It was established in Jerusalem in 1985 and, with its second center of activity based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
The Institute offers professional training programs for spokespersons, educators, leaders (also referred to in Hebrew as madrikhim/ot or in Yiddish as vegvayzer), and rabbis, in addition to publications, public seminars, and colloquia for lay audiences.
It has also trained music leaders and cantors, though those programs are not currently active.
[1] The Israeli rabbinic program of the IISHJ began in 2004 and held its first ordination in 2006.
[2][3] The IISHJ's founding co-chairs were Rabbi Sherwin Wine and Yaakov Malkin of Tel Aviv University.