From President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.: Instruction Will Move to Zoom at Least Through Passover Break, Ending April 17

Dear HUC Community,

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, HUC will be taking the following steps to support our community and public health.

In order to minimize social interaction, a main source of spreading of the disease, all instruction will be moving to Zoom at least through Passover Break, ending April 17.

• Los Angeles: Beginning Monday, March 16, all classes in all academic programs will be held by Zoom. More information will come to you from your local dean and program director.
• Jerusalem: Beginning the week of Sunday, March 15, all classes in all academic programs will be held by Zoom. More information will be coming from your local dean and program director.
• New York: Classes will continue to be held remotely with the same Zoom links used this week.
• Cincinnati: Classes will continue to be held remotely with the same Zoom links used this week.

Decisions about the mode of instruction after Passover will be made in April.
Additionally, all public events are canceled through April 17.

We are taking these steps with the safety of our community and our larger society in mind and in step with guidelines from local and national health agencies. We also have been keeping a close eye on the policies and decisions being made by our neighboring institutions (and hundreds of other colleges and universities in the US and Israel) and our plans are now closely aligned with those of NYU, University of Cincinnati, USC, and Hebrew University.

Our decision to move to remote learning and canceling of all public events allows us to minimize social interaction and thus to help slow the spread of the virus.
We recognize that staff may still feel uncomfortable reporting to work for any reason. Because of this we have adopted new and more flexible work policies for the duration of this pandemic. Please work closely with your supervisor to coordinate your schedules.

Please remember that each HUC location will be dealing with unique challenges at different times and therefore may implement their own protocols for their campus.
As the situation continues to evolve, we will continue to follow the advice of experts in this area and will change our plans as safety dictates. Please continue to monitor our website (huc.edu/covid19) for up to date information.

We know these are challenging times and so appreciate your patience and flexibility as we work to make decisions in unprecedented circumstances.

Sincerely,

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.President