Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Teachers Institute

The Teachers Institute was the teacher training department of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Courses for teachers of Jewish subjects were first offered at the Seminary in 1904, but the Teachers Institute was formally opened in 1909 with funding provided by Jacob Schiff and Louis Marshall. Mordecai Kaplan was principal, 1909-1931, and dean, 1931-1946. Samuel Dinin was the registrar. The Teachers Institute offered both graduate and undergraduate degrees in the field of Jewish education. In 1919 an extension department was opened, which in 1922 was named the Israel Friedlaender Classes after a Seminary professor. The Classes met at the Seminary, and at branches in Yorkville and Harlem in Manhattan; in Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Brownsville, and Flatbush, in Brooklyn; at University Heights in the Bronx; and in Newark, New Jersey. The purpose of the Classes was to train Hebrew school teachers and Jewish club leaders, and also.

To provide classes in Hebrew, Jewish history and literature, and other Jewish subjects for interested adults, both men and women. The Teachers Institute later evolved into the Seminary College of Jewish Studies, today Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, while the Israel Friedlaender Classes became the Seminary School of Jewish Studies.