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ADA Version of President’s Report 2008-2009
Hebew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion
President’s Report 2008-2009
President’s Message
In his historic address “Kol Dodi Dofek” on Yom Haatzmaut 1956, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik pointed out that the Jewish people were a people both of fate and common purpose. His observation continues to be pertinent as we consider our lives individually, as a community, and as part of the larger Jewish people. As a people of fate, we are inextricably bound to our past and the circumstances that have brought us to our condition today. As a people of common purpose, we are active and take steps in the present that chart our vision for our future.
On September 12, 2009 we lost a champion of the Jewish people, Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, z”l, whose life’s work was a powerful reply to Rabbi Soloveitchik’s query on fate and purpose. For Dr. Gottschalk, who emerged from the destruction of European Jewry and devoted his entire being to regenerating Jewish life and learning, the past was the foundation upon which he forged his vision for a dynamic Jewish present and a vibrant Jewish future in North America and his beloved Israel. His legacy is a source of inspiration, as we channel our energies toward strengthening the College-Institute’s academic excellence and financial sustainability.
The College-Institute stands poised to be an institution of destiny and purpose. Emerging from an intensive period of self-study, we have embraced “A New Way Forward,” a five-year plan designed to put the Reform Movement’s seminary on a firm financial foundation while enhancing student learning, strengthening faculty teaching and scholarship, developing relationships with academic partners, and reinforcing vital links with Reform congregations throughout the world. Based on three principles — attaining financial sustainability; building academic excellence; and preserving presences in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York that serve Reform congregations around the world, “A New Way Forward” provides for:
- implementing e-learning classrooms, cross-campus learning, and consistent curriculum across campuses;
- a synergized HUC-JIR and Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) relationship aspiring toward joining together in a shared Center for Reform Judaism in New York;
- a new endowment campaign;
- reductions in administrative expenses;
- faculty reduction through voluntary separation, attrition, and retirement, while sustaining emerging junior faculty; and
- restructuring and sale of non-core real estate holdings.
In partnership with the URJ and the other arms of the Reform Movement, we are committed to addressing the vital needs of a changing Jewish community. As we continue to enhance teaching and learning at the College-Institute, our goal is clear: to prepare men and women of vision who are steeped in Jewish knowledge and blessed with creativity and passion to lead and shape communities of meaning and transform congregations, schools, institutions, and agencies of Jewish life for the 21st century.
Despite the challenges that HUC-JIR has faced this year, we have had great success in fundraising. At the outset of the economic downturn, we made the decision to focus on our annual fundraising (rather than larger endowment gifts) so that we could further secure our annual operating budget. I am proud to say that with the able planning and hard work of our development team, we raised almost $17.5 million during the 2008-09 fiscal year and an additional $9.8 million in pledges.
I would like to share with you some of the highlights of HUC-JIR’s 134th academic year:
- The Jim Joseph Foundation made an historic gift of $3.7 million for our Schools of Education to provide full scholarship assistance and stipends to every student studying to become a Jewish educator. The gift, which was also made to the Jewish Theological Seminary and Yeshiva University, recognized the vital role that the seminary plays and must continue to play in building strong Jewish leadership for the future. We are now engaged in an intensive strategic planning process with the JJF to expand the reach of our Schools of Education, attracting greater numbers of students, enriching the curriculum, upgrading recruitment and marketing strategies, and extending the use of technology to educate students both on and off campus. We are very grateful to the Trustees of the Jim Joseph Foundation for the confidence in our work that this gift represents.
- We celebrated the rededication of the Klau Library and Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Library Pavillion, with a gala day of festivities including a formal rededication ceremony and evening program that welcomed over 1,000 friends of the College-Institute. The Governor of the State of Ohio Ted Strickland; the Mayor of Cincinnati Mark Mallory; former Congressman Rob Portman; and Dr. Gregory Williams, the new President of the University of Cincinnati, joined us to mark this momentous occasion (see page 10).
- Through the commitment of Rabbi Irwin Zeplowitz and Alumni Relations Director Joy Wasserman, we launched a Rabbinic Alumni Invest-in-a-Student initiative that raised in its first year over $700,000. Our goal is to achieve 100 percent participation from every ordination class and to raise an additional $1 million in the next year. This initiative was instrumental in increasing our alumni giving to the College by 10 percent in just one year (see page 17).
- We welcomed new members of our administration: Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur, formerly the Dean of the Jerusalem School, as Vice President of Academic Affairs; Rabbi Naamah Kelman, formerly the Director of the Year-In-Israel Program, as Dean of the Jerusalem School; Dr. Dvora Weisberg, Professor of Talmud, as Director of the Rabbinical Program in Los Angeles; Dr. David Dirlam as Coordinator of Institutional Research, a national position based in Cincinnati; Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback as Director of the Year-In-Israel Program in Jerusalem; and Rabbi Marc Rosenstein as Director of the Israeli Rabbinical Program.
- Our faculty has been enriched immeasurably by the presence of two Israeli Visiting Professors in Israel Studies. Dr. Larissa Remennick, an expert in gender studies, women’s health, and immigration/integration, holds a joint appointment with HUC-JIR and the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Dr. Martin Sherman, an expert in strategic and foreign policy, Israeli intelligence, and counter-terrorism holds a joint appointment with HUC-JIR and the University of Southern California. Funding for the Schusterman Visiting Faculty in Israel Studies was made possible through the generosity of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Lief Rosenblatt, and Elliott and Robin Broidy.
- We have admitted 96 students (35 stateside rabbinical, 5 Israeli rabbinical, 6 cantorial, 11 education, 11 rabbinical/education Mandel Fellowship, 8 communal service, 5 Ph.D., 2 Pre-doctoral M.A. in Jewish Studies, and 13 DeLeT certificate program participants, and we are proud to have 51 first-year students at our Jerusalem campus, where they are studying side-by-side with 23 Israeli rabbinical students.
- We have ordained 43 new stateside rabbis and 6 Israeli rabbis, invested 11 cantors, graduated 12 Jewish communal service professionals and 17 Jewish educators, and bestowed 125 Master’s and Doctoral degrees on students in our graduate and professional programs. At Ordination in Jerusalem, we presented certificates to the first 7 graduates of our Master’s Program in Pluralistic Jewish Education, a first-time collaboration with the Hebrew University (see page 20).
- We have continued to focus on scholarships to enable us to attract the best and the brightest students. The Shapiro Foundation (see page 26) has made its 26th annual gift to fund scholarships for first-year students in Israel. Generous donors too numerous to mention have invested in our students by pledging multi-year scholarships.
- Our rich and varied leadership programs – the Tisch Fellows, Mandel Fellows, and Schusterman Rabbinical Fellows – have been joined by the School of Sacred Music Leadership Fellows Program, endowed by an anonymous gift from a generous donor.
- With a generous two-year challenge gift from an anonymous foundation, we added over $250,000 to our annual giving this year, and expect to do the same in 2009-10.
- In Cincinnati we launched an historic collaboration with Xavier University to create a Jewish and Interfaith Studies Program that will be offered to undergraduates at Xavier and rabbinical and graduate students at HUC-JIR. This initiative was launched with a generous gift from Macy’s, Inc., and Norma and Donald Stone.
- In Los Angeles we initiated the Aronoff Rabbinical Mentoring Program, focusing on mentoring skills, professional development, supervision of field placements, and coaching.
- In Los Angeles we completed the Artist-in-Residence for Jewish Education Program with artist Stacie Chaiken, funded partially by a Cutting Edge Grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
- Our DeLeT Program – Day School Education through Leadership and Training – received a substantial grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation, enabling HUC-JIR to increase the number of students being trained to be day school teachers. The excellence of this program was recognized by the State of California when DeLeT was approved to offer the California State Teaching Credential.
- In New York we celebrated Jewish music and our renowned School of Sacred Music with “Debbie and Friends,” a gala concert held at Central Synagogue. Playing to nearly 1000 guests, Debbie Friedman, special guests, faculty, cantorial alumni, and students interpreted Debbie’s music and sang the many songs that are the hallmark of Debbie’s distinguished career. The concert was the largest fundraiser in the SSM’s 60-year history, raising over $450,000 for HUC-JIR.
- We continue to be an innovator in congregational education through our Leadership Institute for Congregational School Educators, a joint program with JTS, funded by the UJA-Federation of New York. Through this collaboration, we offer an intensive program of leadership skill-building to principals in the New York metropolitan area, enabling them to strengthen all aspects of the religious schools in their congregations.
- In New York, the HUC-JIR Museum presented a diverse array of exhibitions, including “Envisioning Maps” and “Arbit Blatas: A Centennial Celebration.” The Anti-Defamation League, with the assistance of Abraham Foxman and Regina Resnik, generously donated Blatas’s renowned bas-relief sculptures, entitled “Memorial to the Holocaust,” to HUC-JIR. These sculptures, which were exhibited across from the United Nations on the façade of the ADL’s former headquarters for many years, are in an edition of four sets; the three other sets are the permanent Holocaust memorials of Paris, Venice, and Kaunas, Lithuania.
- To be of service to our donors and friends, the Development Office created and launched a Planned Giving Website (see page 14) to encourage and assist donors in making transformational gifts to the College at low cost. We welcome all of our donors to make use of this new site.
We have accomplished all of this through the remarkable support of our Boards of Governors and Overseers and wonderful and loyal donors and alumni who understand that HUC-JIR is at the heart of the Reform Movement and represents the hope and the future for the American Jewish community.
With your continued generous help, we can and will fulfill our mandate to educate the kinds of Jewish leaders that are so sorely needed during these challenging times. Thank you for making it possible for our children and grandchildren to be the beneficiaries of the wisdom, tradition, culture, and values that provide the moral, intellectual, and spiritual fortitude to tackle real issues in the real world.
With sincere appreciation for your great support and with warm wishes for health, fulfillment, peace, and joy,
Rabbi David Ellenson, President
March 2010 Nisan 5770
HUC-JIR Honor Roll of Donors
Gifts and new pledges to the College-Institute for the period of July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009
CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE
($1,000,000+)
Anonymous
The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati
Jim Joseph Foundation
UJA-Federation of New York
PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE
($500,000+)
Anne E.* and Ret. Lt. Col. Willard L.* Levin
Jack N. and Lilyan Mandel Fund, the Joseph C. and Florence Mandel Fund, and the Morton L. and Barbara Mandel Fund
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal)
Bonnie and Daniel Tisch
Mildred and George* Weissman
FOUNDERS’ CIRCLE
($250,000+)
Anonymous
Cynthia Greener Edelman and Daniel Edelman
Barbara and Stephen Friedman
Legacy Heritage Fund Limited
PROVOST’S CIRCLE
($100,000+)
Anonymous
Leona Aronoff
The Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, Elizabeth B. and Arthur Roswell
The Samuel Bronfman Foundation
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
Robert Lloyd Corkin Charitable Foundation, Herbert I. Corkin
The Crown Family Foundation, Sara Crown Star
Nancy and Dennis R. Gilbert
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Dr. Bernard Heller Foundation
Sue and Larry Hochberg
Jewish Communal Fund, New York, NY
Sheila and Bill Lambert
Macy’s, Inc.
Rabbi Jacob R. Marcus*
MASSAH
Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation
National Center to Encourage Judaism, The Gerecht Family
Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation
The Rosalyn Rosenthal Family
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth A. Ruby
Barbara and Herbert S. Shear
Lynn J. Schusterman
Alice and Thomas J. Tisch
U.S. Department of Homeland
DEANS’ CIRCLE
($50,000+)
Ahmanson Foundation
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
Anonymous
AVI CHAI
Elaine and Robert M. Blatt
Robin and Elliott B. Broidy
Sol and Arlene Bronstein Foundation
Sue and William P. Butler
Central Synagogue, New York, NY
The Chais Family Foundation, Stanley and Pamela Chais
Michele and Martin Cohen
Mr. Herbert I. Corkin
Rebecca Davis* Trust
Philip and Alyce de Toledo
The Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Family Foundation
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
FNZ Foundation, Inc., James and Susan Klau
Don and Janie Friend Family Philanthropic Fund
Susan and Michael C. Gelman
Shelly Shor Gerson and Michael Gerson
Jayne Lipman and Robert P. Goodman
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
George L. Heldman*
The Jewish Agency For Israel
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, CA
Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles
Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, OH
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, IL
Dr. Stanley M. Kaplan
Frederic S. Lane
Brenda and Burton Lehman
Peachy and Mark Levy
Mr. and Mrs. Mark D. Litt
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Messinger
Marjorie and Morgan Miller
Isadore E. Millstone*
Joseph Neubauer
The New York Public Library
Partnership For Jewish Life and Learning
Joan and Philip Pines
Debbie, Rick, Ashley and Jeremy Powell
Reform Jewish Appeal
Michael J. Sacks
Elizabeth Scheuer and Peter Joseph
Albert and Janet Schultz Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties
Marie L. and Mark J. Schwartz
Charles and M. R. Shapiro Foundation
Dr. Shonni J. Silverberg and John M. Shapiro
Mr. and Mrs. Larry A. Silverstein
The Skirball Foundation, Rabbi Uri Herscher
Alan B. Slifka Foundation
Donald J. and Dr. Norma Stone
Ruth and Andrew Suzman
Nicki and Harold Tanner
Shirley Tartak
Sandra Wasserman
Women of Reform Judaism
Corale B. Workum* Trust
Genevieve G. and Justin L. Wyner
Ruth Ziegler
BENEFACTORS
($25,000+)
Marilyn M. Alper
Anonymous
Dr. Robert L.* and Gloria L. Austin
Patty and Louis Beck
Beerman Foundation, Inc.,
Barbara and William S. Weprin
Edna Bekenstein*
Andrew R. and Linda M. Berger
Howard M. Bernstein and Bunny M. Wasser
Mr. and Mrs. Leslie E. Bider
Wendy and Mark Biderman
The LKC Foundation, Lucille and Dr. Charles Carothers
Stanley M. Chesley
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc.
Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, David M. Posner, Senior Rabbi
Corwin Family Foundation, Bruce and Toni Corwin
Mirrel Davis*
Dobkin Family Foundation, Barbara and Eric S. Dobkin
Rosalyn and Irwin Engelman
Mr. and Mrs. Richard England
Fifth Third Bancorp, Kevin Kabat
Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Forchheimer
Fuller Family Foundation
Jay H. Geller and Lowell Gallagher
Suzanne and John A. Golden
Joyce & Irving Goldman Family Foundation, Dorian S. Goldman and Marvin Israelow
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
Betty B. Golomb
Barbara and Norman Gross
Mike Grossman* Charitable Lead Trust
Robin E. Harvey
Margaret and Martin Heller
Mrs. Anita Hirsh
Frederick J. Iseman
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, CA
Karev Foundation for Education
Pamela Kohlberg and Curt Greer
Carole and Robert Kopple Morris L. Kramer, Esq.
Mr. and Mrs. Gary Lauder
Steven and Clarissa Lefkowitz
Mimi and H. Jerome Lerner
Alvin and Gloria Lipson
Morton H. Meyerson
National Endowment For the Humanities
Dolores and Walter Neustadt
Erica and Kevin Penn
Samuel and Ruth Perelson, Perelson Weiner LLP
Phyllis Friedman Perkins and Brad Perkins
Frederic S. Lane and Jeanie Pollack
The Procter & Gamble Company
Richard Ravitch
The Rechler Family Foundation, Inc., Morton and Beverley Rechler
Marcia and Richard Scheiner
Idee and Pierre Schoenheimer, The Schoenheimer Foundation
Theodore L. Schwartz
Joan and Arnold Seidel
Rabbi Barton A. and Jane Shallat
Shapell Guerin Family Foundation
Betsy Shapiro
Mr. and Mrs. Laurence D. Tarica
Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture
Suzanne and Jerome S. Teller
Temple Sholom of Chicago
Charles Tobias*
UIAC – Rotman Fund
US Bank
Linda F. Vogel Kaplan and Hirsch Kaplan
Audrey Y. Zucker
WISE CIRCLE
($10,000+)
Anonymous
Anonymous-New York
Baker Hostetler
Rabbi Martin P. Beifield, Jr.
Mandell L. & Madeleine H. Berman Foundation
The Philip & Muriel Berman Foundation, Nancy Berman and Alan J. Bloch
Helene and Bertram Bernhardt Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. David R. Berz
Dr. Toni R. Dollinger and Rabbi Barry H. Block
Charles I. Brown Charitable Foundation
Marcia Burnam
California Community Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Jeanne Clayman
Marion Lev-Cohen and Dr. Steven M. Cohen
Roberta and Leonard A. Cohn
Columbus Jewish Federation, OH
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston, MA
The Community Foundation for the National
Capital Region Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York, NY
Rhea Coskey
Gerard Daniel
Cary Davidson and Andrew Ogilvie
Dr. Mary Davidson Cohen and Barton P. Cohen*
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Davison
Rabbi A. Stanley Dreyfus*
Mr. and Mrs. Sanford P. Fagadau
Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Foundation
The William H. Fineshriber 1988 Trust
Anna R. Fisch
Lillian Fleck
Steven Fogel
David R. Gellman and Salo Rawet
Rabbi Erica and Mark Gerson
Kenneth B. Gilman and Carol Feinberg
Buff Brazy Given
Mr. and Mrs. Guilford Glazer
Mr. and Mrs. Martin L. Gleich
Ilene and Stanley P. Gold, Jennifer Gold, Charles Gold
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Goldberg
Paul Goldenberg
Linda and Foster S. Goldman, Jr.
Stuart Goldstein
Sally Gottesman
Joy and Alan Greenberg
Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Gronowski
Irma and Irwin Grossman
Mr. and Mrs. Steven B. Gruber
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Halpern
Harris Family Foundation
Paula Brody and Merrill Hassenfeld
Mrs. Frances A. Hess
Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary, Los Angeles, CA
Karen and David Hoguet
Jewish Community Foundation, San Diego, CA
Jewish Education Service of North America, Inc.
The Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County
Lynne and Robert Kanter
Leslie and David A. Kantor
Leonard and Tobee Kaplan
Mona and Dr. Richard S. Kerstine
Koret Foundation
Dr. Jack P. Lewis
Laurie Frank Lieberman and Paul Lieberman
Mr. and Mrs. Ira A. Lipman
Suzanne and Walter N. Marks, Jr.*
Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Mayerson
Daryl Messinger and James J. Heeger
Lowell Milken The L and S Milken Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Miller
Michael D. Miller, Esq.
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Moelis
New York Jewish Federation
Mr. and Mrs. Michael E. Nissenson
Paula K. and William J. Oppenheim
Mr. and Mrs. Sanford P. Paris
Mr. and Mrs. John E. Pepper, Jr.
Murray Pepper and Vicki Reynolds Pepper
Rabbi Amy R. and Gary L. Perlin
Rabbi Aaron Mark Petuchowski
Bernard M. Plum
Rabbi David M. and Sylvia Posner
Ethel and Harry Reckson Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Reichwald
Stephanie Jean Hayo Robins Memorial Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, California
Sandra Rocks
Margery Rosenberg
Ms. Terry C. Rosenberg
Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Rosenstein
Charles J. Rothschild, Jr.*
Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey E. Schwarz
Dov L. Seidman and Maria Parad Seidman
Lawrence A. Sherman
Sylvia G. Shor
The Robert Sillins Family Foundation, Inc.
Anita and Tom C.* Silver
Barbara J. Silverman
Susan M. and Samuel A. Simon
Sinai Free Synagogue, Mt. Vernon, NY
The Sofaer Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Howard B. Soloway
Jean P. Soman
Rabbi Jonathan A. Stein
Susan and Jeffrey K. Stern
Bradley R. Tabach-Bank
Tamkin Foundation, Dr. S. Jerome and Judith D. Tamkin
United Jewish Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater DC
United Way of San Diego County
Victory Wholesale Grocers, David and Leslie Kantor
Debra Wasserman and Jason Glasser
Tina D. and Richard L. Wasserman, M.D., Ph.D.
Alice and Harris K.* Weston
Rabbi Michael A. White
Otti Y.*, Fred W.*, and Steven F. Windmueller Fund
M.B. & Edna Zale Foundation
Mark A. and Peggy Zilbermann
Harriet W. and Henry L. Zucker Memorial Fund of The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, OH
PATRONS
($5,000+)
Rabbi Joshua M. Aaronson
Jill W. Adler
Rabbi Richard D. Agler
Maurice Amado Foundation
The Angell Foundation Anonymous
Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Archer
Michael Bamberger
Rabbi Lewis M. Barth Barbara and Leonard H. Berenfield
Nancy and Robert Blank
Lenore Bohm Leichtag Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
Mrs. Abraham Braude
Rabbi Anne Levine Brener
Judith Bernstein Bunzl and Nick Bunzl
Cantor Gabriella Arad Burrows and Rabbi Joshua Burrows
Rabbi Marcus L. Burstein
Rabbi Steven D. Burton
Cincinnati Financial Corporation
Dr. and Mrs. Michael Clayman
Jane and John C. Colman
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Comras
Congregation Beth Emeth, Albany, NY
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, PA
Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York, NY
Rabbi Matthew S. Cutler
Rabbi Joshua Michael Davidson
Mr. and Mrs. Hugo D. de Castro
Rabbi Michelle D. Pearlman and Dr. Andrew Denker
Marian and Donald* DeWitt Family Trust
Susan and Marvin Dickman
Harold and Annette Dobbs Family Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco, CA
Professor Rivka Dori
Isabel P. Dunst
Ben B.* and Joyce E. Eisenberg-Keefer Foundation
Rabbis David H. Ellenson, Ph.D. and Jacqueline Koch Ellenson
Karen I. Epstein Schneider
The Foundation For Jewish Philanthropies of San Antonio
Elaine Frank
Mr. and Mrs. D. Gilbert Friedlander
William A. Friedlander Fund #2 of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Rabbi Ronne Friedman
Rabbi Stacy L. Friedman
Rabbi David J. Gelfand
Rabbi Laura J. Geller
Joan and Howard Gellis
Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz and Lauren Rutkin
Rochelle and Dr. Eli Ginsburg
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Glaser
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
Rita Sue and Alan Gold
Mr. and Mrs. Allan B. Goldman
Tamara Lustgarten Gropper and Rabbi Daniel Gropper
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gunther
Alexander A. Harris and Carollina Song
Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati
George L.* and Anne P. Heldman Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Paul W. Heldman and Deborah Kirschner
Connie and Mark Heller
Amy and Robert M. Heller
Judith and Martin Hertz
Hitter Family Foundation
Gene R. Hoffman
Dr. Lawrence A. Hoffman
Marissa and Jeffrey Hollander
Houston Jewish Community Foundation, TX
Rabbi Brett R. Isserow
Rabbi Richard J. Jacobs
Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe
David J. and Josephine I. Joseph Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Jules L. Kabat
Rabbi Lewis Kamrass
Gershon Kekst
Rabbi Stephanie D. Kolin
Michael Koss Charitable Foundation
Joanne and Richard A. Krantz
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Krueger
Laura and Lewis Kruger
Rabbi and Mrs. William I. Kuhn
Cantor Nathan Lam
Linda and John K. Levi
Joan* and Dr. Stanley M. Levin
Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Levine
Mr. and Mrs. Michael LeVine
Rabbi and Mrs. Robert N. Levine
Hyman Levine Family Foundation
Sandra and Jack B. Levitt
Rabbi Robert D. Levy
Judi and Paul H. Lippe
Rabbi David A. Lipper
Rabbi Thomas Alan Louchheim
Mr. and Mrs. William S. Louchheim, Jr.
Rabbi Steven S. Lowenstein
Drs. Anne and Paul Lucky
Helene and Millard Mack
Rabbi Laurence P. Malinger
Naomi and Richard Mandel
Rabbi Steven S. and Patrice G. Mason
Rabbi Michael Matuson
Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger
Men of Reform Judaism
Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund
Microsoft Matching Gifts Program
Rabbi Shira I. Milgrom
Rabbi Bennett F. Miller
Milwaukee Jewish Federation, WI
Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.
Jackie and Anthony Montag
Rabbi Jeremy Slater Morrison
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuary, Los Angeles, CA
National Gay Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Foundation
National Philanthropic Trust DAF
Rabbi Arthur P. Nemitoff
The New York Community Trust
Mr. and Mrs. Morris W. Offit
Mr. and Mrs. John S. Pachter
Sally G. Palmbaum
Abraham Perlman Foundation Inc.
Joseph A. and Susan E. Pichler Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand
Rabbi James Prosnit
Steven R. Pruzan and Janet Abrams
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pryzant
Mr. Terry Pullan Ann Ramer
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence J. Ramer
Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport
Rabbi Debra J. Robbins
Ruth E. Robinson
Rabbi Gaylia R. Rooks
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Rosenfeld
Ms. Gayle G. Roski
Lenore C. Ross*
Mr. and Mrs. John J. Schiff, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Schlossberg
Rabbi Avi M. Schulman
Rabbi Amy M. Schwartzman
Mr. and Mrs. Donald L. Schwarz
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Segan
Jeffrey Seymour
Rabbi Judy B. Shanks
Betsy Shapiro
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Sheinbaum
Mr. and Mrs. William Shpall
Richard Siegel
Rabbi Steven L. Silver
Rabbi Jeffrey J. Sirkman
Mr. and Mrs. David B. Smith
Adrienne Souther-Geffen and Stanley D. Geffen
Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl
Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Stavis
Mr. and Mrs. Jay Stein
Dr. Eve Kurtin Steinberg and Dr. Michael L. Steinberg
Rabbi Richard F. Steinbrink
Corky, Ellen, and Rick Steiner
Rabbis Nancy A. Kasten and David E. Stern
Lynn Straus
Sun Hill Foundation, Susan R. Malloy
Tawani Foundation
The Teagle Foundation, Inc.
