Rabbi Kapitulnik’s Visit to HUC-JIR/New York with <br>Temple Judea of Palm Beach County’s Confirmation Class

Rabbi Kapitulnik’s Visit to HUC-JIR/New York with
Temple Judea of Palm Beach County’s Confirmation Class

Rabbi Yaron Kapitulnik (NY’ 10, NYSOE ’10), Rabbi and Educator at Temple Judea of Palm Beach County, travelled to New York with his confirmation class on March 11-13, 2011. With 13 students, he visited HUC-JIR/New York, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, B’nei Jeshurun, Central Synagogue, the Jewish Museum, the Heritage Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rabbi Kapitulnik explained, “It was an amazing trip in which we could see how, in three days, our students grew and transformed, deepening their understanding of what being Jewish means to them.”

Student Taylor Gish stated, “This trip allowed me to see just how much I didn’t know. Jewish immigration and assimilation in North America, specifically New York, was something I never even thought about before. I guess when one just practices a religion out of habit, the history of how it came to shape and form for where you are now becomes forgotten. Wanting to be Jewish now means something to me.”

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.