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HUCNews is a weekly e-newsletter produced by HUC-JIR's National Public Affairs Office.
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HUC-JIR/Los Angeles Graduation and Ordination Ceremonies 2010
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles will hold Ordination Ceremonies on Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 10 am and Graduation Ceremonies on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 3 pm. Ordination will take place at Wilshire Boulevard Temple (3663 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles) and Graduation will take place at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles (3077 University Ave., Los Angeles). Rabbi Ellenson will present honorary degrees and awards to leading academic, communal, and civic leaders; award earned degrees to HUC-JIR's graduates; and ordain the Rabbinical Class of 2010. Click here to view the national invitation for event details. More...
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2010 Dr. Bernard Heller Prize Address by Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Rabbi David Ellenson, HUC-JIR President, and Ruth O. Freedlander, Co-Trustee of the Dr. Bernard Heller Foundation, presented the 2010 Dr. Bernard Heller Prize to Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at Graduation Ceremonies on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. Ambassador Shalev stated, "My life is entwined with the recent history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. I lost my grandparents in Auschwitz. And I lost the father of my children, in the Yom Kippur War. Being an Israeli patriot and a Zionist, and given my personal history, I proudly accepted the challenging role of Israel's ambassador to the United Nations. The prize granted to me today symbolizes the bond between the American Jewish community and Israel. This prize also demonstrates the strong ties between the United States and the State of Israel. And no one could have affirmed these bonds better or more forcefully than President Obama who most recently wrote the following words, and I quote: 'As for our relations with Israel, let me be very clear: we have a special relationship with Israel and that will not change. Our countries are bound together by shared values, deep and interwoven connections, and mutual interests.'" More...
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HUC-JIR Mourns Rabbi David J. Forman, z"l, educator, activist, author, and founder of Rabbis for Human Rights
The College-Institute's dear friend, Rabbi David J. Forman, z"l, the founder of Rabbis for Human Rights who fought for religious pluralism in Israel, died on Monday, May 3, 2010. Rabbi David Ellenson, HUC-JIR President, stated, "We have lost a visionary leader of the Jewish people, whose Zionist commitment to the State of Israel and devotion to Judaism's core ethical values of human rights and social justice were a source of guidance, wisdom, and inspiration. Israel has lost a voice of conscience, the Reform Movement has lost a prophetic leader, and our Israel programs have lost a beloved teacher and mentor. He will be missed by many who were blessed to have him as a colleague, a teacher, a rabbi, and a friend." More...
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HUC-JIR's Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation Calls on Congress to Pass the Employment Non Discrimination Act
The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation (www.huc.edu/ijso) joins the nation's leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations, along with allies in the faith, labor and civil rights communities to call on Congress to pass the Employment Non Discrimination Act now. To make your voice heard go to: http://endanow.com/act-now/. More...
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Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Announces 2010 Ordination, Investiture, Graduate, and Honorary Degree Recipients
Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., President of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) has announced the class of 2010, who will be ordained, invested, and graduated this spring in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York. Rabbi Ellenson said, "The Class of 2010 emerges from the College-Institute imbued with leadership skills, steeped in knowledge, strengthened by a commitment to service, and dedicated to bringing hope and healing to our troubled world. As they touch the lives of others through their sacred work as rabbis, cantors, educators, communal professionals, scholars, and pastoral care-givers throughout North America and around the world, they will be a source of inspiration and guidance." Click here to view the national invitation for event details. More...
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Rabbi David Ellenson at Tikkun Leil Shavuot at B'nai Jeshurun, NY: Tuesday, May 18 at 10:30 p.m.
Rabbi David Ellenson will participate in a dialogue on "The Jewish Future: What is Essential?" with Dr. Devora Steinmetz at B'nai Jeshurun's Tikkun Leil Shavuot on Tuesday, May 18 at 10:30 pm. Their dialogue will follow services at 8:30 pm and a dialogue between Dr. Deborah Lipstadt and Jonathan Rosen at 9 pm. Dr. Steinmetz is the founder of Beit Rabban and faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar. B'nai Jeshurun is located at 257 West 88th Street (between Broadway and West End Avenue). More...
