The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation is providing a $1 million, three-year grant to Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation to help train American rabbis, deepen their connections to one another and improve the rabbinate more generally, the organizations said on Monday.

This donation — the Mandel Foundation’s largest to Atra — comes as more Jewish philanthropic foundations recognize the influence of rabbis on Jewish communities and the growing challenges facing them. 

“Rabbis need resources and support to serve effectively,” Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, executive director of Atra, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “Seminaries need to be training towards the needs of rabbis in the changing field. Organizations [that] hire, train, sustain, deploy rabbis need training and support to utilize their rabbis well. Funders need to know how they can invest so those investments can be useful. The research and the early investments have led to the possibility of bigger investments being effective.”

According to Epstein, the grant will go towards supporting Atra’s 2025-2028 strategic plan with a focus on three priorities: The Atra Academy, which offers master classes to equip rabbis with tools to navigate everything from political polarization to pastoral demands; the Atra Rabbinic Network, which cultivates community through convenings and collaboration; and a rabbinic IdeaLab, which brings together rabbis, researchers, philanthropists and organizations such as Hillel and Mem Global for gatherings where attendees share knowledge and brainstorm solutions. 

Bringing leaders together offers them the opportunity to learn targeted ways to invest in the entire field, not simply a single organization, Epstein said.

The seed for the grant was planted in April 2022 after philanthropist Heather Baker was moved by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove’s landmark rabbinic pipeline sermon. In his speech at Park Avenue Synagogue, Cosgrove lamented the lack of new rabbis entering the field, a problem that would leave congregations without spiritual leaders.

“We all have a role to play in this story,” Cosgrove said to the Conservative congregation, closing his eyes. “Even and especially me.” 

Baker too knew that she had an obligation to help, so she set out to find data that could lead to interventions. Through the H&F Baker Foundation, Baker partnered with the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Mandel Foundation to fund Atra’s study, “From Calling to Career: Mapping the Current State and Future of Rabbinic Leadership,” which was released in November 2025.

The research showed that the rabbinic pipeline issue wasn’t only about recruiting rabbis, but about improving the entire rabbinic ecosystem. 

According to the study, 97% of current rabbis find their work rewarding, but the workforce is aging, with 6% under 35. More rabbinic students are choosing schools based on location, not denomination, leading to the growth of a number of nondenominational seminaries. Although many are considering entering the rabbinate, there are obstacles in their path, including high tuition for seminary and career uncertainty. In addition, more rabbis are choosing noncongregational roles over pulpit roles, despite lower pay, because pulpit roles are viewed as emotionally taxing with blurred boundaries and unrealistic expectations.

Over the last two years and especially since the study was released, investments have poured in to support rabbis in the field and those looking to join it, with additional large gifts coming from the Jim Joseph Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, the Aviv Foundation and H&F Baker Foundation, as well as the Mandel Foundation. 

Atra was founded in 2016 as an organization that helped individual rabbis grow in their careers, but it expanded to serve the entire field at the turn of the decade. Epstein is honored to see so many philanthropic leaders investing in supporting rabbis. This moment is an example of philanthropists investing in research to discover interventions, then investing in the interventions as a way to build an entire field, she said.

““Strong rabbinic leadership is essential to thriving Jewish communities,” Steve Hoffman, Mandel Foundation’s board chair, said in a statement. “Atra’s commitment to advancing the profession will help ensure that rabbis have the support they need to lead effectively and sustain vibrant Jewish communities.”