Temple Emanu-El, Westfield, NJ
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew H. Tisch
Josephine Yessar Tulin Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Verizon Foundation
Rabbi Donald A. Weber
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Weidhorn
Frederick R. Weisman Philanthropic Foundation
Rabbi Michael White
Dr. Steven and Dr. Michelle Windmueller
Karen Wisialowski
Xavier University
Rabbi Elaine S. Zecher
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Zeidler
Florence and Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin
Rabbi Irwin A. Zeplowitz
Rabbi Sheldon and Judith Zimmerman
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall S. Zolla
SPONSORS
($3,000+)
Cantor Dana S. Anesi
Alan and Judith Appelbaum
Rabbi Lawrence A. Bach
Rabbi Peter Scott Berg
Rabbi Seth L. Bernstein Mace Blicksilver
Rabbi Richard A. Block
Rabbi Ana Benay Bonnheim
Mr. and Mrs. Sanford B. Bothman
Gail and Steve Brand
Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana
Rabbi Kenneth M. Chasen
he Cincinnati Enquirer
Kathy and Dr. Louis Claybon
The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY
Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills, CA
Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, Glenview, IL
Corporex Companies, Inc., Mr. and Mrs. William P. Butler
Cantor Lori A. Corrsin
Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, TX
A. Jerome Dave
Rabbi Steven L. Denker
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
Rabbi Dennis J. Eisner
Evie and Dr. Warren “Chip” Fagadau
Rabbi Daniel J. Feder
Marion B. and Gerald S.* Gendell
Genzyme Corporation
Rabbi James A. Gibson
Rabbi James S. Glazier
Barbara and Dr. Charles Glueck
Melanie J. Cole Goldberg and Rabbi Edwin C. Goldberg
Scott G. Golinkin
Rabbi Paul J. Golomb
Mr. and Mrs. Brian Good
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Goodwin
Hilda P.and Douglas* Goodwin
Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon
Rabbi Roberto D. Graetz
Mr. and Mrs. Julian M. Greenebaum
Rabbi Micah D. Greenstein
Jerome W. Grollman*
Rabbi Eric S. Gurvis
Rabbi Jason M. Gwasdoff
The Meyer Handelman Fund
Wendy and James G. Heldman
Rabbi Eli and Bonnie Herscher
Drs. Uri D. and Myna Herscher
Dr. Edward B. and Andrea Herzig
Stephen J. Hoffman
Howard G. and Samita B. Jacobs Foundation
Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona
Jewish Federation of Columbus, Inc., GA
Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, TX
Drs. Patricia and Scott Joseph
Judea Reform Congregation, Durham, NC
Janice M. Kamenir-Reznik
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Kandel
Rabbi Alan J. Katz
Rabbi Asher Michaels
Gottesfeld Knight
Sally and Gerald J. Korkin
Mr. and Mrs. Terry Korth
The Kroger Company
Dr. Terry and Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff
Rabbi Robert B. Lennick
Rabbi Daniel Edward Levin
Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim, Wynnewood, PA
Rabbi Devorah Michelle Marcus
Rabbi Janet R. Marder
Mr. and Mrs. Robert O. Mast
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert R. Mayer
Emily* and Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman Fund
Faye and Alvin Z. Meisel
Melvin* and Elaine Merians
Messer Construction Company
Mr. and Mrs. Eliot N. Meyers
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell S. Meyers
Rabbi Stanley R. Miles, D.D.
Mr. and Mrs. R. Lon Morton
Rabbi Mark A. Peilen
The PNC Financial Services Group
Rabbi Fred N. Reiner
Rabbi Warren Jack Romberg
Diane and J. David Rosenberg
Rabbi John L. Rosove
Schiff-Kreidler-Shell, Inc.
Abby and Dr. David B. Schwartz
Rabbi Frederick C. Schwartz
Rabbi Ronald M. Shapiro
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen T. Shapiro
Evely Laser Shlensky
Rabbi Scott L. Shpeen
Rabbi Joel Sisenwine
Debbi and Ralph Sorrentino
Rabbi David A. Spey
Cantor Howard M. Stahl
Statman, Harris, Slegel & Eyrich LLC
Rabbi Elliot M. Strom
Temple Beth El of Boca Raton
Temple Israel, Minneapolis, MS
Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, NY
Union Savings Bank
USI Midwest Insurance Company
Cantor Steven I. Weiss
Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc.
Rabbi David A. Whiman
Rabbi Eric B. Wisnia
Rabbi Deborah E. Zecher
Moyshe Zilber Trust
ASSOCIATES
($1,000+)
2EnCompass
Mr. and Mrs. Jay Abarbanel
Michelle Shapiro Abraham
Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson
Rabbi Ruth Valere Adar
Rabbi Sanford D. Akselrad
Rabbi Mona Alfi
Mr. and Mrs. Howard B. Allenberg
Amcha For Tsedakah, Inc.
American Conference of Cantors
Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP
Mr. and Mrs. James R. Anixter
Anonymous
Anonymous – Soup Kitchen
Rabbi Melanie W. Aron
Rabbi Raphael W. Asher
Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore
Rabbi George J. Astrachan
Cantor Vicki L. and Dr. Harold Axe
Rabbi Craig H. Axler
Rachel and Rabbi Andrew N. Bachman
Rabbi Carole B. Balin
Margaret and Howard Ballagh Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Alissa E. Ballot
Gabrielle Bamberger
Rabbi Henry Bamberger
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Banchik
Mr. and Mrs. Michael L. Bandler
Cantor Roslyn J. Barak
Gloria Baran
Mrs. and Mrs. Bernard Barbash
Rabbi Uri Nathan Barnea
C. Francis Barrett
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley F. Barshay
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Barth
Rabbi Arthur I. Baseman
Lorna Blake and Robert Batterman
Dr. Joan G. and Rabbi
Leonard I. Beerman
Rabbi Marci N. Bellows
Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett
Mrs. Jean F. Bergstein
Rabbi Alexis D. Berk
Rabbi Marc E. Berkson
Rabbi Alan M. Berlin
Rabbi Stephanie L. Bernstein and Henry S. Winokur
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Betagole
Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert L. Bildner
Rabbi Richard J. Birnholz
Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake
Shirley Bleviss
Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Block
Rabbi P. Irving Bloom
Rabbi Steven M. Bob
Rabbi Terry A. Bookman
Dr. Paul I. Bookstaver
Rabbi Neal I. Borovitz
Boston Foundation, MA
Rabbi Bradd H. Boxman
Ruth and Lou Brause
Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor
Rabbi Daniel E. Bridge
Elin Brockman
Rabbi Herbert N. Brockman
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Bronstein
Jane H. Brooks
Rabbi Jeffrey C. Brown
Rabbi Carey A. Brown-Gardner
Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Bucksbaum
Beth Burnam and Michael Greene
Roberta & Maxwell Burstein
Family Fund of Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Rabbi Andrew James Busch
Ruth Holzer Byowitz and Michael Byowitz
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Candau
Max Candiotty
Mr. and Mrs. Eric Caslow
Castellini Foundation
David B. Casten
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald S. Charness
Mr. and Mrs. Barry M. Chasen
Dr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Chazan
Judge and Mrs. Eli I. Chernow
Rabbi Paul J. Citrin
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cohan
Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen
Harold L. Cohen
Mr. Jeffrey H. Cohen
Joanne and James R. Cohen
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey M. Cohen
Dr. Naomi W. Cohen
Rabbi Norman J. Cohen
Rabbi Norman M. Cohen
Rabbi Hillel Cohn
Mr.* and Mrs. Newton B. Cohn
Communities Foundation of Texas
The Community Synagogue, Port Washington, NY – Board of Trustees
Rabbi Karen Nicola Companez
Congregation Beth Chaim, Princeton Junction, NJ
Congregation Emanu El, Houston, TX
Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco, CA – Rabbi Stephen Pearce, Rabbi Sydney Mintz, Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan, Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe, Rabbi Ryan
Bauer, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Cantor Roslyn Barak
Congregation Emanu El Sisterhood, Houston, TX
Robert N. Cooperman Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. Cornfeld Rabbi Scott M. Corngold
The Cosette Charitable Fund
Rabbi Laurie Coskey
Rabbi Andrea Jennifer Cosnowsky
Rabbi Rachel B. Cowan
Rabbi Darcie Locke Crystal
Edward and Sharon Cushman
The Dallas Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard L. Dave
Rabbi Sion A. David
April and Harry B. Davidow
Mindy Beth Davids
The Honorable David S. Davidson
Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Deutsch
Rabbi Bruce S. Diamond
Rabbi and Mrs. Mark Diamond
Rabbi Leah R. Doberne-Schor
Rabbi Michael N. Dolgin
Rabbi William K. Dreskin
Rose W. Drucker*
Eugene DuBow
Rabbi Stephen J. Einstein
Rabbi Eric L. Eisenkramer
Rabbi Michael B. Eisenstat
Gene and Neddie Mae Elkus Family Foundation
David and Kari Ellis Family Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Ph.D.
Rabbi Ilan Samuel Emanuel
Rabbi Kenneth A. Emert
Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander
Cantor Jessica F. and Steven Epstein
Mr. and Mrs. George Erdstein
Rabbi Helaine Ettinger
Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Fadem
Mr.* and Mrs. Norman Fain
Elizabeth H. Farquhar
Mr. and Mrs. H. Jack Feibelman
Rabbi Dena A. Feingold
Mr. and Mrs. Alan D. Feld
Rabbi Marla J. Feldman
Rabbi Daniel Joshua Fellman
Lori Fenner
Rabbi and Mrs. Harvey J. Fields
Dr. and Mrs. David Findley
Dr. Robert L. Fine and Nina Cortell
Rabbi Steven M. Fink, D.Min., D.D.
First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland
Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Fisher
Norman R. Fishman
Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Fleishhacker
Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Flotken
Rabbi Steven Folberg
Dr. Lawrence Arthur Forman
Rabbi Alissa M. Forrest
Fort Wayne Jewish Federation, IN
Rabbi Steven E. Foster
Rabbi Karen L. Fox
Dr. Nili Fox
Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Fradin
Rabbi Anthony B. Fratello
FRCH Design Worldwide
Erica S. and Martin Frederick
Mr. and Mrs. Jay W. Freedman
Rabbi Allen I. Freehling
Rabbi Daniel H. Freelander
Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman
Marilyn Friedman
Rabbi Elyse D. Frishman
Rabbi Louis Frishman
Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell M. Frost
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Furman
Dr. and Mrs. Ira Gall
Ethel and Sam Garber Foundation
Mr. Gregg Gardner and Rabbi Carey A. Brown-Gardner
Cantor Rebecca Garfein Gellman
Dr. and Mrs. B. A. Garrison
Rabbi Steven H. Garten, RJE
Joseph & Anna Gartner Foundation
Ms. Hamutal Gavish
Dr. Michael Gelb
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gelfand
Mr. and Mrs. James D. Gerson
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Gertler
Gettelfinger Family Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Richard I. Gilford
Dr. and Mrs. Abraham Gilner
Laurie and Stephen Girsky
Dr. Seymour Gitin
Rabbi Simeon I. Glaser
Rabbi Scott L. Glass
Rabbi Gary A. Glickstein
Rita Sue and Alan Gold
Rabbi Rosalind Gold and Theodore Smith
Rabbi Dr. Jay B. Goldberg
Dr. Irene Goldenberg
Rabbi Rachel D. Goldenberg
Sybil Goldenblank
Rabbi Mark N. Goldman
Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Goldstein
Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley P. Goldstein
Nancy Goldstein-Levine
Rabbi Shana Rachel Goldstein-Mackler
Mr. and Mrs. Bernie R. Goler
Rabbi Mark A. Golub
Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Goodman
Rabbi Evan L. Goodman
Rabbi James Stone Goodman
Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman
Rabbi Stephen Wise Goodman
Rabbi Debora Sophie Gordon
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth B. Gore
Mr. and Mrs. Osias G. Goren
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Gralla
Emily and Eugene Grant
Emily and Eugene Grant Foundation Greater
Miami Jewish Federation, Inc., FL
Arthur and Dr. Helen Grebow
Dr. and Mrs. William H. Green
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur N. Greenberg
Rabbi C. Michelle Greenberg
Mr. and Mrs. Jack N. Greenman, III
Rabbi Bennett H. Greenspon
Rabbi Mark W. Gross
Eleanor Grosz and Larry Zweifach
Rabbi Marc A. Gruber
Rabbi Lisa Grushcow
Guild of Temple Musicians, Toronto, Canada
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Gumbiner
Rabbi Rachael Gurevitz
Rabbi Leslie Yale Gutterman
Rabbi Fred B. Guttman
Rabbi Jonathan Scott Hanish
Mr. and Mrs. John Harris
Rabbi Max Hausen
Rabbi Oren Jacob Hayon
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn A. Healey
Rabbi Jonathan L. Hecht, Ph.D.
Mark Heiman
Rabbi Deborah G. Helbraun
Rabbi Sidney M. Helbraun
Mr. Jordan Helfman
Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Hendricks
Rabbi Lev R. Herrnson
Rabbi Ronie R. Herstik
Rabbi Leah Minkele Herz
Rabbi Garson Herzfeld
Miriam Prum Hess
Mr. and Mrs. Allan T. Hirsh, III
Dan Hoffheimer
Rabbi and Mrs. Sydney L. Hoffman
Ruth S. Holmberg
Rabbi Anthony D. Holz
Rabbi Gary A. Huber
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Hudson
Rabbi Jocee E. Hudson
Susan Kittner Huntting
Rabbi Mark S. Hurvitz
IBM International Fdtn. – Matching Grants Program
Minna and Robert M. Immerman
Barbara and Alan Iselin
Mr. and Mrs. Howard G. Jacobs
Rabbi Jennifer A Jaech
Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP
Michael Jeser and Paul Jeser
Jewish Center of the Hamptons
Jewish Community Board of Akron, OH
Jewish Community Foundation
Jewish Family and Children’s Services, San Francisco, CA
Jewish Federation of St. Louis, MO
Jewish Funeral Directors of America
Gayle Johansen
Rabbi Samuel K. Joseph, RJE
Mr. Todd M. Joseph and Cantor Barbara Ostfeld
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Kabrins
Rabbi Bruce J. Kadden
Rabbi Bruce E. Kahn
Rabbi Yoel H. Kahn, Ph.D.
Rabbi Mark Kaiserman
Rabbi Jennifer Alysse Kaluzny
Rabbi Kenneth A. Kanter
Bette and Bernard Kaplan Charitable Foundation
Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation
Rabbi Stephen A. Karol
Rabbi Henry Jay Karp
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaufman
Mr. and Mrs. Howard S. Kaufman
Mr. and Mrs. Roy D. Kaufman
Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar
Rabbi Rony S. Keller
Cantor Evan S. Kent and Rabbi Donald M. Goor
Dr. Deborah Kerdeman
Barbara Rubin Kessler and Steven L. Kessler
Cantor Ilene Keys
Rabbi Bernard P. King
Rabbi Ralph P. Kingsley
Harry and Sarah Kirschner* Memorial Trust
Mr. and Mrs. Cal Klausner
Rabbi Norman M. Klein
Rabbi Joseph P. Klein
Rabbi Zoë G. Klein
Rabbi Marc Aaron Kline
Rabbi Peter S. Knobel, Ph.D
Rabbi Norman D. Koch Shirley E. Kodmur
Rabbi Neil E. Kominsky
Mr. and Mrs. S L Kopald, Jr.
