2023 Graduation and Ordination

HUC-JIR Celebrates 148th Season of Graduation and Ordination Ceremonies

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Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion celebrated its 148th season of Graduation and Ordination ceremonies at its stateside campuses this May, launching another cohort of rabbis, cantors, educators, scholars and Jewish non-profit professionals into service in communities around the world.

At the ceremonies in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR also conferred Honorary Doctorates to many esteemed members of our 25th anniversary class, presented honoris causa degrees and prizes to several remarkable individuals, and heard remarks from keynote speakers who have demonstrated exemplary service and achievement in their respective fields.

Three extraordinary women were honored with Doctor of Humane Letters (DHUL), honoris causa:

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R. Marie Griffith

R. Marie Griffith, Ph.D., John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities and Director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, received the DHUL and delivered the graduation address at Cincinnati graduation. Griffith’s work contributes to an understanding of the ongoing role religion plays in shaping democratic values and political discourse in the United States. In her remarks, she urged graduates to confront the truths of history, reject extremism, and use their education to contribute to a more just and compassionate world. “You have cultivated a unique set of practical, spiritual, and intellectual tools for that crucial task of helping to make the world over,” she said. “It is not your sole responsibility to do so, of course, nor is it mine. But if not you, if not me, then who?”

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Sue Neuman Hochberg

Sue Neuman Hochberg, a compassionate and dedicated Jewish leader, who, as immediate past Chair of the HUC-JIR Board of Governors, skillfully guided the institution through some of the most challenging years in its history, was presented the DHUL at Los Angeles graduation. In addition to her service to HUC-JIR, Hochberg’s leadership in the Los Angeles Jewish and philanthropic communities is without measure, including turns with the boards of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, John Wayne Cancer Auxiliary, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

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Daryl Messinger

Daryl Messinger, Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Union for Reform Judaism and devoted member of HUC-JIR’s Board of Governors, received her DHUL at graduation in Los Angeles. One of the Reform Movement’s most prominent female trailblazers, Messinger was the first woman to serve as Chair of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Board of Trustees and has held leadership roles as Chair of Leading Edge, Chair of the Reform Pension Board; Ppresident of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California; and President of the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, California. Her outstanding insights, experience, and expertise are sought throughout the Jewish nonprofit sector.

Graduates and ordinees also were inspired by remarkable speakers during ceremonies on each of the three campuses:

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Sara Hurwitz

In New York, Rabba Sara Hurwitz, Founder and President of Yeshivat Maharat, emboldened graduates to embrace their chosen pursuits: “As people committed to serving the community, you have chosen a mission-based path. Your service to the community gets you out of bed and compels you to walk forward each and every day… One foot in front of the other. This is your destiny. This is where you belong.”

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Naamah Kelman

Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dean of HUC-JIR’s Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem, began her New York Ordination address quoting from an Ordination sermon delivered by her grandfather, Rabbi Felix A. Levy, in 1948. She remarked, “As I reflect on my own story, I find myself wondering what my grandfather would have felt had he known that his grandchild would someday stand here, on the threshold of her retirement from the deanship at HUC Jerusalem, once the first woman ordained in Israel, and now the mother of an HUC-ordained rabbi in the Galil, invoking his words and his memory, hearing their timeless wisdom even as Israel herself wrestles with the Zionist dream that he held…”

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Gary Zola

In Cincinnati, in addition to graduation remarks from R. Marie Griffith, Ph.D., ordinees heard from Rabbi Gary P. Zola, Ph.D., Executive Director, Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of the American Jewish Experience & Reform Jewish History. Zola reflected on the worrisome rise of bigotry, intolerance, racism, and antisemitism in the U.S. saying, “…resolve on this day to ennoble the American rabbinate through your commitment to day-by-day study. It is your reform Jewish Birthright… Your Reform heritage has commissioned you to advance the civic ideals of justice and righteousness with the spiritual teachings and with Judaism’s ethical moorings.”

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Sharon S. Nazarian

In Los Angeles, Sharon S. Nazarian, Ph.D., President of Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation, whose focus on education and public policy is at the core of her philanthropic and professional activism, presented the graduation address. “You are freedom fighters, community leaders, mentors and educators, truth seekers, and bridge builders,” she championed. “You each have shown the audacity to be light rather than darkness. To put the individual, the community, and living your authentic self at the center of your arch.”

Jocee Hudson

Jocee Hudson

Rabbi Jocee Hudson ’07, Clergy and Formation Lead at L.A. Voice, presented the ordination address, offering: “The Universe will be calling out to you all the time, I bless you with the ability to listen. In this time, which needs you to be courageous, I bless you with the inner strength to meet life’s moments. And finally, on the days when the work feels hard, I bless you with the power to nurture the connections that will transcend all of it. The truth is you are already blessed. You are already blessings. Now we have the gift of receiving all that you will bring into being.”

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Nancy Northup

Also at New York Ordination, the 2023 Roger E. Joseph Prize was presented to the Center for Reproductive Rights, represented by President and CEO Nancy Northup. The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization of lawyers and advocates who ensure reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights for all. In her remarks, Northup stated, “It is vitally important, following the fall of Roe vs. Wade and increasing attacks on these rights, that religious leaders speak up. And it is also important that in your roles as spiritual counselors that you provide caring support for those making profound life decisions. Together, we can build the world where people are able to make decisions about their religious lives and their reproductive lives without coercion or discrimination.”