HUC-JIR Ordination Service to be Held at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Sunday, May 17, 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 graduates of the Los Angeles School of HUC-JIR will be ordained at Ordination Services at Temple Israel of Hollywood on May 17^th.

Fifteen rabbis (6 women, 9 men) will be ordained (of 43 rabbinical graduates of the Class of 2009 – 13 men, 30 women). Rabbi Richard Levy, Director, School of Rabbinical Studies at HUC-JIR/LA, will deliver the Ordination Address.

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:

Olga Bluman

Daniel Burkeman

Deborah Graetz Goldmann

Joseph Hample

Rochelle Kamins

Gersh Lazarow

Joel Nickerson

Sadie Reuben

Dalia Samanksy

Karen Sherman

Joel Simonds

Rachel Timoner

Carrie Frank Vogel

Josh Whinston

Jill Zimmerman

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.