The Chronicle
Fall 2012
Page 19
LOS ANGELES
Rabbi William Cutter ‘65, Ph.D.,
Founding Director, Kalsman
Institute on Judaism and Health; Steinberg Professor Emeritus
of Human Relations and Professor Emeritus of Modern Hebrew
Literature and Education, HUC-JIR/Jack H. Skirball Campus/Los
Angeles;
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters recipient;
Los Angeles Ordination Address, May 13, 2012
The stability in Jewish culture is the stability of themes and their
variations, for Jews, of texts and their commentaries, of primary
ideas – even ideas that stand behind our gods – some kind of Rock
that guarantees our authenticity and ultimately our warrant for
leadership. For we are not leaders because we have the best
ideas, or the truest tradition, or the most noble values. We are not
leaders because we eat a certain diet, though we must; or think
twice about driving on Shabbat when we must. We are leaders
of a culture that understands culture.
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huc.edu/gradord/12/laord
Professor Sara S. Lee, MARE ‘76,
Director Emerita, Rhea Hirsch School of Education;
Project Leader, Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership; and Adjunct Professor
Emerita of Jewish Education, HUC-JIR/Jack H. Skirball Campus/Los Angeles;
Honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters recipient;
Los Angeles Graduation Address, May 14, 2012
To the graduates today I say with confidence that your education at HUC-JIR has
provided you with many of the skills and much of the knowledge that will allow you
to be an effective leader, and that is incredibly important and necessary. To be the
visionary leader, blending the roles of priest and prophet and exercising them as
circumstances demand, these different kinds of leadership roles require more. That kind
of leadership, that takes on the challenges facing us head on, that holds out a vision of
what should and can be, that takes risks and yet responds to the needs of individuals
and the reality of communities as they are, demands that you know where you stand
on the core values and beliefs of Judaism, the practices that define a Jewish community,
and the enduring aspirations we have as a Jewish People. These are the commitments
that will shape your vision of your own leadership and the impact you want to have on
Jewish life and the Jewish future.
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huc.edu/gradord/12/lagrad
Master of Arts in Jewish Nonprofit Management recipients
Master of Arts in Jewish Education recipients
Rabbinical Class of 2012
Not pictured:
Orly Barad, Master of Arts in Jewish Studies recipient
GRADUATION/ORDINATION ALBUM 2012
