Hadassah leadership program popular — even before it starts

NEW YORK, June 16 (JTA) — Hadassah is turning away applicants for its new leadership training program. More than 300 women have applied for some 100 places in the first class of the Hadassah Leadership Academy, a three-year program designed to develop female leaders for the Jewish community. “There are a lot of places to get leadership development, but no one has looked specifically at what it takes to make a Jewish woman a leader,” said Amy Sales, a senior research associate at Brandeis University’s Center for Modern Jewish Studies, who is helping to coordinate this program. The curriculum will focus on the role of women in Jewish history and Zionism, and will include courses on philanthropy, community service, management and leadership skills. Hadassah will pay all the expenses of the program, which also will include retreats, a visit to Capitol Hill and a trip to Israel. “It’s like a gift to the Jewish community from Hadassah,” said Jackie Cohen, immediate past president of the Hadassah chapter in Baltimore. The program is scheduled to begin Oct. 6 with a retreat near New York City. In the meantime, participating Hadassah chapters are busily processing the applications. “The people who are applicants are fantastic, making it very difficult to choose,” said Shirley Kalb, director of strategic planning at Hadassah. “It’s great to see so many doctors and lawyers have such a great connection to their community and Jewish life.” In Baltimore, for example, 65 women applied for the estimated 10 to 15 slots, said Cohen. Sales said the idea of the program is to create a high-quality curriculum that can be used by Hadassah chapters and other Jewish women’s organizations. “Hadassah understood that there was a tremendous burgeoning of study about Jewish women. The organization wanted to offer its members the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of this very fast-moving field,” said Sales. The 10 communities participating in the program are Atlanta, South Florida, Southern California, Houston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Richmond, Raritan Valley, N.J., Seattle and Sequoia, Calif. (The Baltimore Jewish Times contributed to this report.)