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ings on contemporary Jewish topics, and content
that will educate interested scholars, alumni, and
students of all ages, races, faiths, languages, and de-
nominations. We will build upon our successes in
the area of hybrid and executive programs, expand-
ing our student base and broadening our impact in
the broader Jewish community. The Jewish world
is waiting for us to develop in this manner, and we
will not fail to deliver on our role as the intellectual
center of our Movement, and, indeed, of greater
Judaism, in the years ahead.
We are in many ways, once again, immigrants
who have arrived on the shores of a new world,
one quite different from the one our great-grand-
parents first inhabited. Like any immigrants, we
bring with us our cherished traditions and the
inspiring wisdom of our ancestors, but it will take
all our creativity, all our commitment, and all our
attention to ensure that we flourish as we make new
forays onto novel shores. Just as they were up to the
challenge, just as Abraham faced his fears and went
off into the unknown, just as our people wandered
in the desert led by Moses, Aaron and Miriam,
to find their sacred place, just as the generations
moved from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia to North
Africa to Europe to America and Israel, yet always
remained part of our people, we, too, will find our
way, with God’s blessing. May the Holy One who
has blessed our journey thus far continue to bless
each of us, our Movement, and, most of all, our
beloved College-Institute, henceforth and forever.
“
We plan for the College-Institute to
expand its global thought leadership in
the years to come…and we will not fail
to deliver on our role as the intellectual
center of our Movement and, indeed, of
greater Judaism, in the years ahead.”
“
Hallelujah,” composed by the 19th-century German-Jewish composer Lewandowski
and sung by the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music Choir, filled the sanctuary
of Plum Street Temple during the recessional at the conclusion of the Inauguration.
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