Across the landscape of American higher education, institutions are grappling with declining enrollments, rising costs and shifting demographics. Perhaps nowhere is this more acutely felt than among the Jewish colleges, seminaries and graduate programs dedicated to training Jewish professionals for service, especially those in the non-Orthodox community. Once vibrant centers of intellectual and spiritual formation and the locus for innovative research in advanced Jewish studies, many of these institutions now face existential questions about their sustainability and relevance. It is time — past time — for a serious conversation about collaboration, and even consolidation, among these schools.

The numbers speak for themselves. Rabbinical schools across the denominational spectrum are seeing fewer applicants year after year. Non-clerical programs in Jewish education, communal leadership and nonprofit management are often duplicated across institutions, including well-known universities such as Brandeis, George Washington and NYU, with all of them competing for the same shrinking pool of students. In an era of online learning, the geographical distinctions that may have driven enrollment in the past carry much less weight, which means the competitive landscape for these programs also includes Israeli universities.  Meanwhile, the financial foundations of many of these schools are precarious, with endowments stretched thin, facilities built for a different era and revenue from tuition insufficient to cover operating costs.

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These challenges are not occurring in a vacuum. They mirror broader demographic trends within the non-Orthodox Jewish community: declining affiliation rates, aging congregations and a growing disinterest among younger Jews in traditional institutional life. The very communities these professionals are being trained to serve are themselves in flux, raising urgent questions about how best to prepare leaders for a Jewish future that looks very different from its past.

In this context, the current model — multiple (increasingly) small institutions offering overlapping programs with limited resources — is not just inefficient; it is unsustainable. We must ask ourselves: What might be possible if we pooled our intellectual capital, administrative infrastructure and financial resources? What if, instead of competing, we collaborated? The classic joke about the man on the desert island who builds two synagogues to have one that he does not attend is not a good enough reason to avoid a conversation long overdue.

Imagine a unified or federated academic platform that brings together the best faculty, curricula and student services from across institutions. Imagine economies of scale that reduce administrative overhead and free up resources for research, innovation and outreach. Imagine a more robust, diverse and dynamic learning environment that better reflects the pluralism and complexity of contemporary Jewish life. The argument that denominational philosophy precludes such joint ventures is a red herring, as rabbinic and cantorial programs could maintain their independence, even as other academic, student services and back-office functions are leveraged more efficiently. The core of curricula in Jewish leadership, nonprofit management, Jewish education and other graduate programs is almost identical in substance across multiple institutions. In the higher education world, all too often institutions close because they have waited too long to explore creative collaborative solutions, due to inertia as well as the hubris or stubbornness of boards, administrations or even faculty, with tragic results for the schools, their students, alumni and employees.

This proposal is not a call for erasing denominational identities or theological distinctiveness. Rather, it is a shofar blast to recognize that our shared mission — to educate and empower the next generation of Jewish leaders — demands a new level of cooperation. The stakes are too high, and the margins too thin, for us to continue operating in silos.

The reality is that similar issues confronting colleges and universities of all stripes; but our Jewish institutions face the burden not merely of institutional continuity, but of supporting ongoing Jewish dynamism in an increasingly threatening external environment. Like all colleges and universities, our Jewishly-oriented schools must constantly thread the needle between preserving, or at least respecting, institutional traditions and legacies, and attempting to innovate, meet the needs of the day and ensure long-term sustainability.

We need a high-level convening of lay and professional leadership from across the spectrum of non-Orthodox Jewish academic institutions. This gathering should be charged not with defending the status quo, but with imagining bold new models for collaboration, integration and sustainability precisely in order to preserve that which is most valuable. It should be guided by a spirit of openness, urgency and shared purpose. Hopefully the same foundations and individuals that have consistently backed our independent institutions would support a collective exploration of new models.

The future of Jewish professional education — and by extension, the future of non-Orthodox Jewish life in America — depends on our willingness to think differently, act collectively and lead courageously.

Let’s start the conversation.

Brian Amkraut is a vice provost at Mount Saint Vincent University in the Bronx. He previously served as provost at the Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies, and is the founder and principal at Higher Ed Alternatives consulting.