HUC-JIR invites you to the 27th Annual Cincinnati Associates Tribute Dinner to benefit the students of the Cincinnati campus on Sunday, October 24, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency (151 West Fifth Street, Cincinnati). The event will honor Karen M. Hoguet, Chief Financial Officer at Macy's, and James A. Miller, Chairman at Bartlett & Company. The Dinner Chairman is Dick Weiland. The reception will begin at 5:30 pm, followed by dinner at 6:00 pm. For more information, please contact (513) 487-3047 or pvolan@huc.edu. Click here to view the invitation.
The future of the North American Jewish community is being shaped by divergent forces unlike those we have confronted in the past. The URJ, CCAR and HUC-JIR are convening a Think Tank to provide creative leadership in addressing these trends and we need your input! Congregations and individuals are invited to participate in several public forums that will impact the work of the Think Tank and the future of Reform Judaism.
As the Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR celebrates the 135th anniversary of its founding, the oldest institution of higher Jewish learning in the western hemisphere announces a major expansion of its community outreach programming initiatives. "The resources on this campus are truly unparalleled," said Dr. Jonathan Cohen, Community Outreach Director and Director of HUC-UC Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems. "As one of this community's most esteemed historical institutions, we are focused on sharing these academic and intellectual treasures with more people than ever before."
Joshua Breitzer, a senior in the School of Sacred Music at HUC-JIR/New York, performed the music of Jack Gottlieb during his recital at the New York campus on October 13, 2010. Gottlieb, who was present at the recital, was the first full-time Professor of Music at the School of Sacred Music in 1973. Gottlieb joined the Leonard Bernstein Office in 1977 and is serving as the 2010-2011 Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic. Alexander Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein's son and President of The Bernstein Family Foundation, was also present at Breitzer's recital.
Pictured (left to right): Alexander Bernstein, Jack Gottlieb, Joshua Breitzer
Memory and Transformation, a new art exhibition opening at the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, in collaboration with the Jewish Artists Initiative, is a juried show of 33 artists who were asked to approach the themes of memory and transformation from their own perspective. Their works reflect the dynamic process of cultural change and their individual connections with religious or political ideas to link phenomena previously thought unconnected. The exhibition is on view through December 31, 2010.
Responding to the Westboro Baptist Church's (WBC) protest at the New York campus of HUC-JIR on October 11, staff, faculty, students and alumni have rallied to pledge contributions to the very kind of program that WBC chooses to picket: GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), an organization that works to ensure safe schools for all children. GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to accept and respect all people. In addition to resources for parents, teachers and students, GLSEN facilitates several programs including The National Day of Silence and No Name Calling Week.
HUC-JIR/Cincinnati is celebrating the 135th anniversary of its founding. Rabbi Ken Ehrlich, Dean of the Cincinnati campus, says, "The records show that the fall classes opened in the basement of what was then the Mound Street Temple in 1875." The Cincinnati campus is the oldest institution of higher Jewish learning in the western hemisphere. In November, HUC-JIR/Cincinnati will expand its community outreach programs to mark the anniversary. Events will include history lectures by leading scholars, authors' lectures, and musical concerts that are free and open to the community. Click here to visit the new Cincinnati website.
In "Generation of Change: How Leaders in Their Twenties and Thirties Are Reshaping American Jewish Life," Jack Wertheimer brings together the research findings of Sarah Bunin Benor, HUC-JIR/Los Angeles; Steven M. Cohen, HUC-JIR/NY; and four other researchers, on the topic of Jews in their 20s and 30s who are leading Jewish organizations and cultural initiatives. The report was released by the Avi Chai Foundation.
Dr. Michael A. Meyer, Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, a Jew who escaped his native Germany as a 3 year old in 1941, has spent his professional life teaching the Holocaust. His efforts include serving on the board and leading teacher training at the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education. The center, relocated a year ago from HUC-JIR/Cincinnati to Sycamore Township, will celebrate its 10th anniversary Sunday and honor 10 people - Meyer, 71, among them - who shaped its success. "I was very fortunate to survive, and it imposes a certain obligation upon me," said Meyer. "My obligation is to take my survival, for which I did nothing, and turn that into a task to do whatever little I am able to teach about the Holocaust and its consequences."
