Hebrew Union College Announces the Appointment of Judah M. Cohen as Provost

Hebrew Union College has announced that Judah M. Cohen, Ph.D. will be the next Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost. He will officially begin his work in this new role effective June 1, 2025.

Cohen comes to Hebrew Union College from Indiana University Bloomington, where he is currently completing his service as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Research, and Creative Activity and professor of musicology at the Jacobs School of Music, as well as the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture in the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program in the College of Arts + Sciences. In Bloomington, he has been a member of Congregation Beth Shalom since 2006. Over the course of four books and over 50 articles, Cohen has explored the idea of Jewish cultural expression as a dynamic and ever-changing process.

Cohen has deep connections to the community at Hebrew Union College, where he began his teaching career as a visiting lecturer. In his doctoral work at Harvard University, he explored the meaning of becoming a Reform Jewish cantor at the turn of the twenty-first century, based on three years of ethnographic study with Hebrew Union College’s cantorial students, a work that is the definitive account of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. He received the IU Trustees Teaching Award in both 2008 and 2011, and the Greater Hudson Heritage Network Award for Excellence in 2011 for his book Sounding Jewish Tradition: The Music of Central Synagogue. In 2023 he and Professor Gordon Dale co-authored “The Sounds of 21st Century Judaism” for The Routledge Handbook of Judaism in the 21st Century.

“In a search that was marked by exceptional candidates, Judah Cohen stood out for the relevance of his scholarship, deep commitment to teaching, and alignment with our mission,” said Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College. “As Provost, he will bring leading scholarship in the field and dedication to faculty cultivation to guide Hebrew Union College’s extraordinary faculty. While Cohen’s home base will be on our Cincinnati campus for his first two years of service, he will be spending time in residence on each of our other campuses as well. We are proud and excited to welcome him to our community.”

Reflecting on his appointment, Cohen remarked, “Since my time as a proud member of Reform Jewish Students at Yale, Reform Judaism has been my chosen religious community, and the spiritual home where my family has grown and thrived. I am thrilled to return to Hebrew Union College, an institution whose powerful legacy, exceptional faculty, and outstanding students make it uniquely prepared to ensure a vibrant Jewish future.”

As Hebrew Union College announced last August, the current Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D. will step down from the position at the end of the academic year to begin an appointment as the new Rabbinical School Director at Hebrew Union College. “After seven years of extraordinary service as provost, in her new role, Rabbi Weiss will oversee the consolidated administration of all our seminary programs – the North American Rabbinical School, the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music directed by Cantor Jill Abramson, the Year-in-Israel directed by Rabbi Reuven Greenwald, and the Israel Rabbinical Program directed by Rabbi Talia Avnon-Benveniste,” Rehfeld said. She will also continue to be the institutional officiant at ordination. Rabbi Weiss remains on medical leave through June 1, and we continue to wish her refuah shleima.

As part of this transition, on July 1, the current national Rabbinical School Director Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D., the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics, will return to full-time teaching, following more than five years of pioneering leadership in the position she took on after serving with distinction as Director of the Los Angeles Rabbinical Program since 2009.

These changes will further advance the transformational work that is underway at Hebrew Union College, including the innovative new rabbinical curriculum, and the launch of the new virtual pathway to ordination.