4
Starting in 1996, Berger soon took on significant leadership
roles as a member of the Wise Temple Board, Chair
of the Outreach and Strategic Planning Committees, and
as President (2005-2007). Having experienced what a single
invitation can do, he was motivated to build on the temple’s
mission to “foster a culture of invitation.” His love for music
helped lead to the creation of the all-volunteer
Shir Chadash
band, inspired by a workshop he attended at a URJ Biennial
convention. Guitarist/singer Berger and his nine-member
group perform traditional liturgy set to contemporary music
at a monthly Friday night service and at community-wide
events at the JCC and the Cedar Village retirement community.
[
Listen to
Shir Chadash
at
huc.edu/shirchadash
]
Invited to join the Cincinnati Federation Board in 2007,
Berger chaired the Jewish-community wide Cincinnati 2020
Strategic Planning Team that involved key professionals, lay
leaders, and thought leaders from Cincinnati’s thirty Jewish
organizations and congregations, including HUC-JIR,
whose faculty participated in working groups. Berger served
as Federation President (2012-2014) and takes pride in
Cincinnati being “the most connected Jewish community of
its size in North America.”
Jerry Teller approached Berger in 2008 to join the HUC-
JIR Board of Governors at a time of severe economic crisis.
Berger became a member of the Board’s New Way Forward
Task Force, which he later chaired, to provide oversight to
the administration’s five-year plan for financial sustainability
that was successfully completed by 2013.
A member of the Executive and Governance Committees,
he also chaired the Strategic Planning Committee, which co-
incided with the work of the Presidential Search Committee,
on which he also served. “With our beloved Rabbi David
Ellenson stepping aside after twelve accomplished years, we
are fortunate to have a new President who is breathing new
life into everything we do. Rabbi Aaron Panken has em-
braced the strategic plan, along with his own goals, which
include increasing recruitment and admissions, reviewing
curriculum for the needs of the 21st century, deploying re-
sources efficiently, and expanding HUC-JIR’s reach beyond
the walls of its four campuses. “
Inducted as Chair in June 2014, Berger seeks to ensure that
“
each Governor has a meaningful role in our institution and
that our partnerships with the other branches of the Reform
Movement are ever stronger.” He is committed to seeing
HUC-JIR continue to grow by preparing more students for
leadership, expanding its role in advancing religious plural-
ism in Israel, and promoting HUC-JIR’s thought leaders as
“
the intellectual firepower on the leading edge of Jewish life.”
Berger’s commitments are shared by his wife Linda, who is
the Board President of the Interfaith Hospitality Network,
a nonprofit agency that partners with congregations of all
faiths to provide emergency shelter for homeless families.
The Bergers are blessed with five children: school psycholo-
gist Laura, twin sons architect Daniel and lawyer Timothy,
Culinary Institute of America student Julia, and Hannah,
who entered Kalamazoo College this fall.
This summer, Andy, Linda, and Hannah participated in a
memorable trip to Berlin and Prague, organized by HUC-
JIR’s American Jewish Archives and the Jewish Women’s
Archive, to commemorate the legacy of Regina Jonas, the
first-ever woman rabbi, who was ordained in Germany in
1935,
served the Jewish community of Berlin during the
Nazi era, and was murdered after having been imprisoned
at the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp. The
Bergers accompanied the first women rabbis ordained by
the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox
seminaries in North America and Europe, an experience that
powerfully reinforced their family’s cherished values of inclu-
sion and equality. [See Berger’s article at
huc.edu/jonas
]
Berger points to the recent Pew Study of Jewish Ameri-
cans as a clarion call to action. “With the largest growing
segment of Jews characterized as ‘Jews of No Religion,’ it is
up to HUC-JIR to prepare leaders with the knowledge and
skills to create the Jewish experiences, spiritual growth, and
opportunities for learning that will engage the unaffiliated
and enable them to find a home in a community informed
by Jewish history, tradition, and culture. HUC-JIR is an
absolutely amazing institution. We have to remain strong
and continue to grow. It is worthy of all of our support.
I urge everyone to join with me.”
Andy Berger (at right) and Linda Berger (second from left) with their
children (from left) Julie, Tim, Laura, Hannah, and Dan.