Rabbi Dr. Rob Jury

My scholarship brings together counselor education, spiritually integrated care, chaplaincy, Jewish studies, addiction and recovery, narrative practice, and professional formation. Across university, clinical, and Jewish communal settings, I have been interested in how meaning-making, religious and spiritual traditions, and interpretive practices shape care, learning, recovery, and institutional life.

I serve as Principal Investigator of the MIDRASH Lab at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, where my work explores spirituality, addiction recovery, professional formation, and research development in healthcare and educational contexts. My research is interdisciplinary by design, drawing on hermeneutics, narrative inquiry, Jewish thought, and the lived experience of students, clinicians, chaplains, and communities.

A central concern in my scholarship is the relationship between interpretation and formation. I am especially interested in the ways Jewish texts, metaphors, liturgy, and traditions can function as resources for meaning, resilience, ethical reflection, and healing. My work has also addressed religious and spiritual identity, antisemitism, Jewish student wellbeing, and the preparation of helping professionals to engage questions of belief, practice, suffering, and vocation with seriousness and care.

Alongside peer-reviewed and professional publications, I have presented nationally and internationally on chaplaincy, spiritually integrated care, Jewish learning, addiction recovery, and professional formation. I remain committed to scholarship that is rigorous, interdisciplinary, and publicly engaged, and that contributes not only to academic discourse but also to the life of institutions and communities.

Research Leadership: MIDRASH Lab

The MIDRASH Lab at The Family Institute at Northwestern University supports research at the intersections of spirituality, addiction recovery, professional formation, counseling, chaplaincy, and Jewish thought. Its work draws on interdisciplinary methods and seeks to connect scholarship, teaching, and institutional practice.

Areas of Focus

Instruction and Development in Research
Research pedagogy, researcher development, and translational inquiry in counseling education

Addiction
Addiction recovery, American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)-informed care, and deliberate practice in counselor training

Spirituality in Healthcare
Spiritually integrated counseling, Jewish mental health, antisemitism in clinical and educational contexts, and religious ways of knowing in health and wellbeing

The MIDRASH Lab supports faculty- and student-initiated research, mentorship, and collaborative scholarship across all phases of the research process.