Cantor Leigh Seth Korn
Nili H. Kosmal, RJE
Rabbi Cary D. Kozberg
Mr. and Mrs. Martin L. Kozberg
Rabbi Douglas E. Krantz
Rabbi Jay M. Krause
Katherine Krause and Warren K. Zahler
Rabbi P. Allen Krause
Lynn and Jules Kroll
Leo J. Krupp
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Krupsky
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold L. Kupetz
Marc E. Lackritz and Mary B. DeOreo
Rabbi Howard O. Laibson, RJE
Lisa Langer and Dan Siegel
Rabbi Ruth Langer
Mr. and Mrs. Barry B. Larner
Audrey and Michael Laufer
Rabbi Martin S. Lawson
Deborah & Roger M. Lebbin Family Fund of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Lee
Cantor Janet Bess Leuchter
Rabbi Peter Selah Levi
Levin Family Foundation
Carol and Jerry Levin
Elizabeth Levine
Mr. and Mrs. Henry D. Levine
Cantor Lisa L. and Andrew B. Levine
Rabbi Richard A. Levine, D.D.
Rabbi and Mrs. Richard N. Levy
Rabbi Leah S. Lewis
Rabbis Michael J. Lezak and Noa R. Kushner
Sylvia F. Lezak
Carol R. Rosofsky and Robert B. Lifton
Rabbi John Andrew Linder
Dr. Amy E. Lipeles
Rabbi Ellen R. Lippmann
Rabbi Lewis C. Littman
Rabbi Richard M. Litvak
Rabbi David Louis Locketz
Rabbi Robert H. Loewy
Mr. and Mrs. Michael M. Lorge
Rabbi Harold S. Loss
Martha Klein Lottman
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund V. Ludwig, Jr.
Rabbi Jack A. Luxemburg
Rabbi David A. Lyon
Mr. and Mrs. Francis S. Maas
Jacqueline Mervis Mack and Dr. Edward B. Silberstein
Rabbi Beverly W. Magidson
Kay Magilavy
Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund H. Mantell
Rabbi Sanford T. Marcus
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Marks
Rabbi Gregory S. Marx
Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin
Dr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Match
Stuart and Antoinette Matlins/Jewish Lights Publishing
Carol and Bert Maxon
Rabbi Michele Brand Medwin
Cantor Fredda Rakusin Mendelson
Rabbi Paul J. Menitoff
Merck Partnership for Giving
Rabbi Barbara Metzinger
Nancy Meyer and Marc N. Weiss
Richard H. Meyer
Harvey M. & Lyn P. Meyerhoff Fund, Inc.
Rabbi Daniel Jonathan Mikelberg
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Milberg Milberg Factors, Inc.
Rabbi Laurence Elis Milder, Ph.D.
Andrea Milens
Rabbi Arnold H. Miller
Mary and James A. Miller
Rabbi Mark J. Miller
Mr. and Mrs. Bradley H. Mindlin
Rabbi James L. Mirel
Anne M. Molloy and Henry Posner, III
Goldie and Dan Morchower
Rabbi Leon Alan Morris
Maxine J. Myers
Rabbi Robin Nafshi
Rabbi Randi Chudakoff Nagel
Rabbi Scott Myron Nagel
Mr. and Mrs. James Nathan
Laurence A. Nathan
Rabbi Mara S. Nathan
National Association of Temple Administrators
Mr. P. Sherrill Neff
Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser
Mr. and Mrs. Buzz Neusteter
Janet and Richard Neuberger
Rabbi Jason Nevarez, RJE
Mr. and Mrs. Morris P. Newberger
Dr. Raquel H. Newman
Joan H. Nordman
North Shore Synagogue, Syosset, NY
Northwestern Mutual Life Foundation
Suzanne R. Novik
Martha Nussbaum
Rabbi Shoshana Nyer
Lois and Neil Nyren
Rabbi Janet Irene Offel
Rabbi Stacy K. Offner
Ohio National Financial Services
Ira M. Olsan Trust
Ordination Class of 2009, HUC-JIR Cincinnati
Osham Family
William S. Oshinsky and Elissa A. Gordon
Cantor Barbara J. Ostfeld
Rabbi Robert E. Ourach
Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Panken
Rabbi Norman R. Patz
Eleanor Payton
Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce
Jacqueline Pearlson
Rabbi Rex D. Perlmeter
Rabbi Elana Erdstein Perry
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Rabbi Debra F. Pine
Sylvia G. Plank Trust
Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Plough, Jr.
Polk Brothers Foundation
Rabbi Stuart A. Pollack
Cheryl Pollman and Michael S. Werbner
Mr. and Mrs. Myron Pomerantz
Rabbi Oren J. Postrel
Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz
Dale H. Rabiner
Rabbi Alan Rabishaw
Mr. and Mrs. Gary S. Rabishaw
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Randolph
Daniel and Irene Randolph
Rabbi Lawrence W. Raphael
Dr. Andrea Read Rabbi Uri Regev
Rabbi Richard S. Rheins
Rabbis Laurie Neuman Rice and Philip C. Rice
Florence and Martin Richman
Marcia S. Riesman
Judy and Neil “Nick” E. Ringel
David Rintels
Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Risch
Mr. and Mrs. David Rivkin
Carol W. Roberts
Rabbi Janet Roberts
Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Robin
Larry S. Robins
Rockdale Temple, Cincinnati, OH
Janie and Joseph Roher
John Rokacz and Susan Lichtenstein
Rabbi Ben A. Romer
Rabbi Jonathan S. Roos
Bunny and Stan Rosen
Dr. Barbara and Richard Rosenberg
Margery Rosenberg
Rabbi Joseph R. Rosenbloom
Rabbi Harry L. Rosenfeld
Rabbi Milton D. Rosenfeld
Rabbi Cheryl M. Rosenstein
Irene Rosenthall
Rabbi William A. Rosenthall*
Pat and John Rosenwald
Dr. Elaine Y. Rosin
Mr. Richard Rosman and Mrs. Fran Morris-Rosman
Rabbi Dennis S. Ross
Mr. and Mrs. George M. Ross
Mr. and Mrs. Scott J. Ross
Rabbi Donald B. Rossoff, RJE
Daniel M. Rothblatt
Laura and Peter H. Rothschild
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence J. Rothenberg
Rotonda Foundation
Rabbi A. James Rudin
Rabbi Richard B. Safran
Rabbi Douglas B. Sagal
Cantor Sarah J. Sager
Rabbi Jared Harrison Saks
Rabbi Maurice A. Salth
Henry Salzhauer
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Sambul
Louise Adler Sampson
San Antonio Area Foundation
Rabbi Richard S. Sarason
Rabbi Ruth Langer and Dr. Jonathan Sarna
Jed David Satow Family Foundation, Donna and Phillip Satow
Rabbi Cantor Jeffrey S. Saxe
Cantor Hollis S. Schachner
Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Schaps
The Scheidt Family Foundation Inc.
Diane Lukoff and Neal Scherberg
Rabbi Stanley T. Schickler, RJE
Rabbi Dr. Daniel L. Schiff
Rabbi Judith Schindler Wallach
Susan and Bruce Schlechter
Schulzinger-Lucas Family Foundation
Rabbi Marvin Stanley Schwab
Katherine Schwartz, RJE and Andrew Schultheiss
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Schwartz
Sheila Chervin and Peter A. Schwartz
Alvin and Dorothy Schwartz Foundation
Jane Dystel and Steve Schwinder
Rabbi Adrienne Pollock Scott
Rabbi Ronald M. Segal
Rabbi Kenneth I. Segel
David and Rosanne Selfon
Rabbi Daniel Adam Septimus
Rabbi Isaac Daniel Serotta
Norman A. & Margaret I. Shane Charitable Trust
Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
Rabbi Benjamin Aaron Sharff
Rabbi Charles P. Sherman
SHP Leading Design
Cantor Michael Alan Shochet
Henry Siegel
Cantor Wayne S. Siet
Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, D.Min.
Adrianne and William Silver
Rabbi Howard A. Simon
Rabbi Suzanne Singer
Mr. and Mrs. Paul G. Sittenfeld
Dr. and Mrs. Mitchell L. Slotnick
Rabbi Ronald B. Sobel
Rabbi David M. Sofian
Nancy and David Solomon
Rabbi Howard F. Sommer
Rabbi Adam V. S. Spilker
Cantor Rachel Stock Spilker
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard H. Spring
Eve and James Starkman
Mr. and Mrs. Fredric Stein
Mr. and Mrs. Jay Stein
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Stein
Rabbi Peter W. Stein
Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein
Rabbi Lane Steinger
Steinhart Family Advised Fund of The Dallas Foundation
Barbara E. Stern and Robert D. Stern*; Miriam H. Stern Fund No. 2 of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Rabbi Keith Stern
Louise B. Stern
Betty and Marvin Hoffenberg,
Sidney Stern Memorial Trust
Rabbi Benjamin D. Sternman
Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman, Ph.D.
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld Cantors
Roy B. Einhorn and Jodi L. Sufrin
Sharon and Marc M. Sussman Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Rabbi Susan A. Talve
Mark and Marilyn Talve Foundation
Rabbi Harvey M. Tattelbaum
Temple Beth Rishon, Wyckoff, NJ
Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, TX
Temple Israel, Akron, OH
Temple Israel Sisterhood, Minneapolis, MN
Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto
Jerry and Roger Tilles
Mrs. Billie Tisch
Yolanda and David M. Tisdale
Dr. and Mrs. Philip A. Torgan
Towne Properties Ltd., Neil K. Bortz and Marvin Rosenberg
Rabbi Robyn Tsesarsky
Joan and Barry Tucker
Union for Reform Judaism
United Way of Rhode Island
Julie A. Vanek, RJE
Ilana and Skip Vichness
Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Volpert
Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman
Rabbi Dennis E. Wald
Rabbi Roy A. Walter
Glenn F. Wasserman and Allyne Winderman
Richard A. Weiland
Rabbi Stuart G. Weinblatt
Dr. and Mrs. Lewis R. Weiner
Rabbi Martin S. Weiner
Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Weiner
Rabbi Thomas K. Weiner
Donald J. and Helene S. Weinstock
Rabbi David M. Weis
Rabbi David B. Weisberg
Rabbi Stephen J. Weisman
Rabbi Cory A. Weiss
Edna Weiss
Joan and Peter Wells
Elizabeth Werner*
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Werthan, Jr.
David F. and Sara K. Weston Fund
Rabbi Joshua Leigh Whinston
Dolores Wilkenfeld
Rita Williams
Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles, CA
Mr. and Mrs. James A. Wimmer
Rabbi Laura Novak Winer, RJE
Abby and John Winkelried
Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Winkler, Jr.
Rabbi Paula Jayne Winnig
Rabbi Stephen A. Wise
Women of Beth Israel Women’s Auxiliary of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Wurzel
Rabbi Stanley Yedwab
Beth Ellen Young
Rabbi David N. Young
Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Young
Mr. Michael Zajdman
Rabbi Mary Lande Zamore
Dr. Michael Zeldin
Mr. and Mrs. Howard M. Zelikow
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel
Rabbi Edward Zerin
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Ziffren
Rabbi Brian H. Zimmerman
Rabbi Marcia A. Zimmerman
Rabbi Misha E. Zinkow
Rabbi Henry A. Zoob
Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker
Rabbi Josh Davis Zweiback
SUSTAINING MEMBERS
($500+)
Ginny and Roger Aaron
Dr. Martin G. Abegg, Jr.
Rabbi Jonathan F. Adland
Dr. Rachel R. Adler
Rabbi Jaime Klein Aklepi
Rabbi Daniel S. Alexander
Alperin/Hirsch Family Foundation, Hope and David Hirsch
Ilene and Edward M. Alpert
Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Alpert
The Sylvia, Robert and Steven Altman Fund American Society for Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Anonymous
Dr. and Mrs. Tony Aretz
Rabbi Rami Arian
Irene Auerbacher
Dr. and Mrs. Robert L. Bahr
Dr. David A. Barish
Dr. and Mrs. Horace Barsh
Rabbi Morris Barzilai and Lisa Lieberman Barzilai
Jonathan E. Beck
John D. Belzer and Lesley M. Silverstone, RJE
Rabbi Allen B. Bennett
Mr. and Dr. Alex Berenson
Rabbi Allison Bergman Vann and Charles Vann
Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits, D.D.
Rabbi Andrea R. Berlin
Rabbi Donald R. Berlin Rabbi
Amy B. Bigman
Rabbi Aaron Benjamin Bisno
William F. Blitzer
Harvey M. Block
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Block
Mrs. Lee Bohm
Lisa K. Borowitz
Rabbi Laurie Katz Braun
Martin Brest
Rabbi Kenneth L. Brickman
Ruth White Brodsky
Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. Broido
Mr. and Mrs. Martin Brower
Rabbi Jonathan M. Brown
Sylvia Brown Olivetti
Dr. and Mrs. Sidney N. Busis
Cantor Susan Caro
Rabbi Kenneth I. Carr
Rabbi Ari Mark Cartun
Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education
Dr. Michael L. Chernick
Rabbi Marianne Chernow
Rabbi Steven A. Chester
Cantor Mark E. Childs
Rabbi Michael Scott Churgel, RJE
Rabbis Karen Schram Citrin and Micah Citrin
Ellen and Casey Cogut
Rabbi David B. Cohen
Ellen Cohen
Jacqueline F. Cohen
Rabbi Paul F. Cohen, D.Min.
