Reflections on Fall Residency
By Dr. Eliyahu Krigel, CJE
The AJRCA community came together for our fall residency from August 17-19, 2025, at the beautiful Brandeis-Bardin campus of American Jewish University. Roughly 50 students participated from the rabbinical program, the cantorial program, the chaplaincy program, and the master’s program. One of the unique features about our incredible school is that we all learn together and support each other across all of our programs. Not only do we all come from different phases of our lives, careers, and geographic locations, but in our classes, the diversity of mixing rabbis, cantors, chaplains, and master students together creates a tapestry of diversity where we all benefit and grow.
During the retreat, we came together to learn and bond. We had a fantastic time together ripe with engaging discussions and networking opportunities. Our theme was “Building a Personal Tefillah Practice.” The overarching theme of making prayer relevant and meaningful will be a touchstone we will return to again and again over the year in our time studying together. Psalm 42:3 teaches, “My soul thirsts for God, the living God; Oh when will I come to appear before God!” The retreat catalyzed this important notion of צָמְאָ֬ה נַפְשִׁ֨י, when our soul may thirst for God, by focusing on making prayer individualized so it will last a lifetime.
The cantorial students opened the retreat by leading us in joyous song and prayer after the Va’ad led icebreakers and team building activities. Highlights included a special learning session with Rabbi Slater called “Praying in the Ruins” as well as two meaningful sessions with Rabbi Dorothy Richman on developing a personal prayer practice and cultivating different modes of awareness through meditation and prayer. Rev. Dr. Trina Williams led us in drafting a prayer in our own words which was empowering and particularly timely in this challenging time for the Jewish people worldwide. Along with running each day and doing yoga together, we also were able to hike, swim, and rejuvenate as one community. We were thrilled to welcome so many new students thanks to the tireless efforts of Robin Federman. Rabbi Hoffman, Rabbi/Cantor Radwine, and Rabbi Slater also led a successful session on building community norms and expectations for our weekly tefillah and colloquia. The cantorial students closed out the retreat for our final evening together with prayers, melodies, and songs from the heart.
Residency periods continue to add a vital component to the overall program, bringing all students together to build camaraderie, to network, and to learn. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in Man is not Alone, writes on page 257, “The aim of Jewish piety lies not in futile efforts toward the sanctification of needs in which one chances to indulge and which cannot otherwise be fulfilled, but in the maintenance and fanning of a discontent with our aspirations and achievements, in the maintenance and fanning of a craving that knows no satisfaction.” We started the holy work of maintaining and fanning our disconnect with our aspirations and achievements during our retreat and will spend time this year in our colloquium sessions exploring Rabbi Heschel’s work in more detail. Thank you to the AJRCA staff, faculty, and board for consistently going above and beyond to help support all our learning and growth. I appreciate you; my cup overflows!
Dr. Eliyahu Krigel is in his final year of rabbinical school at AJRCA. Currently Dr. Krigel serves as the Director of Education and Family Engagement at Beth El Temple in West Hartford. He is the proud father of two adult children, ages 20 and 24. Dr. Krigel is on the Va’ad at AJRCA and has been a full time Jewish educator for the past 25 years. He is an avid percussionist and is passionate about learning Torah!