HUC-JIR Ordination and Investiture Services to be Held at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, Sunday, May 3, 2009

Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), has announced the Class of 2009, who will be ordained, invested, and graduated this spring in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York. HUC-JIR is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism.

The rabbinical and cantorial graduates of the New York School of HUC-JIR will be ordained and invested, respectively, at Ordination and Investiture Services at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York on May 3^rd.

Fourteen rabbis (11 women, 3 men) will be ordained (of 43 rabbinical graduates of the Class of 2009 – 13 men, 30 women) and 11 cantors (9 women, 2 men) will be invested at the convocation marking the 134^th academic year. Rabbi Norman Cohen, HUC-JIR Provost, will deliver the Ordination Address.

Rabbi Ellenson will award the 2009 Roger E. Joseph Prize to Helen Lieberman, Founder of Ikamva Labantu, the South African non-profit organization that works with and assists affiliated community-based organizations serving children, youth, adults, families, seniors, and the disabled.

Rabbi Ellenson said, “The Class of 2009 emerges from the College-Institute imbued with leadership skills, steeped in knowledge, strengthened by a commitment to service, and dedicated to bringing hope and healing to our troubled world. As they touch the lives of others through their sacred work as rabbis, cantors, educators, communal professionals, scholars, and pastoral care-givers throughout North America and around the world, they will be a source of inspiration and guidance.”

The students to be ordained rabbi are:

Judith Bacharach

Stephanie Bernstein

Carolyn Bricklin

Rebecca Cottle

Jill Cozen-Harel

Jordana Gerson

Erin Glazer

Helayne Shalhevet

Jo Hirschmann

Beth Kalisch

Kevin Kleinman

Rachel Larkin

Joseph Murray

Adam Rosenwasser

The students to be invested cantor are:

Lisa Shapanka Arbisser

Rachel Berney

Shira Ginsburg

Zoe Jacobs

Marcy Kadin

Aaron Kaplan

Sharon Kunitz

Arik Luck

Rebecca Moses

Katie Oringel

Jennifer Strauss-Klein

Please see the national invitation for full event details (http://huc.edu/external/email/09/03/graduation/).

Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and nonprofit management professionals, and offers graduate programs to scholars and clergy of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR’s scholarly resources comprise the renowned Klau Library, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. In partnership with the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, HUC-JIR sustains the Reform Movement’s congregations and professional and lay leaders. HUC-JIR’s campuses invite the community to cultural and educational programs illuminating Jewish history, identity, art, and archaeology, and fostering interfaith and multiethnic understanding.