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A
cknowledgments
This Service of Inauguration reflects the wisdom of
many. The Liturgy Committee responsible for its
composition was chaired by Rabbi Lawrence A.
Hoffman and included fellow faculty members and
alumni: Merri Lovinger Arian; Rabbi Lewis H.
Kamrass; Rabbi David M. Posner, Joyce Rosenzweig;
Rabbi Richard S. Sarason, Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller;
Cantor Yvon F. Shore; and Rabbi S. David Sperling.
Segments of the Service were borrowed from the liturgy
originally penned by Rabbi Eugene Mihaly for the
Inauguration of Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk —
zichronam
livrakhah
—
in 1971. Other sections came from the
liturgy composed by Rabbi Hoffman for the 1981
dedication of the Ark in the Minnie Petrie Synagogue
at HUC-JIR/New York. The bulk of the other readings
were composed by Rabbi Hoffman for this occasion, or,
in a few cases, for the 2001 Inauguration of Rabbi David
Ellenson. The visual design of the service around the
three headings — v’
hu haya, v’hu hoveh, v’hu yih’yeh
(
past,
present, and future) — came from Dr. Joel Hoffman.
Jean Bloch Rosensaft guided the process of production
from beginning to end, aided by Sylvia Posner.
We thank the Isaac M. Wise Temple for graciously
opening the doors of the Plum Street Temple to our
celebration and for being a partner with us in this
venture. Gratitude goes to its clergy, Rabbi Lewis H.
Kamrass, Rabbi Karen R. Tomashow, Rabbi Sydney
F. Henning, and Rabbi Rachel M. Maimin, for their
participation in the service.
Prayers were also led by Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman,
Rabbi Michael Marmur, and Rabbi Michael L.
Chernick. Rabbi Norman J. Cohen delivered the
Benediction. Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller composed a
Kaddish D’rabbanan
that was adapted especially for the
service, with help from Joyce Rosenzweig and Merri
Lovinger Arian. Special thanks go to Rabbi Aaron D.
Panken’s sister, Rabbi Melinda Panken, his sister-in-
law Rabbi Sarah Messinger, and his brother-in-law
Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat, for their inaugural blessing.
Rabbi Richard J. Jacobs, President of the Union for
Reform Judaism; Rabbi Richard A. Block, President
of the Central Conference of American Rabbis;
Martin Cohen, who chaired the Presidential Search
Committee that nominated Rabbi Panken; and Irwin
Engelman, Chairman of the College-Institute’s Board
of Governors, brought additional words of celebration.
Rabbi David Ellenson and Rabbi Aaron D. Panken
shared the Torah reading with Andrew R. Berger,
Chair-Elect of the College-Institute’s Board of
Governors. Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman offered a
blessing to Rabbi Panken and his family on behalf of
all assembled. Rabbi Ellenson entrusted a Holocaust
Torah scroll to Rabbi Panken — the same scroll that
had been handed to him when he was inaugurated —
as a visible sign of continuity and commitment.
The Torah Processional included Rabbi Jonathan
Cohen, Dr. Joshua Holo, Rabbi Shirley Idelson,
Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dr. Rachel Adler, Dr. Alyssa
Gray, Rabbi Richard S. Sarason, and Andi Milens,
accompanied by rabbinical and graduate students
Elle Muhlbaum, Rachael Klein, Max Miller, Marc
Ekstrand, Allison Cohen, Frederick Kamil, Rabbi
Adam Rosenthal, and Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani.
Service leaders also included Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller,
Professor of Cantorial Arts, HUC-JIR/New York;
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Senior Cantor and
Senior Rabbi-Elect of Central Synagogue, New York
City; Merri Lovinger Arian, Faculty in Liturgical Arts,
Music Education, and Conducting, HUC-JIR/New
York; Cantor Yvon F. Shore, Director of Liturgical Arts
and Music, HUC-JIR/Cincinnati; and Cantor Alane
Katzew. The Service was enhanced by members of the
Choir from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music
at HUC-JIR/New York: Nancy Dubin, Kenneth Feibush,
Rayna Green, Mariel Guarrera, Sara Hass, Sarah Kheel,
Amanda Kleinman, Vladimir Lapin, Lauren Levy,
David Malecki, Richard Newman, Jay O’Brien,
Jennifer Rueben, and Jordan Shaner. In addition to
her work in musical planning, Joyce Rosenzweig
conducted the Choir. We are grateful also to the
trumpet quartet, Scott Batchelder, Stephen Campbell,
Bryan Crisp, and Jeff Shaffer; and to pianist Rumi Oh,
organist Michael Unger, and cellist Colin Lambert.
The shofar was sounded by Rabbi David M. Posner.