Dr. and Mrs. Steven R. Cohen
Rabbi Sandra J. Cohen
Rabbi Stephen Eidlin Cohen
Theodore Cohn
The Columbus Foundation, OH
Congregation Schaarai Zedek, Tampa, FL
Rabbi Julian I. Cook
Jodi and Wayne Cooperman
Mr. and Mrs. Alan Cotzin
Cantor Don Alan Croll
Rabbi Darryl P. Crystal
Jonathan Crystal
Gary Culpepper
Rabbi William Cutter, Ph.D.
Rabbi Harry K. Danziger
Rabbi Benjamin Paul David
Rabbi Jerome P. David, D.D.
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Davidson
Charlotte C. Davis
Dr. Miriam Dean-Otting
Gordon R. Diamond
Gloria Dobbs
Noelle and Jeff Donfeld
Helen and Jerry Dreskin
Rabbi Anne Ebersman
Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Edelman
Rabbi Amy B. Ehrlich and Dr. Joseph J. Fins
Rabbi Jonathan Eichhorn
Mr. and Mrs. Steven Einhorn
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Elinsky
Rabbi Cindy G. Enger
Michael A. Epstein and Lisa B. Martin
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ernsteen
Rabbi Kim Sophia Ettlinger Jane Fantel
Mr. and Mrs. Jason K. Feldman
Rabbi Louis J. Feldman, Ph.D.
Fibus Family Foundation
Dr. and Mrs. Bryan D. Fisch
Rabbi Ellen Flax
Rabbi Joseph M. Forman
Michael Forman
Rabbi Robert P. Frazin, D.D.
Blanche Grossman Fredericks
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Freiberg, Jr.
Daniel Friedkin
Dr. Eric L. Friedland
Cantor Florence Friedman
Rabbi Dara Beth Frimmer
Mr. and Mrs. Seth Front
Rabbi Robert T. Gan
Galinson Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation, San Diego, CA
Rabbi Everett Gendler
The Gendler Family Foundation
Bradley R. Gerstle
Rabbi David Glazer
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* of blessed memory
The Passionate Search for Meaning: Dr. Norman J. Cohen
Dr. Norman J. Cohen’s first exposure to Midrash, the subject that would become the core text of his life and career, was through his beloved grandfather, R. Hayyim Baruch, affectionately known as ‘Shorty” although he was larger than life to his grandson. “On Shabbat, he would take me to a local Orthodox shul, where there would be a half-hour shiur (study session) between Minhah and Maariv on Pirke Avot or other texts,” he recalls. “My grandfather, who studied Talmud (generally deemed the preeminent, rational text for the learned at that time), also occasionally studied Midrash. I was struck by those memorable moments in my grandfather’s Shabbat Hevruta study group when someone would offer a midrashic interpretation of the text. Looking at his face I knew he was transformed – transported to a florid, magical realm, full of imagination. I knew I wanted to feel that way.” Thus were planted the seeds of Cohen’s lifelong intellectual and personal quest to find contemporary meaning in ancient biblical texts through the prism of Midrash.
Growing up in a modern Orthodox family in Astoria, Queens, Cohen attended both secular public school and a supplementary Orthodox Hebrew school and Hebrew high school. He and his younger brother Marvin were surrounded by loving parents – his mother Molly, who died when he was 27 years old, and his father Irving, who Cohen tended lovingly into his 80s, particularly when afflicted by a stroke during the last decades of his life. A closely-knit family of aunts, uncles, and cousins all lived within an eight-block radius. Immersed in traditional Jewish life, Cohen nonetheless “intuitively knew that Orthodoxy presented limitations” for him and says, “I could not understand why the girls in my class could not have a bat mitzvah, for example. I was looking for ways to find another path.”
By the time he was fourteen years old, he had reached a critical juncture. “I was committed to a Thursday night basketball game with my friends. At the same time, I had developed a crush on a Hebrew school classmate, who participated in a youth group on that same evening.” Teenage love trumped sports, and Cohen was introduced to another formative influence in his life –Young Judaea. From that point on, Cohen was an active leader of that Zionist youth movement, working at its senior camp Tel Yehudah, establishing lifelong friendships with future colleagues, performing at annual Israeli Folk Dancing Festivals at Carnegie Hall, and ultimately traveling to Israel during his junior year abroad for study at the Hebrew University in 1962-63. “That’s when I discovered my love for the Hebrew language, which led me to studying Hebrew texts.”
When he returned to Columbia from Israel, he completed his major in chemistry but took on a minor in Hebrew literature as well. Upon graduation in 1964, he stayed on to study for a Master’s in Hebrew Literature and gradually came to the realization that the advanced study of Jewish text was his true calling. “At that time, rabbinical school was the best venue for serious study of this kind,” he explains. “Although I knew that I was not interested in pursuing a pulpit career, I saw this as the optimal opportunity to develop a broad and firm foundation and to delve into Jewish scholarship with an academic career in mind.”
The independent inclination that had distanced him from the Orthodoxy of his childhood also determined the seminary at which to pursue graduate study. “I knew myself, and understood that I would best fare in an environment of free inquiry that would invite a questioning spirit. The Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR), as the New York campus of HUC-JIR was familiarly known at that time, was an extraordinary environment, with a pluralistic faculty traversing the denominations and covering the scope of Jewish scholarship. I knew that I would have the unfettered freedom to explore and grow there. In fact, the first Reform service I attended in my life was on my first day at JIR!”
Cohen vividly recalls his years at HUC-JIR, located on West 68th Street at that time, and his studies with beloved teachers, including Dr. Martin Cohen, Dr. Leonard Kravitz, and Dr. Eugene Borowitz. “I studied intensively with Gene, who challenged me to really delve deeply into the text. Furthermore, I had a hevre of study partners, including David Ruderman, Jonathan Malino, Sheldon Zimmerman, and Marc Saperstein, and we arranged electives for ourselves.”
By the time of his ordination in 1971, he was set on pursuing his Ph.D. “I knew I would not be happy in a university setting characterized by abstract learning. It was really about learning as part of a Jewish search for meaning that led me to HUC-JIR in Cincinnati.” His next four years of study were supervised by Dr. Eugene Mihaly, z”l, who “had a great sense of the language of the text, knew how to bring it alive, and inculcated in me a passion for the text for which I will always be grateful.” In 1975, two years before he completed his doctorate in 1977, Cohen was assigned by Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, z”l, then HUC-JIR President, to teach at the New York School. “My teaching has always served as an energizing force,” he says. “I love sharing my love for Midrash with my students, and in the process encouraging their own individual intellectual and spiritual journeys.”
He spent the next ten years teaching, moving up the faculty ranks, and began to lecture broadly to adult learners. “I wanted to transmit my passion for the text to others, and above and beyond the scholarly aspects, I wanted to make the text relevant to people’s lives.”
His faculty career flourished, and he was eventually tapped to serve in the administration, first as Director of the Rabbinical School in 1986, and then as Dean of the New York School in 1987, where he succeeded Dr. Paul M. Steinberg, z”l. In the latter capacity, he called upon a number of communal lay leaders whom he had taught at the Morris Zimmerman Memorial Institute, an annual Jewish study retreat with a contemporary valence for avid adult learners, established in memory of the father of Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman. “Burton Lehman, Stuart Matlins, Sam Perelson, and others became the core of a reconstituted Board of Overseers for the Eastern Region, assisting us in developing a new era and the necessary financial support for a revisioned New York School.”
As Dean for eight years, Cohen invigorated the faculty through faculty seminars and subject area departments, strengthened the academic programs, organized significant international academic conferences, and expanded the campus’s educational outreach to the larger community through its HUC-JIR Museum and a vibrant calendar of public programs featuring every aspect of contemporary Jewish literature, performance, and culture. He inculcated the Young Judaea philosophy of empowering others, supporting colleagues, and challenging them to reach their highest potential. In the process, the faculty, administration, students, and staff, together with lay leadership, became his true partners in the transformation of the New York School.
“Young Judaea had introduced me to a completely different model of nurturing Jewish leadership,” Cohen notes. “Our madrichim (leaders) encouraged us to take on responsibility, develop our own ideas, and bring them into being – all the while trusting in us, confident that we would succeed.” This model of leadership, steeped in a respect for process and a commitment to engaging and hearing others in order to move an institution forward, is one that Cohen embedded within the culture of HUC-JIR throughout his years as an administrator, first in New York and then nationally.
In 1995 Rabbi Zimmerman, the newly appointed President, appointed Cohen to serve as Provost. As HUC-JIR’s chief academic officer for the next fourteen years, Cohen applied Young Judaea’s strategies and his own vision on a national administrative level. “The integration of the campuses, faculty, and programs was always the powerful motivating factor,” Cohen says. “I sought out opportunities for empowerment and shared processes that would accomplish these goals, and embraced compromise in order not to sacrifice the core of the vision.”
Key to that vision was the revitalization of the faculty. “For about twenty years, since my own appointment as well as the appointments onto the New York faculty of Lawrence Hoffman, Stanley Nash, Michael Chernick, and David Sperling, among others, around 1975, there had been hardly any appointments and a diminution of the faculty. Our first goal was replenishing the faculty with emerging scholars who reflected a pluralistic orientation, had a commitment to teaching in a seminary environment, and were focused on serious scholarship and publication.” Cohen put forward the appointments of over 20 emerging scholars, half of whom were women, thereby fostering an egalitarian faculty representative of the values of the Reform Movement. He nurtured the faculty’s scholarly development and their integration across the campuses through working groups and the first of what grew to become a series of biennial faculty retreats, initially funded by Stanley P. Gold, former Chair of the Board of Governors, and subsequently supported by Burton Lehman, past Chair, and other members of the Board. He embraced the use of new technology that strengthened partnership in teaching areas and supported the innovation of team-taught courses in HUC-JIR’s e-classrooms.
As part of several strategic planning processes, Cohen created and sometimes led diverse task forces of dedicated faculty, including the consultation of outside experts, to evaluate and revise HUC-JIR’s rabbinical, cantorial, education, communal service, and graduate studies programs, as well as admissions and recruitment strategies, and continuing alumni education. Among the many accomplishments derived from these efforts was the first-ever core rabbinical curriculum, which advanced more rigorous admissions standards and stands as a model for all other academic programs and for peer institutions today.
Faced with the challenges of a changing Jewish community, Cohen led faculty and administration in the effort to intensify professional leadership development and infused it throughout the curricula with support from Bonnie and Daniel Tisch, the Mandel Foundation, the Schusterman Family Foundation, and the Davidson Chair in Social Responsibility. He also led the planning process to address student assessment, and created a systematic process that fosters summative as well as formative assessment.
Cohen oversaw the celebration of HUC-JIR’s 125th anniversary as Acting President in 2000, and in that capacity provided stability to the institution and helped facilitate the transition to presidential leadership by Rabbi David Ellenson in 2001.
In announcing Cohen’s retirement as Provost as of June 30, 2009, Rabbi Ellenson stated, “Norman was first my teacher thirty-one years ago at HUC-JIR, and is an esteemed scholar. More importantly, he has been my mentor and friend ever since. He has provided decades of dedicated service to the College-Institute and during the course of those years has been no less a mentor and friend to countless other colleagues and students. Norman has fulfilled fourteen years of distinguished leadership as the chief academic officer of our institution and has advanced HUC-JIR’s excellence through an extensive array of initiatives during his tenure as Provost. It has been a singular honor for me to have served with him during the past seven years. Norman has been a constant source of inspiration, vision, and guidance to me and so many others throughout our institution.”
As an internationally recognized expert in Midrash, Cohen has extended the insights of his scholarship beyond the classroom in a myriad of ways, from his participation in Bill Moyers’s “Genesis: A Living Conversation” TV series on PBS to lecturing extensively to learned and popular audiences throughout North America and around the world. Inevitably, his teaching evolved into a series of important books, published by Jewish Lights, beginning with Self, Struggle & Change: Family Conflict Stories in Genesis and Their Healing Insights for Our Lives.
“I had completed the first half of that book, which had served as a catharsis for issues relating to my own personal life,” he recalls. “I left the manuscript of the first four chapters in my car in the theater district in Manhattan. Upon my return, I found that the trunk had been forced, and the briefcase containing the manuscript had been stolen. It took me another two years to get back to the book. It was not easy beginning again, but the process of writing enabled me to give voice on the printed page to my passion for the text, and to share that passion with others.”
Cohen has produced four more books to date: Voices from Genesis: Guiding Us through the Stages of Life, The Way into Torah, Hineini in Our Lives, and, most recently, Moses and the Journey to Leadership: Timeless Lessons of Effective Management from the Bible and Today’s Leaders. Each of these books is characterized by powerful narratives that connect the spiritual and emotional journeys, struggles, frustrations, and confusions of biblical characters to those confronted in contemporary life. Cohen invites readers to discover the enduring meaning to be found in the Torah, to connect it to their lives today, and thereby actively become a part of the chain of Jewish tradition.
“In Hineini in Our Lives, I explore what it means to be fully present in the moment and to others – mentally, spiritually, and emotionally – whether it is to God or the individuals whom we love, if we want to experience real happiness and fulfillment,” Cohen explains. “In all of my books, it is my hope that the personal stories and biblical interpretations written from the perspective of modern life will have a powerful impact on the lives of others, and become a part of them as I share my own journey and search for meaning.”
Blessed with a loving family – he and his wife Terry have a blended family of five children: Leora (and Jonathan), Mali (and Ed), Ilan, Abby, and Noah (and Kylie) and four grandchildren, with two more on the way – Cohen continues to serve on the faculty as Professor of Midrash, gracing the HUC-JIR community with his knowledge, enduring friendship, and constant support. “I resonate with my students. What brought me to HUC-JIR was not just the opportunity to study in a certain way, but my search for meaning, for finding something beyond the mundane. I am passionate about teaching my students about that potential. This has truly been a gift in my life.”
