Mazal tov to the
Dear Class of 2024 / 5784,
It is with great joy and gratitude that we celebrate your achievements and the realization of your goals during these Ordination and Graduation Ceremonies of our 149th academic year. Your dedicated studies, hard work, and resilience during the pandemic have brought you to this wonderful moment, and the world needs your vision and leadership now more than ever. The Ordination ritual publicly celebrates the transmission of sacred leadership, and the Graduation ceremony empowers you, as you set forth to strengthen and transform communities far and wide.
It is now your consecrated task to transmit Judaism’s ethical values, tradition, and culture, from generation to generation, as you provide both inspiration and guidance to so many seeking meaning in lives well lived.
We are also privileged to congratulate our distinguished alumni honorees for your 25 years of devoted service to the Jewish people and the larger world. Your heartfelt support for HUC-JIR strengthens our sacred mission to prepare your future colleagues, who will work by your side to carry forward your ideals.
And to our Doctor of Humane Letters and Joseph Prize recipients, we honor your commitment and accomplishments as leaders in diplomacy and government, as champions of academic inquiry and scholarship, and as advocates for fostering tolerance and understanding.
May the courage of your convictions guide all of your sacred paths to build a bright, just, and promising future for the Jewish people and all humankind.
B’hatzlachah, may you go from strength to strength!
Rabbinical Ordination
Aaron David Torop Budman
Madeline Torop Budman
Emily S. Dana
Shirah Coran Kraus
Samuel Isaac Rheins
Elana Ackerman Hirsch
Max Gabriel Antman
Hannah Claire Bender
Julia Whiting Berg
Aria Adele Caligiuri
Jade Carter
Rebecca Frances Chess
Jerry Nathan Kudan
Franklyn Henry Salzman
Samantha Rose Thal
Shirah Coran Kraus (ordained in Cincinnati)
Yael Katz Ben Yitzhak
Miriam Klimova
Lana Zilberman Soloway
Gabrielle Jona Cohn
Jamie Michelle Field
Ezra M. Leventhal
Gabriel Matthew Miner
Shoshana Nambi
Alissa Jane Platcow
Daniel Dolph Reichenbach
Sivan Rebecca Rotholz
Jack Elijah Sherratt
Ada Luisa Sinacore
Arielle Aviya Stein
Ilana Yael Symons
Lara Brooke Tessler
Kelly Norma Whitehead
Peter Erwin Young
Cantorial Ordination
Joseph Clark Flaxman
Iris Karlin
Kevin Daniel McKenzie
Shirel Meital Gidekel Richman
Gabriel David Snyder
LTJG Sonya Elayne Zell
Graduation
Cincinnati
Steven L. Donnally
Gretchen Suzanne Johnson
Mark Clayton Oppenheimer
Marisa Hillary Papell
Jamie Starr
Jonathan Edward Beck
Thomas Clayton Carroll
Darhla Shadell Miles
Rabbi Israel David Oler
Los Angeles
Elana Beame
Abraham Julius Kaplan
Rebecca Marcus
Abraham Julius Kaplan
Hillary Elizabeth Chesler
Allison Paige Elbaz
Geanna Levin
Valeria Xcaret Nevarez
Eden Puchiu
Amanda Rose Sabel
Stephanie Beth Shearer
Madeleine N. Steckley
Christine F. Wedner
Mickey Rachel Benson
Olivia Esther Bernheimer
Abby Sara Gore
Talia Michal Israel
Micah Victor Cohen Sallus
Bari Rose Sigal
Jared Matthew Stern
Megan Elizabeth Steron
Joy Linda Allen
Iryna Belskaia
Vivien Claire Braly
Nicole N. Erdfrocht
Emily Simons
Melina Adissi Sternberg
Sumiko Ruiz Zayon
Paige A. Beame
Alyssa Rose Schwartz Feigelson
Julie May Fishbach
Elizabeth Frankel
Tori Greene
Leah Rose Julian
Allyssa Brooke Karpel
Julia Y. Knobloch
Shoshana Jordan Levine
Sarah Rachael Livschitz
Rebeca Orantes
Jake Alexander Petzold
Hannah Pomerantz
Erika Purdy-Patrick
Hannah Taylor Bloomberg
Madeleine Fortney
Ilana Yael Symons
Cassandra A. Burger
Christopher C. Byrne
Azriella Friedman
Jason E. Friedman
Ariella Gurstein
Valeria X. Nevarez
Justin N. Shapiro
Christine Wedner
Angela Marie Hernandez
New York
Joyce Miriam Rosenberg
Lauren Blasband-Roth
Shayna Beth Burack
Justin Donn Callis
Sierra Jade Fox
Elizabeth Anna Reinstein
Aaron Blasband-Roth
Ashira Joelle Boxman
Emma Grace Dubin
Jesse Aaron Epstein
James Ian Feder
Madeleine Michelle Fortney
Adam Graubart
Ora Jacobsen
Benjamin Danson Luks-Morgan
Evan Lerner Traylor
Roger E. Joseph Prize
Hand in Hand
A growing network of bilingual, integrated schools and communities working to build inclusion and equality between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel.
Honoring Our Alumni
Rabbinical Alumni Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa
David Craig Komerofsky
Laura Suzanne Lieber
Todd Michael Thalblum
Rabbi Ilana Greenfield Baden
Anthony Bryan Fratello
Jamie Korngold
Audrey Rhona Korotkin
Joseph William Prass
Elissa Sachs-Kohen
Beth L. Schwartz
Roxanne J.Schneider Shapiro
Daniel Micah Sherman
Judith Hannah Spicehandler
Joanna Tract
Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman
Scott Hausman-Weiss
Moshe Heyn
Jonathan Franklin Kupetz
Michael Lezak
Jessica Spitalnic Mates
David Eli Adelson
Victor S. Appell
Rabbi Todd Chizner
Valerie Cohen
Anne Ebersman
Andrew Solomon Ergas
Kim Sara Geringer
Jennifer E. Krause
Jessica Erin Locketz
Edythe Held Mencher
Ellie Lynn Miller
Gary Pokras
Rebecca Einstein Schorr
Felicia L. Sol
Eric Benjamin Stark
Peter William Stein
Allison Bergman Vann
Julie Anne Zupan
Craig Harris Marantz
Seth Mark Stander
Roderick Young
Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music Cantorial Alumni Doctor of Music, honoris causa
Cantor Renata Braun
David Katz
Janet Bess Leuchter
Eric Schulmiller
Sheila Deborah Case Singer
School of Education Alumni – Doctor of Jewish Religious Education, honoris causa
Ellen Cindy Lefkowitz
Debra Sagan Massey
Renee Rubin Ross
Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management Alumni – Doctor of Jewish Nonprofit Management, honoris causa
Robyn N. Altmann
Rachel Chertkoff
Sara Greene
Stacy Ilana Katz
Eric M Lankin
All degrees granted upon completion of all requirements.
