Ari Plost,
a fourth-year rabbinical stu-
dent in Cincinnati, says, “A lot of the work
that I do now is inspired by work that I did
before coming to HUC-JIR, when I served
as a consultant for the United States Confer-
ence of Catholic Bishops and at the Abraham
Fund, and helped create the Alliance for Mid-
dle East Efforts, an assembly of coexistence
organizations in Israel.” Since enrolling at
HUC-JIR, he spent a summer as the Social
Justice Fellow at the Jewish Council of Urban
Affairs (JCUA) and worked with the Islamic
Muslim Action Center on the South Side of
Chicago. Last year, he presented with Quaker
and Islamic leaders at Wilmington College at
a symposium about “Faith as a Tool for Non-
Violent Work.”
Plost’s advocacy for social justice and
collaborative interfaith efforts is firmly inte-
grated into his rabbinical studies. In his
American Jewish history course, he wrote a
paper on Kivie Kaplan, founder of the
NAACP, who was also instrumental in the
creation of the Reform Movement’s Reli-
gious Action Center. His commitments filter
into his worship experiences, as well. Plost
says, saying “I was helped by Cantor Yvon
Shore to design a worship service that used
liturgy and themes to reflect social justice.”
Second-year rabbinical student
Joshua
Stanton
found his direction at Amherst Col-
lege through his involvement with Hillel and
the Multifaith Council. “I began to take
great joy both in sustaining the Jewish com-
munity on campus and representing it in
inter-religious gatherings and discussion,” he
says. He found another anchor point and the
desire to build a career within the Jewish
community through a partnership with
Hedy Peyser, Director of Volunteers at the
Hebrew Home of Greater Washington,
where he helped to create ‘Lessons of a Life-
time.’ Awarded the 2009 Outstanding
Programming Award from the Associates of
Jewish Homes and Services for the Aging,
this program “trains students to record the
‘
ethical wills’ of senior citizens in the com-
munity and brings together students and
seniors for ongoing, remarkable interchanges
about life and learning.”
As he entered the
Year-In-Israel Program
at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem
last summer, Stanton
co-founded
The Journal
of Inter-Religious Dia-
logue
™
along with the
student body president of
UnionTheological Semi-
nary, Stephanie Hughes.
Their plan is to produce
a top-flight peer reviewed
journal for seminary students, academics,
clergy, and non-profit leaders of all religious
backgrounds. All articles will be available on-
line, free of charge. Stanton says, “With
moderated forums featured beneath each ar-
ticle, we can ensure that meaningful dialogue
can take place between religious leaders
around the world without having to arrange
a formal conference. While in-person dia-
logue is optimal, the
Journal
is poised to
significantly increase both the quality and
frequency of religious dialogue with the
broader hope of improving inter-religious re-
lations and forming a veritable community
of scholars and leaders from all religious tra-
ditions. We aim to become a lasting part of
the broader movement for religious tolerance,
as well as the network of seminaries that is
training the future of religious leadership.”
MEET HUC-J IR’S STUDENTS
2009
ISSUE 72 | 45
Ari Plost, C ’11, (left) with Rev. Marla
Coulter and Rev. Doug Mitchell during his
Clinical Pastoral Education program at
Christ Hospital, Cincinnati.
(
From left) Jonathan Prosnit, N ’11, and his
brothers Jacob and Ethan (a first-year rab-
binical student in the Year-In-Israel Program)
and their mother, Wendy Bloch, campaigning
for Obama.
Joshua Stanton, N ’13