Study, teaching, and writing remain the core pillars of his life, while engagement, empowerment, and involvement continue to animate his mentorship. As he shares his ongoing quest for personal meaning with his students at HUC-JIR, Norman Cohen instills in the next generation of Jewish professional leaders a love for text, a commitment to leadership, and a passion for the Jewish future.
The Klau Library:“The Soul of the College”
Over a thousand local civic and religious leaders and members of the Cincinnati Jewish community convened for the dedication convocation and community-wide celebration of HUC-JIR/ Cincinnati’s $12.1 million renovation and expansion of the Klau Library and construction of The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Library Pavilion, including a $550,000 state-of-the-art geothermal system, which took place on November 1, 2009.
“The Klau Library resides at the very heart of our enterprise as the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center for Reform Judaism and the entire Jewish people,” said Rabbi David Ellenson. “It offers tangible testimony to the absolute commitment we at HUC-JIR have as a liberal Jewish institution of higher learning to sustaining and advancing academic study, research, publication, and teaching for the benefit of the Jewish people and all humanity.”
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of the College in 1875, established its library from the very inception of the institution. With the dedication of its first library building in 1912, HUC-JIR’s library became the first free-standing Jewish library in world history. Today, with nearly half a million volumes, the Klau Library is one of the most comprehensive Jewish libraries in the world and has the largest collection of printed Judaica in North America. This renovation and construction of a new Pavilion transforms the Klau Library into an unparalleled international center for research, teaching, and learning for scholars worldwide and enhances the intellectual and cultural life of the greater Cincinnati region.
Mayor Mark Mallory asserted the significance of this state-of-the-art research resource, saying, “Cincinnati is a city of tolerance, diversity, and progressive values, as symbolized by the presence of HUC-JIR, which situates Cincinnati on the world stage as a center of scholarship.”
Architects 2enCompass of Cincinnati, with the assistance of library experts Shipley, Bullfinch, Richardson, and Abbott of Boston, have created a facility that includes:
- enhanced research and study facilities for students;
- efficient HVAC systems, temperature and humidity controls, fire suppressions systems, and handi- capped access;
- compact shelving, holding four times as many books as standard library shelving, to accommodate projected growth of the collection over the next few decades; and
- a high-security storage and exhibition area for rare books and manuscripts.
Barbara Friedman, Chair of the Board of Governors, noted, “A great library is the heart of a great academic institution. Its resources are indispensable for faculty scholarship and student learning. It is our privilege and responsibility to preserve these resources for future generations of students and researchers.”
In his keynote address at the dedication convocation on campus, Dr. Michael A. Meyer, Ochs Professor of Jewish History, presented an illustrated lecture on the evolution of the library from its first premises in the basement of a downtown congregation, with scarcely a hundred volumes, through the succession of library facilities to its brand-new 21st-century incarnation. He described the crucial roles played by librarians Adolph S. Oko and Professor Herbert C. Zafren in building the collection and by the present day Libraries Director, Dr. David J. Gilner, in implementing state-of-the-art technology.
Gary Heiman, representing The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, which provided the lead institutional gift of $6.5 million, explained, “We are proud that the Klau Library is located here in Cincinnati, where it can strengthen Jewish life in our community.” Sanford R. Cardin, President of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, agreed, saying “We are gratified that scholars from around the world will benefit from the knowledge housed here.” Lucille “Twink” Carothers noted her and her siblings’ pride in sustaining the library named in 1961 in honor of their parents, David and Sadie Klau.
Their feelings were echoed by Dr. Gregory H. Williams, in his first public appearance upon becoming the President of University of Cincinnati (UC). In his keynote address, that evening at the Mayerson JCC on The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati campus, he lauded the long-standing ties between HUC-JIR and UC, saying, “We look forward to strengthening the relationship between our two neighboring academic institutions.”
With a mission to collect, preserve, and provide access to the total record of Jewish thought and experience, the Klau Library’s Rare Book collection includes important collections of incunabula and 16th century Hebrew imprints, and archival and literary manuscripts, including the unique Chinese-Hebrew collection. It has preeminent collections of Jewish music in the Eduard Birnbaum Collection, early Jewish Americana, Spinozana, and Christian Hebraica. Over 200 Judaica databases and 10,000 digitized images of works from its collections can be accessed using its internal computer network. It also houses the American Jewish Periodical Center, which preserves on microfilm some 900 newspaper, journal, and synagogue bulletin titles. It is one of the three conservators in the world for the original negatives of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The online catalogs are accessible to a world-wide community of researchers at the website: http://www.huc.edu/libraries
HUC-JIR’s New Website Dedicated to Planned Giving
The College-Institute has launched a feature-rich website to encourage donors to consider making planned gifts. The site is designed to help determine the most advantageous trust instrument with which a donor can support HUC-JIR while meeting his or her family’s own financial needs and goals.
Many donors don’t realize that it is possible to make a gift of transformational significance – the kind of contribution many friends of HUC-JIR would be happy to make if they thought they could. These are gifts that truly make a difference, that ensure a level of support magnifying our ability to fulfill our mission and allow donors to participate at levels much higher than they may think is possible.
Gifts of transformational significance often can be made at very low cost. It is simply a matter of planning what to give, how to give, and when to give. There are numerous potential advantages to a planned gift. Some qualify for an immediate tax deduction, may increase spendable income, or provide significant future tax savings for the donor’s family.
The site contains dozens of resources including:
- descriptions of various gift types and their benefits to donors and recipients;
- personal planning ideas;
- a glossary of terms;
- facts for financial advisors;
- best assets for giving;
- a gift designer worksheet that produces a side-by-side comparison of different types of trusts;
- a dynamic gift calculator that allows donors to explore different variables that can enhance their returns;
- a number of free publications; and
- examples of planned gifts that donors have made to HUC-JIR.
HUC-JIR’s Development staff is available to discuss planned giving options. Once donors have made the decision to make a gift, their next step is to discuss the gift with their own financial advisor – typically an attorney or accountant. The advisor is then put in touch with the College-Institute’s trust attorney, and they will formalize the gift instrument.
Planned giving is a meaningful and effective way to help provide the financial sustainability that will secure HUC-JIR’s academic excellence and fulfill its mission of preparing men and women of vision as leaders for the Reform Movement and the Jewish people worldwide.
“Rabbi-to-Rabbi” Support for the Next Generation of Colleagues
A year ago, Joy Wasserman, National Director for Alumni Affairs, had an epiphany. “It was clear to me that our alumni were ready to help the institution that prepared them for their life’s work,” she recalls. “Our challenge was to create a project close to their hearts and to find a personal way to ask.” Armed with an enthusiastic and able volunteer Chair, Rabbi Irwin Zeplowitz, C ’84, and inspired by his motto of “rabbi-to-rabbi,” the Rabbinic Invest-in-a-Student Scholarship Campaign was born.
Asking members of each ordination year dating back to 1960 to join together as a class to create a new scholarship for an incoming student seemed just the right match. Zeplowitz mobilized a team of captains to reach out to their own classmates to turn this dream of class scholarships into a reality. The goal was for each ordination class to ‘adopt’ a rabbinical student and fund most of their tuition for the five-year program by raising $15,000 annually.
The gift from each alumnus/a as part of their ordination cohort, above and beyond their individual annual donations to HUC-JIR, would average approximately $400. Collectively, it was estimated that the rabbinical alumni could raise as much as $3 million for scholarships during this five-year period.
The campaign had a straightforward process: A minyan of ‘five-year captains’ identified individual year class captains, each class captain first made his/her own gift, and then reached out to his/her ordination class. Their pitch went straight to the heart.
Alumni were updated on the transformed ways in which HUC-JIR teaches rabbis and other Jewish professionals today with the addition of new faculty committed to mentorship, sweeping technological advances, and ongoing outreach to alumni. Further- more, they were informed about the debt with which many newly ordained rabbis begin their careers – estimated at as much as $100,000 in loans to repay – and the opportunity to lift this burden from the shoulders of their newest colleagues.
The results thus far have been impressive. Notwith- standing the difficult economic climate this past year, 439 rabbinical alumni have responded to date, raising nearly $700,000. 55% of them have given a larger gift than ever before. With aspirations of engaging the participation of 100% of the rabbini- cal alumni, Wasserman’s goal of an additional $1 million is hopefully in reach.
“We are enormously grateful to the dozens of ‘class captains’ who have taken on this important work,” says Rabbi Ellenson. “A strong base of support by rabbis and other alumni of HUC-JIR shows our donors that there is widespread support of the College- Institute by those who were trained here. Some of our alumni are able to give more, others are chal- lenged by these difficult times and can give less. While the amount raised is important, the per- centage of alumni who give makes a differ- ence. Our alumni gifts truly matter.”
The success of the “Rabbinic Invest-in- a-Student Campaign” demonstrates the capacity for success when individuals gal- vanize their resources and join together for a shared goal, and it is a source of inspiration for alumni from other program, as well. Cantorial alumni are poised to launch a School of Sacred Music Alumni Association Invest-in-a-Student Campaign, and the School of Jewish Communal Service alumni have begun a campaign to raise $50,000 to close the gap in available scholarship support (see sidebar).
“It is an honor for me and my rabbinical colleagues to give back to the College-Institute, which shaped our professional lives and empowered us to serve as leaders of the Jewish people,” says Rabbi Zeplowitz. “The Rabbinic Alumni Invest-in-a-Student Campaign enables us to express our gratitude to our alma mater, to support the education of the next genera- tion of our colleagues, and to ensure that the chain of tradition – Shalshelet haKabbalah – will endure and thrive.”
The minyan of ‘five-year captains’ includes:
1960-1964:
Rabbi Martin S. Weiner
1965-1969:
Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl
1970-1974:
Rabbi Bennett F. Miller
1975-1979:
Rabbi Steven S. Mason
1980-1984:
Rabbi Scott L. Shpeen
1985-1989:
Rabbi Jeffrey J. Sirkman
1990-1994:
Rabbi Nancy A. Kasten
1995-1999:
Rabbi Daniel B. Gropper
2000-2004:
TBD
2005-2009:
Rabbi Alissa M. Forrest
Alumni Scholarships for Jewish Communal Service Students
“The new strategic plan for the School of Jewish Communal Service (SJCS) projects an enhanced and expanded student body,” says Richard Siegel, the newly appointed SJCS Director. “To achieve this goal, it is estimated that an additional $150,000 in designated scholarship support is needed to ensure that students will be able to afford the tuition costs.” Tuition is approxi- mately $40,000 per year for dual-degree HUC-JIR/University of Southern California (USC) students who pursue the M.A. in Jewish Communal Service at HUC-JIR while simultaneously pursuing the M.A. degree at USC’s School of Social Work, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, Annenberg School of Communication, or Marshall School of Business.
The SJCS alumni have risen to the chal- lenge. Under the leadership of SJCS Alumni Association Co-Chairs Lori Lander Goodman and Esther Cohen, the SJCS alumni have launched an ambitious campaign to raise at least $50,000 annually for scholarship support as a critical component of the larger goal. The SJCS Alumni Scholarship Campaign Committee members, including Marla Abraham, Dr. Ron A. Astor, David Bubis, Howard E. Charish, Edward L. Cushman, Mark Gurvis, Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, Richard H. Meyer, Andrea Milens, Laurance A. Nathan, and Lee R. Wunsch, are working with graduation class captains to secure multi-year commitments to help ensure the future growth and excellence of the SJCS.
Promoting Progressive Values in Israel
A new cohort of Israeli Reform rabbis and an inaugural graduating class of Israeli educators are embarked on a mission to transform Israeli society. These six new ordinees of the Israeli Rabbinical Program and seven graduates of the Master of Arts in Pluralistic Jewish Education are already embedded within congregations and educational institutions throughout the Jewish state where they are offering liberal alternatives to the Orthodox-secular divide.
The ordinees – now bringing the number of HUC-JIR’s Israeli rabbinical alumni to 65 – bring a diversity of backgrounds and a commitment to shared values to their task:
American born, Reform Movement-bred Yehudit Edelman-Green immigrated to Israel in 1984, received her Master’s in Jewish Studies from the Schechter Institute in 1994, and has been an active member of Kehilat Hod ve-Hadar in Kfar Saba for the past 25 years. She served as a communal youth worker with 30 youth groups across the religious spectrum in Manchester, England, for the World Zionist Organization, and later led Jewish identity seminars and developed educational games at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. Under the auspices of the Masorti Movement, she initiated “Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the Special Child,” a national program that she directed from 1995-2004 and which reached thousands of children with special needs. Her book, Immigrant Lessons (2007), is the story of the great hardships and joys of aliyah. She is currently working to create a community for adults with special needs – “Rimon Community Project” – which has become a non-profit organization and has been allocated land by the City of Kfar Saba.
Born to a traditional family of Iraqi immigrants, Chen Ben-Or holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Haifa University and M.A. in Jewish Education from HUC-JIR/New York. During her twenty years with the Midrasha at Oranim College, a center for the renewal of Jewish life in Israel, she organized Jewish identity workshops for teens and adults, young Jewish community leadership development, and programs for new immigrants. A former Marshall T. Meyer Fellow at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, Chen is one of the founders of the Nigun HaLev community at Moshav Nahalal, comprised of residents of the Jezreel Valley who gather for Shabbat services, holiday observances, life-cycle events, Jewish studies, and social action projects. In addition to coordinating the community’s steering committee, leading services, and teaching b’nai mitzvah students there, she is involved in establishing a national network of communities experimenting with renewal in prayer.
In 2004, she began working on educational projects in the TALI schools in the greater Haifa area in an attempt to bring the topic of prayer to teachers and students. Her rabbinical thesis on pastoral work suggests a model for assimilating traditional tools regarding death and illness in these non-traditional, emerging Jewish communities in Israel.