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Rabbi Norman J. Cohen to Speak at Louisville Jewish Community Center: May 17 at 7:30 pm
Rabbi Norman J. Cohen, former provost of HUC-JIR and this year's Jewish Community of Louisville Goldstein/Leibson Scholar-in-Residence on Monday, May 17, 7:30 p.m., will share his unique insights at the Jewish Community Center in Louisville, KY. The evening's topic, "How the Bible Can Help Me in My Struggles as a Parent and as a Child," will allow the rabbi to do what he does best - use selected midrashim - commentaries on stories from the Bible - to help us confront our own struggles in the world we live in today. He is renowned for his expertise in Torah study and currently is a professor of Midrash at HUC-JIR in New York. For more information, please visit www.jewishlouisville.org.More...
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Putting Faith into Action: May 26 at 10 am in Los Angeles
The Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at HUC-JIR, California Faith for Equality, and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation invite you to Putting Faith into Action, a training that will to maximize your capacity to work effectively at the intersection of LGBT equality and religion. Please join with clergy and lay leaders from congregations and organizations in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, from 10 am to 4 pm at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles (540 South Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles). More...
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Jerusalem Student Services
May 8 at 9:30 am: Leading Services: Eric Mollo; Dvar Torah: Matt Zerwekh
May 10 at 9 am: Shaliah zibur: Gila Ken; Drasha: Uri Lem
May 14 at 6 pm: Dvar Torah: Julia Grishchenko More...
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The Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology Lecture: May 27 at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem
Please join HUC-JIR/Jerusalem and The Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology as Aren Maeir presents "Canaanite, Philistine and Israelite: Excavation at Philistine Gath - Tel Zafit." The lecture, conducted in Hebrew, is designed to present the results of recent archaeological research to the general public in Israel. It will take place on May 27th at 5:00 pm at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem. Admission is free. The series is supported by the Fellner Foundation and its Trustee, Mr. Frederick L. Simmons of Los Angeles. More...
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On Israel, U.S. Jews Diverge, Often Parting Company with Leaders - NY Times
Sociologist Steven M. Cohen at HUC-JIR New York, who co-wrote a study last year charting a steep decline in attachment to Israel among younger Jews, said the younger and liberal-leaning are frustrated at being labeled "anti-Israel" or even anti-Semitic for expressing opposition to Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories. More...
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How Doing Good Is Good for Business - ABC World News with Diane Sawyer
Dov Seidman, a member of the President's Council at HUC-JIR, recently talked with ABC's Diane Sawyer about why doing good can be good for business. This interview ranges from Wall Street responsibility, to the Massey mine tragedy to a rise in inspirational leadership approaches to meet the changed dynamics of a 21st century world. According to Seidman, "It shines a light on our entering an Era of Behavior, an era where our behavior matters more than ever before, where we are not only more connected globally but morally interdependent." More...
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Amid Dying Languages, Yiddish Lives On - Tablet
There are, the New York Times reported yesterday, a "remarkable trove of endangered tongues that have taken root in New York-languages born in every corner of the globe and now more commonly heard in various corners of New York than anywhere else." Yiddish is actually thriving in New York City, and elsewhere-among ultra-Orthodox communities. Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles, said, "I think there is a sense that it's diminishing because a lot of the speakers were killed in the Holocaust, and others moved to America and Israel and assimilated to the local languages," she explained. "Yiddish is alive and well." In fact, she added, "It's changing. It's becoming Americanized. It's picking up words and grammatical structures." More...
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Rabbi David Forman, Rabbis for Human Rights Founder, Dies - JTA
Rabbi David Forman, the founder of Rabbis for Human Rights who fought for religious pluralism in Israel, died Monday in Dallas while awaiting a liver transplant. He was 10 days shy of his 66th birthday. The rabbi founded Rabbis for Human Rights in 1988 and served as its chairman from to 1992, and again in 2002-03. The organization, which calls itself "the rabbinic voice of conscience in Israel, giving voice to the Jewish tradition of human rights," has a membership of rabbis and rabbinic students from all streams of Judaism. It is primarily concerned with the plight of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Forman was ordained at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati in 1972, and received a doctorate in 1997. More...
