Welcome to the HUC-JIR Department of Youth Programs web site!

The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion sponsors exciting events for high school and college students. Our dynamic programs successfully provide hundreds of Reform Jewish youth with opportunities for study, enrichment, and friendship.

From Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union Collge-Jewish Institute of Religion:

The College-Institute looks to you as the next generation of leaders of the Jewish people. You are the inheritors of a unique spiritual, ethical, and cultural heritage that can offer insight and inspiration. We encourage you to come study with our faculty, meet our students, and immerse yourself in a personal journey that will enrich your life and enable you to bring peace and healing to our world.

HUC-JIR Youth Programs at 25 Years

By Dr. Gary Zola

The Department of Youth Programs - growing out of the 'NFTY Pilgrimages' of the 1950s - remains to this day based on the idea of bringing prospective leaders for the Reform Movement to our Cincinnati campus for experimental learning and leadership development. The success of Youth Programs is reflected in the significant number of HUC-JIR students in all of HUC-JIR's professional and graduate programs who have participated in these opportunities.