While protesting at HUC-JIR/New York on October 11, 2010, members of Westboro Baptist Church who were carrying signs denouncing Jews, Israel, gays, and dead, American soldiers, were met by proud counter-protesters. "At today's demonstrations, some counter-protestors carried their own signs. At HUC-JIR, the front entrance featured a poster with the colors of gay pride, declaring 'Our diversity is our greatest strength.' A young woman probably said it best with her sign, 'Love is louder.'"
| Members of HUC-JIR faculty and staff, including Rabbi David Ellenson, Dr. Steven Windmueller, and Dr. Steven M. Cohen, recently had articles published in American Jewry's Comfort Level: Present and Future by Manfred Gerstenfeld and Steven Bayme. Click here for further information. |
Dr. Michael J. Cook, Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, is invited to serve as Scholar-in-Residence at Temple Beth-El of South Bend, IN, and its broader Notre Dame and synagogue communities, on October 22-24, 2010.
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Dr. Susan Einbinder, Professor of Hebrew Literature at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, gave a lecture at Wesleyan University on October 7, 2010, on "Seeing the Blind: Medieval Jewish Martyrdom, Poetry, and Hysterical Blindness." Click here for further information. Professor Einbinder will be speaking at Yale for the Medieval Studies program on October 28, 2010.
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Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles, has been invited to become Honorary Member of the Society of Old Testament Studies in Great Britain, an honor bestowed on only 20 distinguished scholars outside the UK. She was also asked to give the Keynote Address in the forthcoming meeting of the Society in Oxford, July 2010.
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Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at HUC-JIR, will present a paper at the Eighth Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue in Doha, Qatar, entitled "The Need for Educational Reform in Religious Education that Teaches Honor and Respect for Other Religions" on October 20, 2010. Firestone will present "Is There Room in Islam for a Jewish State?" at Valley Beth Shalom College of Judaic Studies on November 3, 2010. Click here for further information.
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Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Professor of Liturgy, Worship, and Ritual at HUC-JIR/New York, will present the Annual Cohon Memorial Lecture on October 29, 2010, at 7:30 pm at Temple Sinai of Brookline, MA. He will discuss "Builders, Baby Boomers and Beyond: Looking for American Jewish Identity," a nostaligic revisiting of baby boomers growing up.
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Christopher Eli Kraus, JD, MTS, Visiting Instructor in Jewish Education at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, is leading a seminar for the World Day of Jewish Learning, co-sponsored by Jewish Education Society of North America and Jewish Community Centers around the world, including the one in Cincinnati, titled "Love and Relationships in Jewish Life", at the Mayerson JCC on November 7, 2010.
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Rabbi Charles Kroloff, Vice President for Special Projects at HUC-JIR, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination with an afternoon of study at Temple Emanu-El of Westfield, NJ, on October 16, 2010. Rabbi Kroloff, Vice President for Special Projects at HUC-JIR, said, "I believe Torah study and Jewish education are the core of Jewish life. From that flow knowledge and community and social justice and faith." Click here for more information.
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Dr. Adriane Leveen, Assistant Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles, was published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: "Inside Out: Jethro, the Midianites and a Biblical Construction of the Outsider" (34: 395-417). She was a participant in a panel discussion on October 10, 2010, with the abstract artist Jill Nathanson, on "Genesis in Painting and Midrash." The event was organized by the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning and the Derfner Judaica Museum. On October 25, 2010, she will be the moderator at the Wisdom Books publication party with Robert Alter at the Eldridge Street Museum.
