructor – Rabbi Patrick Beaulier
- No required books
- Recommended books
- Discover Your Conflict Management Style by Speed B. Leas
- Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton
- The Director Had a Heart Attack and the President Resigned: Board-Staff Relations for the 21st Century by Gerald Bubis
Quarter 2: March 14 – May 28
Year 1: Jewish History: The Roots of Modern Jewish Civilization I
Slack-based
Instructor – Ariel Simon
- No required books
Year 1: Classical Hebrew
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Students will take only 1 Hebrew class, based on their Hebrew proficiency level
Beginner-Intermediate
Instructor – Danny Mond
- Required book
- Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way by Joseph Anderson, Linda Motzkin, Jonathan Rubinstein, and Laurence Wiseman
Intermediate-Advanced
Instructor – Hadassah Wrightman
- No required books
Year 2: Giving Meaning to Meaningful Moments (Liturgy II)
Slack-based
Instructor – Rabbi Josh Cahan
- Required books
- The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays by Irving Green
- The Schechter Haggadah: Art, History and Commentary by Dr. Joshua Kulp
- Entering the High Holy Days: A Complete Guide to the History, Prayers, and Themes by Reuven Hammer
Year 2: Pastoral Care through Psalms, Meditation, & Midrash (Pastoral Care II)
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Fredda Cohen
- Required book
- Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional & Contemporary Sources edited by Rabbi Dayle A. Freedman (same book as Pastoral Care I)
Quarter 3: June 6 – August 6
Year 1: People of the Book: The Torah – Content and Context; Text and Texture
Slack-based
Instructor – Danny Mond
- No required books
Year 1: Jewish Theology
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Sandy Zisser
- No required books
Year 2: Talmud II
Slack-based + 4 Zoom sessions with dates TBA
Instructor – Rabbi Eric Wasser
- No required books
Year 2: Homiletics
Slack Huddle-based
Instructor – Rabbi Patrick Beaulier
- No required books
Tishrei Holidays Break
October 1 – October 22
Quarter 4: August 22 – November 19
Year 1: Talmud I
Slack-based + 4 Zoom sessions with dates TBA
Instructor – Rabbi Eric Wasser
- Required book
- Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law by Chaim M. Saiman
Year 1: Pastoral Care I
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Fredda Cohen
- Required books
- Jewish Pastoral Care: A Practical Handbook from Traditional & Contemporary Sources edited by Rabbi Dayle A. Freedman
- The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach by Carrie Doehring
- Professional Spiritual & Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain’s Handbook edited by Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts
Year 2: G-d’s Mouth to Our Ears – Torah Interpretation through the Ages
Live Zoom-based (Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern)
Instructor – Rabbi Jill Levy
- Required book
- Back To The Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts edited by Barry W. Holtz
- Recommended book
- My People’s Passover Haggadah: Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries Volume 2 edited by Lawrence A. Hoffman and David Arnow
Year 2: Jewish History: The Roots of Modern Jewish Civilization II
Slack-based
Instructor – Rabbi Sandy Zisser
- No required books
Smicha Day
Sunday, December 5, 2027
PRS Closed Dates 2027
Friday, January 1 – New Year’s Day
Monday, January 18 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Monday, February 15 – Presidents Day
Tuesday – Friday, April 20 – April 23 – Pesach
Tuesday – Thursday, April 27 – April 29 – Pesach
Monday, May 31 – Memorial Day
Friday, June 11 – Shavuot
Friday, June 18 – Juneteenth (Observed)
Monday, July 5 – United States Independence Day (Observed)
Wednesday & Thursday, August 11 & August 12 – Tisha B’Av
Monday, September 6 – Labor Day
Monday, October 11 – Yom Kippur
Thursday & Friday, November 25 & 26 – Thanksgiving
Friday, December 24 – Christmas Day Observed (as this is a federal holiday)
Friday, December 31 – New Years Day (Observed)