ChaimYakov Shlomo College of Jewish Studies, established in 2004, is an intensive academic institution which will grant smicha (rabbinic ordination), which is linked to the Master of Hebrew Letters (M.H.L.) degree, and a B.H.L. or Bachelor of Hebrew Letters, a degree designed for lay professionals in the Jewish community.

The Smicha Program is open to students with very substantial traditional Judaica background. It is a post-yeshiva graduate program. The Yoreh Yoreh ordination, or ordinary rabbinical ordination, is the culmination of a one-year, four-quarter intensive program which focuses on traditional studies but which includes modern skills needed for a successful career in the Orthodox rabbinate.

The B.H.L. (Bahcelor of Hebrew Letters) is a four-year evening program of three or four courses per trimester for twelve trimesters or 120 credits. The program encompasses several types of learning: traditional lectures, tutorials (hevrusa learning), individual study, and use of the web as a learning tool. In addition to a firm knowledge base about Judaism, students will be qualified as a “para-rabbi” and prepared to work as a Jewish professional in synagogues, day or supplementary schools, or the Jewish community service worlds as highly qualifiedly leaders for the Jewish community.

Mission Statement
The Chaim Yakov Shlomo College of Jewish Studies (CYSCJS) has been established to:
• Provide the highest level of academic training and mission orientation to qualified rabbinical scholars to answer the need for Jewish leadership on a global basis;
• Provide adequate knowledge and information in a condensed manner to qualified lay leadership to answer the need for educating lay leadership; and
• Enhance the spiritual level of the local community, which is designated as a pilot community in promoting Jewish education and Torah values to be emulated.

History
CYSCJS is named in honor of Chaim Yakov Shlomo Garfunkel, a respected and successful businessman who loved and supported Jewishness.