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Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature at HUC-JIR/New York, was invited to be among a select group of distinguished Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars grappling with a religious response to the global economic crisis sponsored by the Caux Roundtable. Convened at the Mountain House in Caux, Switzerland by the Caux Round Table, His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington, DC; Ronald Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology and former Dean at the Harvard Divinity School; and Ibrahim Zein, Professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion and Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, these scholars have now produced a profound statement that calls on all those affiliated with the Abrahamic faiths to begin to utilize their creative energies to address the challenges that face our world in a post-crisis economy. Click here to read the Caux Round Table statement: Repairing our Stewardship of Creation: Abrahamic Social Thought and the Global Economic Crisis. Panken will give the annual Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg Memorial Lecture at Temple Emeth in New Jersey on October 22, 2010. He will speak on "The Stranger in Jewish Law and Lore: Where Jewish Law meets American Immigration Policy." Click here for further information.
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Rabbi Haim O. Rechnitzer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Jewish Thought at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, was asked to participate in "Establishment Debate: Rules of Civic Engagement," a scholars' panel from Xavier and Cincinnati Universities dedicated to the question of Church and State. The debate will take place on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm at the Mayerson JCC in Cincinnati.
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Professor Adam Rubin, Assistant Professor of Jewish History at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles, will present "Ben Gurion and the Founding of Israel" at Valley Beth Shalom College of Judaic Studies on October 20, 2010. Click here for further information.
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Dr. S. David Sperling, Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR/New York, served as the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Distinguished Visiting Professor in Judaic Studies at the College of William and Mary. Among his presentations were "War, Holy and Otherwise;" and "Do Jews Really Study the Old Testament?"
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Dr. Mark E. Washofsky, Ph.D., Solomon B. Freehof Professor of Jewish Law and Practice at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, is the editor of Reform Responsa for the Twenty-First Century: Sh'eilot Ut'shuvot (New York: CCAR Press, 2010). His revised edition of Jewish Living: A Guide to Contemporary Reform Practice was recently published by the URJ Press. His article, "Torture, Terrorism, and the Halakhah," appeared in the volume edited by Dr. Walter Jacob, War and Terrorism in Jewish Law (Pittsburgh: Rodef Shalom Press, 2010).
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Join us in Chicago at Temple Beth Israel for a day of learning on Monday, October 25, 2010. The day will begin at 9:30 am with a special session led by Dr. Michael Zeldin, Director of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, on "Mentoring: Beyond Supervision and Evaluation" for HUC-JIR alumni and CATE members. The Chicago Jewish community is invited to participate in a presentation, discussion, and lunch from 11:30 am - 3:00 pm with Dr. Samuel Joseph, Professor of Jewish Education and Leadership Development, on "Effective Leaders, Where Art Thou?" Free and open to the public. RSVP required.
Join us in Atlanta at Marcus Hillel Center at Emory University for a day of learning on Tuesday, October 26, 2010. Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature, will lead a special learning event for HUC-JIR alumni at 9:30 am on the topic "True Lies: Truth, Gossip, and the American-Jewish Way." The Atlanta Jewish community is invited to participate in a presentation, discussion, and lunch from 11:30 am - 3:00 pm with Rabbi Panken on "Holy War in Judaism and Islam: A Comparative Study." Free and open to the public. RSVP required.
Dr. David Mendelsson, 2010 Schusterman Fellow in Israel Studies, will present "Israel, Civil Religion and the Sacred: Collective Memory in the Hills of Jerusalem" on October 25 at 4:00 pm in Los Angeles. The 2010 Schusterman Fellow in Israel Studies is sponsored by USC College of Arts and Sciences and HUC-JIR Louchheim School for Judaic Studies. For further information, please contact 213-765-2113 or louchheim@huc.edu.
In response to Westboro Baptist Church's protest at HUC-JIR/New York on October 11, 2010, HUC-JIR/New York's Student Association displayed their own sign: Our Diversity Is Our Strength.
Outstanding Israeli fiber artist Adina Gatt creates unique challah covers with biblical text. Challah Ve'Shameru, a hand-embroidered black silk fille challah cover, displays text from Exodus 31:16 in graceful modern calligraphy: "And the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath an eternal covenant for their generations."
$525, plus shipping and handling. To purchase, please contact: 212-824-2218, museumnyc@huc.edu. Purchase with your American Express card and receive double Membership Rewards points!