As a chaplain this summer for the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Sonia Saltzman sat with an elderly woman the day before she died. "We talked and listened to music together, and I hope this was comforting to her," Saltzman says. Through a Rabbinical School internship, the second-year student comforted dying patients and led services, increasing her leadership skills and stretching in new directions.

As the Rabbinical School's first 12 students start their second year, they'll complement their course work with internships across Greater Boston. Among the placements: Jewish Family and Children's Services, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Jewish Women's Archive, Hillel Foundations and the Interfaith Program in Clinical Pastoral Education.

"These internships provide our students with an opportunity to develop their identity as a rabbi—a spiritual and professional journey that must be lived out, not just talked about," says Rabbi Carol Glass, Rabbinical School dean of students.

Rabbinical School students must complete three years of supervised internships throughout the five-year program. Most will begin this fall, working on Wednesdays throughout the school year; others, like Saltzman, will complete intensive summer internships or otherwise fit the experiences into busy schedules.

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