The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is a division of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. It offers adult Jewish courses on Jewish history, law, ethics, philosophy and rabbinical literature worldwide. It also develops Jewish studies curricula specifically for women, college students, teenagers, and seniors.
In 2014, the organization claimed there were 117,500 people enrolled in JLI, making it the largest Jewish education network in the world. It was created with a mission to make the teachings, values and traditions of the Jewish people accessible and personally meaningful to all Jews, regardless of their background or affiliation. The JLI model combines a research-based approach with instructional design, aiming to present traditional Jewish teachings in a contemporary academic framework. Its headquarters are located in the Crown Heights area at Brooklyn, New York City.
History
JLI was founded in 1998. The first JLI course, Jewish Mysticism, was piloted at fifteen Chabad centers in 1999. The institute expanded thereafter with controlled growth, introducing the learning program to between fifteen and twenty new cities annually until 2005 when JLI added forty new cities. Since its inception in 1998, over 500,000 students have completed JLI courses, with enrollment of 12,000 to 16,000 students each semester. By 2010, JLI had developed 37 separate six-week courses, the most popular of which have been on the topics of Jewish thought, law, and mysticism.
In 2005, JLI launched its Torah Studies division, which is currently active in 248 communities around the world, and piloted its first JLI Teens curriculum. The Sinai Scholars Society was introduced on three college campuses in 2006 and has since expanded to seventy campuses including Ivy League, state and private universities.
In 2005, JLI materials were translated into Spanish to serve the Jewish communities of Central and South America. In 2011, a curriculum in Hebrew was developed and piloted in ten Israeli cities. There are currently thirty JLI locations in Israel as well as classes in Hebrew throughout the world in communities with large concentrations of Israeli ex-pats. The Russian language division was added in 2012 and currently consists of forty chapters throughout the former CIS. JLI course materials were developed in German the same year, and are taught in five cities in Germany.
As of 2013, 382 chapters in twenty-four countries and thirty-one U.S. states offer JLI courses.
As of 2022, over 400 chapters in twenty-eight countries offer JLI courses.
Courses
A network of JLI's affiliated local chapters offers courses to the Jewish communities. JLI's flagship courses consist of six weekly sessions and each class unit is taught concurrently at all of its locations.
Specific JLI courses are accredited to offer Continuing Legal Education credits by the bar associations of 31 U.S. states, in various Canadian provinces, Australia, and the UK, as well as the Order of Flemish Bar Associations, and South Africa's National Board of Licenses. When appropriate, JLI courses are accredited by the AMA's ACCME Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education for Continuing Medical Education credits, as well as by the Washington School of Psychiatry and the American Psychological Association.
JLI was commissioned by the family of former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, to develop a series of lunch-hour educational classes to be offered in corporate offices in Israel.
Departments
In addition to the flagship course offerings, JLI has branched out to offer the following programs geared towards specific segments of the community:
Torah Studies
The Torah Studies department develops weekly classes taught year-round on Torah portions corresponding to those read in synagogues each Sabbath. Geared towards students seeking on-going Torah study, lessons focus on relevant life issues such as personal growth, business ethics, social responsibilities, personal relationships and the environment.
JLI Teens
The first teen-focused JLI course was held in 2009. JLI Teens courses aim to make Judaism relevant to teens and to forge a new generation of Jewish leadership. Teens are engaged with a series of comprehensive courses on issues they contemplate and provide a safe place for discussion on topics such as suicide, personal ethics and values, anti-Semitism, purpose in life, relationships, faith and reason, social justice, leadership, and Israel.