Another unique feature of RIETS is that its curriculum caters to a very broad spectrum of students. The Jews who originate from European countries, referred to as Ashkenazim, have customs and practices that are different than the Jews who lived in Middle Eastern and North African countries, referred to as Sephardim. By and large, RIETS students tend to come from Ashkenazic homes. But there are also many RIETS students from Sephardic homes who wish to carry on their customs and practices and to serve in their communities. Through its Sephardic Program, RIETS has developed special courses for Sephardic students that allows them to study and focus on their customs and practices and to prepare for serving as leaders of their communities. Indeed, increasingly Sephardic students who have received RIETS ordination have been placed in the outstanding communities in the country.

Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies educates Sephardic youth and serves Sephardic community needs, while enabling growing numbers of Ashkenazic students to study this component of Jewish tradition.

Undergraduate and graduate offerings include Sephardic philosophy, Halakhah, jurisprudence, history, languages, and music. Community services include lecture series, conferences, and other projects. The Institute established the Western Hemisphere's first Professorial Chair in Sephardic Studies.

The Institute of Yemenite Studies offers similar services for that community. Sephardic Community Program enriches Sephardic communal life, focusing on spiritual, educational, and cultural aspects. It develops new Sephardic communities and congregations in North America and Latin America, and places Sephardic professionals.

The program sponsors conferences and promotes Spanish-language Jewish material. Dr. Joseph and Rachel Ades Sephardic Outreach Program administers youth retreats, lectures, and outreach programs, and works closely with both the Safra Institute and the Institute of Yemenite Studies to provide similar services for the Yemenite heritage. Maybaum Sephardic Fellowship Program assists, with appropriate stipends and learning grants, those RIETS students who are committed to serve as the future rabbis of the Sephardic communities worldwide. They pursue courses in Sephardic Halakhah and other pertinent areas and are guided to pursue the widest practical training in key areas of Jewish observance not ordinarily undertaken by the Ashkenazic rabbinate, liturgy and melody of liturgy, circumcision and Shekhita.