post-, or trans-denominational in nature, have sprouted up in recent years. They cater to a new breed of rabbi: one who wants to focus on pastoral care without delving deeply into centuries of Jewish law, midrashic interpretation, liturgy, or any of the other classes that rabbinical schools have tradi- tionally offered. In essence, they are trade schools for those who are primarily interested in ministering to Jews. That fits perfectly with many of the freelance rabbis, who have no de- sire to be scholars, but would rather be, to echo Wernick’s language, officiants and life coaches. The Atra study, which primarily drew on data from the established rabbinical schools, noted that, while enrolment in those schools has dropped, cohorts in independent and non-denominational schools have grown over the past several years and are likely to grow more. Many schools are specifically recruiting within the Jewish professional world, attracting older students who are already function- ing in a quasi-rabbinic role but without the credential. In a comment that helpfully contextualizes this devel- opment, Patrick Beaulier, a rabbi and co-founder of the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary, told Tablet magazine in 2021 that “rabbis need not all be scholars. … The most pressing need right now is for tradespeople. The job is, at the end of the bar mitzvah, to see Bubbe cry because her grandchild has become a Jewish adult … to have a couple say thank you for understanding that our love transcends religious, cultural, or ethnic identities. … Our job as rabbis is to help people feel Jewish.” Steven Windmueller, profes- sor emeritus at Hebrew Union College, summarized the development in The Times of Israel last year as “the bou- tique Jewish institutional revolution, [where] legacy or traditional organizations are now competing with the pres- ence of hundreds of entrepreneurial start-up structures.” Margot Valles, the Michigan rabbi, got her ordination from the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary. She told me that she picked that organization because it fit her require- ments of being fully online and fully pluralistic — that she has issues with all the denominations and wanted some- thing that fell outside of those confines. This was not some- thing that you used to be able to do: if you wanted to be a rabbi, historically, you had to pick a denomination or a movement and align yourself with a specific brand of Juda- ism. Which is to say, while the growth of freelance rabbis is partly explained by what people are moving away from, it is partly explained by what they are moving toward. There are more ways to become and be a rabbi now than there ever have been, and that means many people who traditionally had no paths into the rabbinate are finding them. Such growth does come with possible quality-control issues. Allan Nadler, emeritus professor of Jewish Stud- ies at Drew University, tells me that he has concerns with the curricula offered by these schools and with the ensuing changes in what we understand ordination to entail. Smi- cha, the traditional word for ordination, literally means a laying on of hands. It symbolized a teacher conferring the authority to render halakhic decisions onto their student. Historically, that authority has been grounded in deep
people’s lives. On top of this, contemporary society in- creasingly emphasizes the importance of work-life bound- aries, all while digital technology makes it harder to avoid work when we’re supposed to be resting. These trends have altered the nature of a pulpit rabbi’s work. According to the Atra study, many pulpit rabbis “view the work as emotionally taxing and structurally unsus- tainable.” More specifically, those rabbis say that “unre- alistic expectations, lack of appropriate feedback, and limited time for spiritual renewal make it difficult to balance professional and personal life.” The study con- firmed that, while synagogues are ready to pay generous- ly to compensate rabbis for the commitment required to serve a community, many rabbis no longer want to deal with the pressures of that job. They are finding fulfilment as teachers, as chaplains, or in other communal roles. The pulpit can cause burnout more effectively than almost any other career. Consider that most pulpit rabbis end up having a split weekend, taking a Sunday and ano- ther day during the week— and that’s only if nothing else happens. A funeral, a Hebrew school graduation, or a con- gregant in crisis cut into that time. Rabbis are primed to be chained to their phones in case of an emergency. This is not the story that is most often told these days when it comes to concerns about the rabbinate—a story that typically focuses on the state of rabbinical education. What that story leaves out is that, at least some of the time, the problem isn’t that suitable candidates for pulpit jobs don’t exist, but that those candidates prefer other options. The Atra survey found, for instance, that despite many unfilled synagogue positions, Hillel has 19 applicants for every open rabbinic role. Financial remuneration is one of the few areas where congregational rabbis are more satisfied with their careers than rabbis serving in other capacities — and yet, that does not seem to be enough. The data on burnout helps explain why. Newly ordained rabbis look for a pulpit position assuming they will be making a difference in congregants’ lives. Instead, they find job requirements that sound more like a description of a CEO position—heavy on admin- istration, management, and strategy—without being any lighter on ground-level work. Rabbis are often over- whelmed with programming, fundraising, board dynamics, and the day-to-day operation of a major institution. This seriously curtails their capacity to be there for those who matter most, including both the congregants they want to serve and their own families. Communities may not realize they are pushing people away, but the increasingly complex nature of the modern pulpit rabbi- nate may be doing just that.
HOW DO YOU BECOME A FREELANCE RABBI?
It would be hard to imagine the rise of the freelance rabbi without the concurrent proliferation of new rabbinical seminaries. These schools, often online only and non-, pan-,
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