With his ordination, Jehiel Benjamin Gruber becomes the eighth generation rabbi in his family. Raised in Beer Sheva after his family made aliyah from Chicago, he attended the Netiv Meir Yeshiva and later combined military service in the Israeli Defense Forces with advanced college-level courses at the Hesder Yeshiva in Yerucham, of which he was a founding member. Under the auspices of the Jewish Agency, Benjie taught Jewish Studies in the Former Soviet Union. Thereafter, he spent two years teaching Judaism to all ages and denominations in Portland, Oregon, where he was drawn to liberal Judaism. A volunteer stint in Malawi brought him to the realization that the rabbinate would enable him to integrate Jewish content and his mission to improve the world. He earned the M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was active in congregations Mevakshei Derekh and Mevasseret Tzion, Rabbis for Human Rights, the Israel Religious Action Center, the Mekhinah in Yaffo, and the Nativ conversion program during his rabbinical studies. For the past year, Benjie has served as the student rabbi of Kibbutz Yahel and hopes to move with his family to the Aravah region in the coming year. His rabbinical thesis establishes a basis for Reform Jews to relate to the framework of the commandments as a divine imperative and as a process of individual choice through decisions made anew and sanctified each day.
Tzipora Livneh came to Israel from Poland with her family in 1950. Her parents were among the few survivors of the Jews of Chelm, in southern Poland, most of whom perished in the Sobibor concentration camp. The legacy of her family’s suffering as well as their faith led her to view education as her calling in life. She earned a Master’s degree from the Hebrew University in Modern Jewish History and Educational Counseling. For 33 years, she taught history and citizenship in Jerusalem at Ort College, Ort Minkoff, the Gymnasia, and Tali Beit Hinuch. In Tzipora’s vision, the correlation between the knowledge one acquires and the way of life one leads provides for a life that fosters happiness, fulfillment, self-esteem, and understanding.
Oded Mazor, born in 1978 in Kfar Saba, grew up in a family deeply involved with the Progressive Movement in Israel. His paternal great-grandfather was an active member of the Liberal synagogue in his home town in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. His maternal grandfather, Zoltan Schalk, was one of the first members of Congregation Emet V’Shalom in Nahariya, where he volunteered for years as the shamash of the congregation. Oded’s spiritual growth was nurtured by a number of communities with which he has been affiliated: Darchei-Noam in Ramat Hasharon, where his father, Rabbi Yehoram Mazor, J ’90, served as rabbi for 28 years; Hod Ve’Hadar in Kfar Saba; the Tali school in Hod HaSharon; the Noam Youth Movement; and his army Nahal service (an army branch that combines military service with agricultural work and community service) at Kibbutz Keturah. During his studies for the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, he taught cantillation of the Bible to b’nai mitzvah children and served as the B’nai Mitzvah Program Coordinator at Kol HaNeshama, where for the past two years he has been the educational coordinator and rabbinical assistant as well as serving as the rabbi of the Tali School.
Dalia Tibon Lagaziel was born in Haifa in 1970 to a socialist home of German heritage, where she absorbed secular humanistic values. As a youngster, she became a leader in the Shomer Hatzair leftist youth movement. After her military service, Dalia created a one-person multi-media performance about the Holocaust, on behalf of the Hedva Eishevitz Holocaust Memorial Institute, and toured high-schools across Israel for two years. She further explored the legacy of the Holocaust and Jewish identity during her travels in Europe, including Germany, for the next two years. Upon her return she completed her B.A. in Jewish Studies at Haifa University, after which she encountered Liberal Judaism for the first time at the Leo Baeck Beit Midrash for Educational Leadership, a program moderated by Ofek Meir and Gili Tzidkiyahu, both Israeli rabbinical alumni today. She joined the Progressive Movement as the Coordinator of the Youth Forum in Haifa and Northern Israel, under the leadership of another graduate of the Israeli Rabbinical Program, Gilad Kariv, conducting workshops, lessons and ceremonies, and cooperating with other social activist organizations. For the past eight years, Dalia has worked at the Leo Baeck Center, directing the communal Jewish Education Program. Three years into this role, she committed herself to rabbinical studies. She is now completing her M.A. in Jewish Thought at Haifa University. For the past two years, Dalia has served as a student rabbi at the Sulam Yaakov community in Zichron Yaacov.
The inaugural recipients of HUC-JIR’s Master’s in Pluralistic Jewish Education Program, a first-time collaboration with the Melton Centre for Jewish Education of the Hebrew University, are advocates for liberal Jewish values within the Israeli educational system:
Michal Burstein-Azrieli teaches history and is a twelfth-grade home-room teacher at the Leo Baeck High School in Haifa. She earned her teaching certificate in History from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva and her B.A. in History and Education from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She believes that the values inherent in Judaism must be brought into the Israeli school system, opening the students to diversity and multi-culturalism.
Nitza Harel-Attias is the director of the kindergarten at Reform congregation Kol Haneshama in Jerusalem. She has a B.A. in Bible and Jewish history and M.A. in Early Childhood Education from the Schwartz Program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “The challenge in my work,” she says, “is to create an environment of openness to the varied streams of Judaism, making coexistence possible.”
Maital Cohen-Sabag has a B.A. in Philosophy and Israel Studies from Haifa University and a teaching certificate in History. She teaches history and is a home-room teacher at the Leo Baeck High School. Her personal vision is to train and empower educators in secular Israeli schools, helping them to connect with their Jewish roots and bring their insights and knowledge into their classrooms.
Oded Mazor, one of this year’s rabbinical ordinees, has just completed a Master’s degree in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University. Oded is currently the educational coordinator and assistant rabbi at Kol Haneshama in Jerusalem and served as student rabbi in the Tali Bayit Vegan elementary school in Jerusalem for the past four years.
Lior Nevo was raised in the Israeli Progressive Movement, from kindergarten and elementary school, to the youth movement, where she subsequently became an educational coordinator after her military service. She has a B.A. and a teaching certificate in Bible and Jewish Studies and is a graduate of the Revivim Program of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which trains teachers in the field of Jewish Studies. Lior is an educator and teacher of Bible and Jewish thought at the Ziv School in Jerusalem, where she seeks to create an open and pluralistic atmosphere in her classroom.
Rinat Safania is an educational advisor at the Dov Hoz School in Tel Aviv and a group facilitator. She completed her B.A. in Behavioral Sciences at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva and has a Master’s degree in Educational Counseling and Group Facilitation. “I’d like to give Israelis personal ownership of their Jewishness, rather than having it dictated to them,” she says, “and let them make the Jewish tradition, language, literature, and creativity their own.”
For over a decade, Israela Ravid has been the director of the kindergarten of the Center for Reform Judaism in Tel Aviv, where she has integrated the hearing impaired and special needs children in her kindergarten and implemented values of equality and social justice as an integral part of the daily life of her school. She has written curricula on Jewish values and heritage, and was awarded the Rothschild Prize of Education for her outstanding contribution to Israeli education. Israela says that her Master’s studies were an opportunity for her to explore theoretically her practical work in the field of pluralistic Jewish education. Initial funding for the Master’s Program was provided by Richard Scheuer, z”l, and the Scheuer Family, the Chais Family Foundation, Ann and Thomas Tisch, and the Alan Slifka Foundation. Their generosity and vision have enabled HUC-JIR/Jerusalem to pilot this program, which will have far-reaching impact on the inculcation of liberal Judaism into the Israeli educational system.
Celebrating the inaugural graduates of the M.A. in Pluralistic Jewish Education: Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dean, HUC-JIR/Jerusalem; Ronit Polsky, Coordinator, M.A. in Pluralistic Jewish Education Program, HUC-JIR; Rabbi Ellenson; Dr. Michal Muszkat-Barkan, Director, Department of Education and Professional Development, HUC-JIR; and Dr. Michael Gillis, Academic Director, Melton Centre for Jewish Education, the Hebrew University; Dr. Michael Marmur, Vice President for Academic Affairs, HUC-JIR; join graduates of the program: Israela Ravid, Maital Cohen-Sabag, Lior Nevo, Oded Mazor, and Nitza Harel-Attias.
Other highlights of the Ordination and Academic Convocation at the Jerusalem campus, where these students were ordained and graduated on November 18, 2009, included the presentation of the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Rabbi Michael Melchior, Ehud Barak’s Minister for Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community, and Deputy Foreign Minister, Deputy Minister of Education, and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s office in successive governments; Chairman of the Knesset committee for Education, Culture and Sports and the Knesset Caucus on the Environment (2006-2009); one of Israel’s leading legislators in the areas of education, children’s rights, environment, and social justice; and currently a leader of civil society movements promoting religious pluralism, coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel, and grassroots inter-religious dialogue in the Middle East.
A Living Legacy
The Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation has been one of HUC-JIR’s most stalwart supporters. For twenty-six years, the Foundation has generously provided scholarships for students enrolled in the College-Institute’s Year-In-Israel program. The grants have supported ten or more rabbinical, cantorial, and education students each year. In naming the Shapiro Scholars, the Jerusalem School Dean and the Director of the Year-In-Israel program select those students who demonstrate outstanding potential as they embark on their journey to becoming Reform Jewish leaders.
The Year-In-Israel Program offers students an unparalleled opportunity to immerse themselves in Israeli society and culture. The core components of the program continue to be rooted in classroom learning, weekly community service projects, and educational seminars throughout Israel.
The relationship between HUC-JIR and the Charles and M.R. Shapiro began in 1983, and has continued to grow in strength. The original contact was made when Rabbi Frederick C. Schwartz, C ‘55, D.H.L. ‘60, of Temple Sholom in Chicago introduced Maurice Shapiro, a devoted and generous member of the synagogue, to fellow congregant Sydney Friedland, who was an enthusiastic supporter of HUC-JIR. Frederic S. Lane, currently a member of the Board of Governors, was also instrumental in establishing and maintaining the relationship over the years. It was Lane who suggested that the Foundation’s support be directed to the Year-In-Israel Program.
The Shapiro family of seven brothers and sisters was in the cosmetics business in Chicago. None ever married, but all participated in the business. The sisters were especially good investors and realized that taxes would eat up most of their assets as each passed away. As there were no heirs, they established the Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation in 1958 after the business was sold. Maurice, a non-practicing attorney who was particularly knowledgeable about tax matters, became the first President. Originally the siblings were the Directors of the Foundation.
Norman Shubert, the current President of the Foundation Board, was appointed by Maurice Shapiro, who was the last survivor of the Shapiro siblings. Norman, a member of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois, speaks warmly and enthusiastically about his relationship with the College-Institute and the YearIn-Israel Program. Joan Pines, Chair of HUC-JIR’s Cincinnati Board of Overseers and a member of the Board of Governors, agrees, saying, “I am so pleased to be a part of the Shapiro Foundation and extremely proud of our long relationship with HUC-JIR. We feel that we are contributing to the well-being of Reform Judaism in North America by supporting HUC-JIR’s Year-In-Israel Program.”
Each year, the Shapiro Scholars express their gratitude to Norman Shubert and Joan Pines. The following excerpted letters highlight how much the students value their first-year experiences, which are made possible by the generosity of the Shapiro Foundation.
With more thanks than I can find words for, I want to express to you how much I appreciate the generous contribution that your Foundation has provided for me to study at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for this first year in Jerusalem. I remember the year I graduated from high school my mother commenting to me that she thought I should become a cantor, so I proceeded to do what any normal teenage girl would do – I ignored her. So twenty years, a career in musical theatre, childbirth, education, JCC Jewish professional life, husband and two sons, here I am, on the road to becoming a cantor.
Alicia Stillman
This Year-In-Israel has been an incredible experience. I have solidified my connection to Israel, and strengthened my skills in Hebrew. Moreover, the experience of studying the ancient and modern events that took place in Israel and shaped our people’s history while living in the land has enhanced my understanding. I am more connected to that history and to this present having had these experiences.
Ari Lorge
From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank you and the Charles and M. R. Shapiro Foundation for awarding me this scholarship. To put it very plainly – without your support, I would not be here to experience all that Israel has to offer, nor would I have had the opportunity to learn from the brilliant faculty here at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem. Words cannot even begin to express my deep gratitude.
Daniel Geffen
Once again, I cannot tell you how much your assistance is helping me achieve my long awaited dream of becoming a rabbi. It is both uplifting and inspiring to know that there are people who support what we are reaching for, and I could not be at this place right now without your generosity. I hope to carry on the sacred memory of Morris and Charles Shapiro through the community work in which I will engage, and I am so honored to be the recipient of this scholarship.
Lisa Berney
Summary Financial Figures
L’Dor VaDor Scholarship Fund
The L’Dor VaDor Scholarship Fund honors HUC-JIR alumni for their years of dedicated service to the Jewish People. Initiated by our rabbinical alumni, their congregations, families, and friends, this fund has grown to celebrate the distinguished achievements of our cantorial, education, and communal service alumni.
