Where Are All the Non-Orthodox Rabbis?

Lev Meirowitz Nelson grew up at a Conservative Jewish day school and a Conservative synagogue. When he decided to apply for rabbinical school, however, he didn’t even consider a Conservative seminary.

Instead, Nelson applied to Hebrew College, the new, progressive, nondenominational seminary in Boston, where he was ordained in 2013. It’s a path that more and more prospective rabbis are taking. Last year, Hebrew College ordained the same number of rabbis as the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative flagship institution in Manhattan. This year, Hebrew College has more first-year students than all but one other non-Orthodox rabbinical seminary.