first Reform rabbi in Israel (1980). HUC-JIR’s
Graduate School in Cincinnati, in which he
took such pride, thrived as a center of advanced
academic study for Jewish and Christian stu-
dents alike and produced some of HUC-JIR’s
leading faculty. Emulating HUC-JIR’s vital
partnership with USC, he expanded and relo-
cated the New York campus adjacent to NYU.
His love of Israel guided his vision for a dra-
matically enlarged Jerusalem campus as the
center for Reform Judaism there. The estab-
lishment of the rabbinical program for Israeli
students (1975) and the required first year of
study in Israel for all stateside rabbinical, can-
torial, and education students transformed the
ReformMovement’s Zionist stance and ensured
that vital links between American Jewry and the
State of Israel would thrive.
The friend and confidant of countless po-
litical and religious leaders of all faiths
throughout the world, he served on President
Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust (1979),
which first charted the course for memorializing
the Holocaust through the creation of a na-
tional museum and center for academic
research. He was appointed by Presidents
Carter, Reagan and Clinton to the U.S. Holo-
caust Memorial Council, where he founded and
chaired the Academic and Education Commit-
tees, and served on the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum’s Committee on Con-
science. He served as President of the Museum
of Jewish Heritage in New York (2000-2003),
where he initiated and planned the sixty-thou-
sand square foot Robert M. MorgenthauWing,
while serving as HUC-JIR Chancellor (1996-
2000),
and continued to serve as a Senior
Fellow and Trustee.
The righteous even in death live on in
their words and deeds.
Y’hi zichro baruch
–
may the memory of Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk
continue to bless us all.
A
s a child of the generation of the Holocaust
and as one who witnessed the onset of the
destruction of European Jewry, I knew that I
would devote myself to rebuilding Jewish life.
This has been the key motivation of my life,
and my work to advance HUC-JIR as a suc-
cessor to the great centers of learning destroyed
during the Shoah has enabled me to contribute
to the regeneration of the Jewish people.
I have truly been fulfilled by my almost
sixty years of association with HUC-JIR, as it
has flourished as the academic center of Reform
Judaism, nourished generations of spiritual and
professional leaders, and fostered a liberal Ju-
daism, consonant with modernity, in which the
traditions, ethical values, and prophetic message
of our faith have meaning in the present and for
the future.
From the outset, it has been my intention
to transform the institution into a place of
warmth and creativity with academic freedom
–
to give students the freedom to express their
Judaism fully, provide faculty the opportunity
to experiment with new course offerings, and
to establish a climate of free inquiry in which
all members of our community could find
maximum expression in the service of our Re-
form Movement.
My mission has been to be proactive, to
anticipate the emerging needs of the Reform
Movement and the Jewish people. My goals
have been to develop new programs and venues
that would embrace a generation whose roots
are tenuous, who are “appreciative” Jews rather
than committed Jews, who superficially choose
between things they “like” or “dislike” in Ju-
daism but who lack a grounding in text,
practice, and belief.
HUC-JIR is a complex institution, born
out of the
wissenschaft
tradition, the
yeshiva
heritage where we “learn to teach,” and profes-
sional concerns to impart skills and “learn to
do.” Between our classical Jewish studies, en-
gagement with modernity, and concern for
continuity, our greatest challenge has been to
bring all of this together into a vibrant future.
It has been my privilege to encourage
women to become Jewish spiritual and profes-
sional leaders and to enable them to enjoy full
equality in the service of God. I look upon the
ordination of Sally Priesand in 1972 as the first
woman rabbi in America, investiture of Bar-
bara Ostfeld in 1975 as the first woman cantor,
and Naamah Kelman as the first woman rabbi
in Israel as historic turning points in the Jewish
religion.
Over the years, I have taken pride in the
enlarged numbers and enhanced quality of stu-
dents admitted to all of our programs. I have
sought to strengthen our faculty through the
appointment of brilliant young scholars dis-
tinguished for both their scholarship and their
commitment to the life of the Jewish mind.
I have supported the strengthening of
HUC-JIR’s text-based core curriculum by in-
novations addressing the emerging needs of the
Reform Movement. New initiatives have in-
cluded the growth of practical skills training,
mentorship programs, chaplaincy and CPE
training, the enrichment of students’ spiritual
lives and leadership skills, and the application
of new technologies towards classical Jewish
studies. The goal has always been to strive for
academic excellence and cherish the qualities
of humaneness and integrity within an envi-
ronment grounded by reason, faith, and trust.
The future of Reform Jewry and Jewish
life in America, Israel, and worldwide depends
on the leadership HUC-JIR prepares today.
The pressing issues of Jewish literacy and com-
munal participation are central to the
maintenance of Jewish consciousness. The uni-
versal teachings of Judaism possess great
relevance – our traditions of ethics and social
justice can inspire
tikkun olam
,
the mending of
our world.
I am thankful to all those who have been
my partners —my friends and colleagues in all
the arms of the Reform Movement, our
alumni, my administration, deans and direc-
tors, staff, faculty, students, and Governors and
Overseers who have contributed so much. I am
grateful to my children Marc and Rachel and
their families, for their unfailing support, my
helpmate Deanna Gottschalk, for her devotion,
love, and profound belief in HUC-JIR and its
great work, and her dear children Andrew and
Charles and their families. The blessing that
best expresses my gratitude for these fulfilling,
meaningful years is: “I thank you, O God, in
that you have set my portion among those who
study Torah.”
2009
ISSUE 72 |
3
(
From left) Dr. Alfred
Gottschalk ordaining
Rabbi Sally Priesand
as the first woman
rabbi in America;
teaching students;
and meeting with
Prime Minister
Golda Meir.
Personal Reflections by Dr. Alfred Gottschalk