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Little Publicized Episode of Holocaust Brought Home in Photos - All Voices
Artist Susan Silas has created a photographic exhibit of the last steps of 580 female Jewish prisoners. The Nazis were evacuating the Helmbrecht's camp, a site that has not received much attention, when they began marching the women through a forest between Germany and the Czech Republic on April 13, 1945. Photos of the 225-mile walk through forests, including news clips, are on view at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum through June 30, Art Knowledge reported Friday. "The elegiac atmosphere evoked by Silas's photographs hints at the hidden, tragic history of nearly 65 years ago lying beneath the benign wooded landscape," says Jean Bloch Rosensaft, HUC-JIR Museum Director. "By retracing this Holocaust journey, Silas activates her personal mission of being a witness to the witnesses of the Holocaust, and serves as a vital link in the chain of transmission of Holocaust memory." More...
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Beverly Hills Honors the Father of Zionism
Beverly Hills will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Theodor Herzl by renaming the 300 block of North Clark Drive for the father of Zionism. The block's new name will have the positive effect on children for years to come, said Rabbi Laura Geller (HUC-JIR/New York '76) of Temple Emanuel. "They'll walk past the street sign and say to their mom or dad, 'Who was Herzl?'" said Geller. "It becomes an opportunity for us to continue into future generations a sense of the significance of the creation of the State of Israel and all that it took to make this dream to come true." More...
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Welcoming Others - HUC-JIR's Blog of Continuing Jewish Learning
Ruth Abusch-Magder, HUC-JIR's Director of Continuing Alumni Education on Sustaining Rabbinic Education, writes, "We learn in Midrash Tanuhma B, Hukkat, that in paving the way for the people of Israel to make their way across the wilderness to Mt. Sinai, God smoothed out the landscape lest mountainous terrain make the people of Israel weary on their way to revelation. This vision of paving a smooth path for people toward the Torah is one that I would venture to say guides most Jewish professionals. Yet, those who we are trying to embrace often feel somewhat weary from the obstacles they encounter. Closing the gap between welcome we hope to extend and the welcome people experience is the work of the Jewish Welcome Network. Based in San Francisco, the Network emerged from the Bay Area communities' need to address the diversity of those connected with and interested in connecting to the Jewish community." More...
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HUC-JIR is proud of our accomplished faculty:
Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at HUC-JIR, is currently teaching HUC-JIR's rabbinic colleagues at SEACCAR (Southeast Area CCAR) in Fort Lauderdale. He will be presenting a paper in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, at the Second World Conference on Interreligious and Inter-Civilization Dialogue. His paper will be "Respect for Religious Rights and Cultural Diversity: The Foundation of peace and prosperity." On May 12, he is speaking at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania (Cluj-Napoca, the capital of the region called Transylvania) at an invited lecture for the Seminar for Research in Religions and Ideologies (SCIRI). His talk will be "Divine Authority And Mass Violence: Holy War in Judaism, Christianity and Islam."
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Dr. Jonathan Krasner, Assistant Professor of the American Jewish Experience, HUC-JIR/New York, has just published an article on Jewish education during the Depression in Jewish Educational Leadership (please click here for pdf of article) and a chapter, entitled "Sadie Rose Weilerstein through the Looking Glass, K'tonton and the American Jewish Zeitgeist" in "The Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education, edited by Carol Ingall (Brandeis, 2010).
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Dr. Gary Zola, Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and Professor of the American Jewish Experience at HUC-JIR, is speaking at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC on Thursday, May 27 at 7 p.m.. He was invited by The National Archives to participate in their program marking Jewish American Heritage Month. For further information, please click here. More...
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New at the HUC-JIR Judaica Gallery
These "Touching" mezuzot from the Studio of Israeli silversmith Sari Srulovitch are masterfully crafted in brass and brushed steel to create a design that is modern yet traditionally inspired. Srulovitch's addition of indentations to the clean design represents the touch of thousands of hands that have reached up to kiss the mezuzah on the doorpost of Jewish homes for generations. $300 each plus shipping and handling. To purchase, please contact: 212-824-2218, museumnyc@huc.edu.
Please click the icon to the left for a larger image.
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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, 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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