Shavuot Greetings from Rabbi David Ellenson and Barbara
Friedman
The transmission of Torah continues
today, as we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot and Israel's 60th anniversary, and bring forth another generation
of Jewish leaders at the convocations of our 133rd academic year. Inspired by Torah's ethical values – gemilut
chasadim, acts of loving kindness, and the pursuit of tzedek, justice – our students and alumni are
committed to activism to build a fair and just society and bring tikkun olam, the repairing of our world.
View
HUC-JIR students' social action in this video. |
Schusterman Rabbinical Fellowship Program a Milestone in Collaboration
In a first-of-its-kind partnership,
the Schusterman Rabbinical Fellowship Program will bring together eight outstanding rabbinical students from the
Conservative and Reform Movements for three years of formal study. "I am excited to be part of a ground-breaking
effort to train rabbinical students to better respond to the needs of interfaith families and unaffiliated Jews, to
provide them with enhanced leadership and management skills, and to think outside the box to create vibrant
congregations," said Lynn Schusterman, Chair and Co-Founder of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation,
which is funding the project. |
HUC-JIR to Co-Sponsor Academic Conference on American Jewish History
The eighth Biennial Scholars
Conference on American Jewish History, the premier scholarly meeting of the academic field, will be held for
the first time on the West Coast on Sunday, June 1-Tuesday, June 3, 2008. This conference, bringing together
leading scholars, graduate students, and other students of the subject for two days of deliberation, is organized
by Dr. David Kaufman, Associate Professor of Contemporary American Jewish Studies at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles. |
HUC-JIR Museum Exhibit On View at the Citigroup Center in New York:
Project Kesher - Women and Jewish Renaissance in Ukraine, Photographs by Joan Roth
Laura Kruger, Curator of the HUC-JIR
Museum in New York, produced the exhibition, which debuted in 2007 at HUC-JIR. Photographer Joan Roth says,
"I have been photographing Jewish women around the world for many years. This experience was exceptionally moving for
me because it was about women seeing themselves in a new light. This time I wasn't going back to the old world; I was
seeing into a new world. Project Kesher women are enriched and empowered in ways I hadn't dreamed." |
Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Reflects on HUC-JIR Graduation in Los Angeles
Rabbi Zimmerman, Past HUC-JIR
President (1996-2000), who delivered the benediction at Graduation at HUC-JIR/LA, said, "It was wonderful to see and
experience the vibrancy of the Los Angeles school and the extraordinary strides it has made. President David Ellenson,
his administration and the faculty are accomplishing so much. We have so much of which to be proud. Dean Steven
Windmueller continues to guide and lead with a loving hand. The College-Institute's presence in the West has made
such a difference." |
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Cracking The Glass Ceiling –
The Jewish Week
Bronznick's strategies have already
begun to change the culture of certain Jewish organizations. As a consultant for HUC-JIR, she helped integrate women
into the seminary's administration. Female board members soon jumped from seven out of 55 in 2001 to 21 out of 55 in
2005, and a woman — Barbara Friedman — currently serves as chair. "Shifra's insights about the ways in which women
could enrich our organization through their leadership is something to which I gave great credence." said Rabbi David
Ellenson, Ph.D., President of HUC-JIR. |
Feminists Hope for More
Gains – The Canadian Jewish News
There was also a surprise celebration
to mark Rabbi Goldstein's receipt of an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity from HUC-JIR and her 25th anniversary in the
rabbinate. It was noted that like the guest speakers, she, too, had set a feminist milestone as one of the first
female rabbis in Canada. |
Book of Jewish Women's Prayers Brings Local Authors
Closer to Their Faith – The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
The signing will be followed by lunch
and a prayer-writing workshop at noon led by HUC-JIR Professor Wendy I. Zierler, who wrote the introduction for "To
Speak her Heart." |
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Upcoming Events at HUC-JIR
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HUC-JIR Ordination and Graduation Ceremonies in Cincinnati to be
Held this Weekend
Nineteen HUC-JIR students will
be ordained as Rabbis at the Cincinnati Ordination Ceremony at Plum Street Temple Saturday, May 31. Rabbi Naomi
Levy, Author and Faculty, Wexner Heritage Foundation and Academy of Jewish Religion, will deliver the Ordination
Address. On Sunday, June 1, HUC-JIR students will receive graduate degrees and alumni will be honored for their
professional service at the Graduation Ceremony at Isaac M. Wise Temple. Dr. Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of
Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, will deliver the Graduation Address. |
First Ordained Female Rabbi To Speak At Westchester Reform Temple
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand,
the first female rabbi to be ordained in the United States, will be the guest speaker at the Annual Shabbat
Dinner and Service hosted by the Women of Reform Judaism on Friday, June 6 at Westchester Reform Temple (WRT)
in Scarsdale. |
Spotlight on HUC-JIR's Programs and
Research Resources
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Rosalyn Engelman Exhibition at
HUC-JIR/NY Museum Featured in 'A Modern Collection, Awash With Color' in NY Sun
Rosalyn Engelman has filled the
apartment over the last two decades with large-scale, modern pieces awash with bright colors. "I love color,"
Engelman, who wears bright red glasses, said. Engelman's work is currently on display in two New York shows:
"Dry Tears" is a mixed media installation at HUC-JIR. |
'Jewish Vision' Exhibition from HUC-JIR Museum/NY
at Tyler Museum of Art
Tikkun Olam, "Repairing the World"
is such a deeply embedded Jewish concept that Sigmund Balka has spent a lifetime seeking ways to express it. In
2006, he donated his encyclopedic art collection to HUC-JIR. A portion of Balka's collection will be exhibited as
"The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka" at the Tyler Museum of Art. |
Cinema Judaica: Epic Cycle at HUC-JIR Museum in New York
Americans love movies that relate to
the Bible, anti-Semitism, and the birth of Israel. Cinema Judaica features posters and promotional materials from
many of them—B flicks with Spanish/Italian casts, biblical spectacles such as "David and Bathsheba," critically
acclaimed films such as "The Fixer" and of course, "Exodus." |
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Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of
higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional development center of Reform Judaism.
HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and
communal service professionals and offers graduate and post-graduate degree programs for scholars of all faiths.
With campuses in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New York, and Jerusalem, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise
renowned library, archive, and museum collections, the American Jewish Archives, biblical archaeology
excavations, research centers and institutes, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array
of cultural and educational programs that illuminate Jewish history, culture, and contemporary creativity, and
foster interfaith and multi-ethnic understanding.
Visit us at
www.huc.edu.
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