$36,000+
Rabbi David H. Ellenson, N ’77
Rabbi Robert N. Levine, N ’77
Cantor Mikhail Manevich, N ’82
Rabbi Steven S. Mason, N ’78 and Patrice G. Mason, N ’77
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, N ’82
Rabbi Mark N. Staitman, C ’75
Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, N ’70
$25,000+
Cantor Dana S. Anesi, SSM ’80
Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld, C ’75
Cantor Roy Einhorn, SSM ’83
Rabbi Jacqueline Koch Ellenson, N ’83
Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein, C ’81
Rabbi John S. Friedman, C ’76
Rabbi Ronne Friedman, C ’75
Rabbi Alan D. Fuchs, C ’63 and Carol B. Fuchs
Rabbi David J. Gelfand, C ’76
Rabbi Paul J. Golomb, N ’75
Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon, C ’80
Rabbi Eric Gurvis, N ’83
Rabbi Eli Herscher, C ’75
Rabbi Howard Jaffe, N ’83
Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff, C ’60
Rabbi Jack A. Luxemburg, C ’76
Cantor Sheldon F. Merel, SSM ’52
Rabbi Bennett F. Miller, C ’74
Rabbi Mark S. Miller, C ’74
Cantor Martha Novick, SSM ’83
Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, C ’81
Rabbi Aaron Mark Petuchowski, N ’83
Rabbi Jonathan A. Stein, C ’75
Rabbi Deborah E. Zecher, N ’82
Rabbi Irwin A. Zeplowitz, C ‘84
$10,000+
Rabbi Martin P. Beifield, Jr., C ’75
Rabbi Donald R. Berlin, C ’65
Rabbi Barry H. Block, N ’91
Rabbi Bruce S. Block, C ’69
Rabbi Neal I. Borovitz, C ’75
Rabbi Gerald S. Brieger, N ’72
Rabbi Steven A. Chester, C ’71
Rabbi Jerome P. David, C ’74
Rabbi Michael B. Eisenstat, C ’67
Rabbi Allen I. Freehling, C ’67
Rabbi Laura J. Geller, N ’76
Rabbi Arnold Gluck, N ’83
Rabbi Mark N. Goldman, C ’67
Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman, RJE, MAJE ’81
Rabbi Donald M. Goor, N ’87
and Cantor Evan S. Kent, SSM ’88**
Rabbi Peter H. Grumbacher, C ’72
Rabbi Leslie Yale Gutterman, C ’70
Rabbi Sheldon J. Harr, C ’73
Rabbi David M. Horowitz, C ’69
Rabbi Alan J. Katz, N ’76
Rabbi Ralph D. Mecklenburger, C ’72
Rabbi James L. Mirel, C ’74
Rabbi Michael A. Oppenheimer, C ’67
Rabbi Norman R. Patz, N ’65
Rabbi James Prosnit, N ’81
Rabbi Kenneth D. Roseman, C ’66
Rabbi Charles P. Sherman, C ’69
Rabbi Scott L. Shpeen, C ‘84
Rabbi Merle E. Singer, C ’66
Rabbi David E. Straus, C ’83
Rabbi Barry Tabachnikoff*, C ’68
Rabbi Susan A. Talve, C ’81
Rabbi Cary D. Yales*, C ’67
$5,000+
Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer, N ’72
Rabbi Julian I. Cook, C ’72
Rabbi Lawrence A. Englander, C ’75
Rabbi Peter S. Knobel, C ’69
Rabbi Joe Rooks Rapport, C ‘84
Rabbi Gaylia R. Rooks, C ‘84
Rabbi Harry L. Rosenfeld, C ’81
Cantor Judith Kahan Rowland, SSM ’81**
Rabbi Howard Shapiro, C ’68
Rabbi Mark L. Shook, C ’72
Cantor Jodi Sufrin, SSM ’83
Rabbi Gerry H. Walter, C ’74
Joy B. Wasserman, MAJE ’81
Thomas K. Weiner, N ‘84
$1,000+
Cantor Vicki L. Axe, SSM ’83
Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, C ’83
Rabbi Jeffrey L. Ballon, N ’70
Rabbi Robert B. Barr, C ’81
Rabbi Abner L. Bergman, N ’61
Cantor Sheri E. Blum, SSM ’82
Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn, C ’74
Edward L. Cushman, MAJCS/MSW ’79
Rabbi Richard A. Davis, C ’72
Marci B. Dickman, MAJE ’82
Rabbi Kenneth E. Ehrlich, C ’74
Cantor Lawrence B. Ehrlich*, SSM ’52
Rabbi Dena A. Feingold, C ’82
Rabbi Thomas J. Friedmann, C ’80
Rabbi Ronald D. Gerson, C ’74
Rabbi Marianne Luijken Gevirtz*, C ’96
Rabbi Scott L. Glass, N ’76
Sheryl Goldman, MAJCS ’82
Rabbi Solomon T. Greenberg, C ’66
Mark D. Gurvis, MAJCS/MSW ‘84
Cantor Regina Heit, SSM ’81**
Cantor Gail Hirschefang, SSM ’81**
Cantor Alane Katzew, SSM ’81**
Dr. Deborah Kerdeman, MAJE ’81
Rabbi Richard L. Klein, N ’74
Rabbi Robert L. Kravitz, C ’74
Rabbi Lawrence S. Kushner, C ’69
Rabbi Leigh D. Lerner, C ’72
Nancy Prager Levin, MAJE ’81
Rabbi Mark G. Loeb, N ’75
Rabbi Jeffrey A. Marx, MAJE ’81
Rabbi Ronald S. Mass, N ’83
Rabbi Carole L. Meyers*, N ’83
Deborah Balaban Mendales*, MAJCS ’82
Rabbi Jonathan A. Miller, N ’82
Cantor Barbara Ostfeld, SSM ’75
Rabbi Mark J. Panoff, C ’73
Rabbi James H. Perman, N ’67
Rabbi Lester Polonsky, N ’78
Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz, C ’78
Cantor Sam Radwine, SSM ’81**
Rabbi Ferenc Raj, Berlin ’67
Rabbi Michael M. Remson, N ’73
Rabbi Donald B. Rossoff, RJE, C ’81
Rabbi John L. Rosove, N ’79
Rabbi James L. Sagarin, C ’79
Lori B. Sagarin, RJE, MAJE ‘84
Rabbi Edward L. Schecter, N ’72
Rabbi Stanley T. Schickler, RJE, C ’85, MAJE ’82
Rabbi Dannel I. Schwartz, N ’72
Rabbi Mayer W. Selekman, N ’67
Cantor Wayne S. Siet, SSM ’79
Rabbi Donald M. Splansky, N ’68
Rabbi George M. Stern, N ’74
Cantor Ellen Stettner, SSM ’81**
Cantor Ellen Sussman, SSM ’83
Rabbi Donald A. Weber, N ’81
Rabbi Douglas D. Weber, N ’82
Rabbi Irvin M. Wise, C ’79
Martha Wolfe White, MAJE ’81
Rabbi Ira S. Youdovin, N ’68
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel, N ’79
*of blessed memory
**given as a joint gift
Names in bold type represent the newest funds established within the 2008-2009 academic year. These funds are cumulative, with contributions still being received for the honorees’ named funds. We are grateful to continue to receive gifts made to these funds in the name of our honorees.
THE 1975 SOCIETY
Recognizing alumni and friends who have remembered HUC-JIR in their estate plans.
Professor Abraham Aaroni*
Dr. Ira and Linda Abrahamson
Ayala Z. Abramov
Honorable Arlin M. Adams
osalie K. Adolf*
Mr. and Mrs. James R. Alexander
Rabbi Morton M. Applebaum*
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Atkin
Gloria L. Austin
Evelyn Averick
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Axelrod
Winifred L. Barrows*
Rabbi Morton A. Bauman* and Elsbeth June Bauman*
Rabbi Dr. Herbert M. Baumgard
Mr.* and Mrs. Max Baverman
Edna Bekenstein*
Selma* and Allen H.* Berkman
Rabbi Donald R. Berlin
Mr. and Mrs.* Herbert C. Bernard
Rabbi Haskell M. Bernat, D. Min
Howard M. Bernstein and Bunny M. Wasser
Stephanie L. Bernstein
Evelyn Stieber Bernstein*
Rabbi Morrison D. Bial*
Leon Bible*
Rabbi Irwin M. Blank*, Ed.D.
Jean and Herbert* Bloch, Jr.
Rabbi Ralph H.* & Leonore
May Elizabeth Blumenthal*
James Boasberg*
Mrs. Charles Brand
Mr. and Mrs. Steve A. Brand
Marilynn Braude
Sally F. Broido
Henri L. Bromberg*, Jr.
Claire H.* and Charles Brunner – Check
Lena Cantor*
Cyrilla G. Carmel*
Jocelyn F. Chait
Barton P. Cohen*
Jerome Cohen*
Cyril M.* and Rosalee Cohen
Rabbi Hillel Cohn
Marcus Cohn*
Mr. and Mrs. Willard L. Cohodas, II
Cohodas Family
Harriet Coleman*
Mr. and Mrs. Barton Z. Cowan
Marilyn Rivkin Crossley
Rabbi William Cutter, Ph.D.
Mirrel Davis*
Rebecca Davis
Rabbi Norman H. Diamond*
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin J. Dickman
Hyman* and Roberta Dosick
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
Rose W. Drucker*
Gustav A.* and Mamie W.* Efryomson
Rabbi H. Bruce Ehrmann
William B. Eiseman, Jr.
Rosalyn and Irwin Engelman
Mr. and Mrs. Richard England, Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ernsteen
Rabbi Randall M. Falk
Elizabeth H. Farquhar
Ruth Claire Feibel*
Dr. and Mrs. M. R. Feinberg
Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein
Natalie Feld*
Iris S. Fetterman Klein
William H.* and Ruth Fineshriber
Cantor Dr. Edward R. Fogel*
Louis Fox*
Dr. Eric L. Friedland
William A. Friedlander
Howard I. Friedman
Albert H. Friedman*
Martin* and Sadie* Gang
Rabbi Laura J. Geller and Richard Siegel
Marion and Gerald S.* Gendell
Rabbi Marianne L. Gevirtz*
Bette H. Gillman-Rosenbaum*
Sara C. Ginsburg*
James Glassman*
Dr. Helen I. Glueck*
Rabbi Constance A. Golden
Dr. Hyman and Deena Goldman
Therese* and Robert* Goldman
Rabbi Bernard B. Goldsmith
Stuart Goldstein
Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman, RJE
Rabbi Abram V. Goodman*
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth A. Gordon
Dr. Alfred* and Deanna Gottschalk
Norman and Barbara Gross
Ruth L. Hare*
Daniel A. Harris, Ph.D.
George L.* and Anne P. Heldman
Rabbi Loraine C. Heller
Patricia A. and Joseph B.* Heller -Check
Rabbi Erwin* and Agnes Herman
Cecil W. Herrman*
Gus W. Herrman*
Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Hersch
Renda and Rabbi Richard C.* Hertz
Frances A. Hess
Suzanne R. Hirsch
Ruth Hirschberg*
Cantor Gail P. Hirschenfang
Daniel J. Hoffheimer
Dianne L. and Rabbi Sydney L. Hoffman
Rabbi Benjamin Hoffseyer*
Alan V. Iselin
Drs. Steven and Louanne Jacobs
Rabbi* and Mrs. David Jacobson
George Jaffin*
Rebecca Kadin*
William Kahn
Rabbi Kenneth A. and Wendy* Kanter
Rabbi and Mrs. Samuel E. Karff
Rabbi Henry and Cantor Gail
Posner Karp
Basil L. Kaufman
Dr. Clementine L. Kaufman
Harold* and Golda* Kaufman
Kurt Keizer*
Marshall Kiev
Sadie Klau*
Abraham J. Klausner*
Rabbi Bertram* and Helen-Rose* Klausner
Mr. and Mrs. Jerry E. Klein
Walter J. Klein
Vivian S. Klein Trust and Harold J. Klein Trust
Rabbi Gerald J. Klein*
Rabbi Minard Klein*
Knesseth Israel Charitable Trust
Mr. and Mrs. S L Kopald, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Julius Koppelman
Pamela and John Kohn
Martin L. Kozberg
Rabbi Charles A. and Dr. Terry Kroloff
Ada Kruger*
Jill Kuhlman
Barbara Kuhn*
Jack W. Kuhn*
Dr. George and Ruby Kuntz
Jack Langsam*
Charles Y. Lazarus*
Mr. and Mrs. H. Jerome Lerner
Rabbi Leigh D. Lerner
Anne E.* and Ret. Lt. Col. Willard L.* Levin
Rabbi Kalman L. Levitan*
Jack B. Levitt
David M. Levitt*
Edward Levy*
Mr. and Mrs. Paul D. Lieberman
Maurice J. Lieberthal Trust
avid & Jeanette Lipson Trust
Marion B. Lovejoy*
Dr. Sharon Lowenstein
Rabbi Mark Joel Mahler
Rabbi Jerome R. Malino*
Rabbi Jacob R. Marcus*
Rabbi Steven S. and Patrice G. Mason
Mr. and Mrs. Manuel D. Mayerson
Emily S.* and Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman
Melvin* and Elaine Merians
Sidney Meyers*
Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Miller
Helen* and Isadore E.* Millstone
Anthony Montag
Stephen D. Moses
Meyer W. Nathans*
Leon Neuman*
Donald H.* and Rita E. Newman
Piri E.* and Jaye S.* Niefeld
Hedy* and Gerald* Oliven
Ira M. Olsan
Rabbi Martin M. Perley*
Rabbi Amy R. and Gary L. Perlin
Rabbi Ely E. Pilchik*
Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut
Elizabeth S. Plaut*
Rabbi Allen H. Podet
James Pollak
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand
Emanuel Prince
Reinhard Prinz
Dale H. Rabiner
Mr. and Mrs. Gary H. Rabiner
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Rapoport
Rabbi Fred N. Reiner and Sherry Levy-Reiner
Rabbi Herbert H. Rose
Mr.* and Mrs.* Stanley B. Rose
Mrs. Stanley W. Rosenbaum*
Leah Rosenbluth*
Dr. Franz Rosenthal*
Robert S. Rosow*
Lenore C. Ross*
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Rothblatt
Charles Rothschild, Jr.*
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth A. Ruby
Rabbi Murray Saltzman
Rabbi and Mrs. Herman E. Schaalman
Rabbi Elihu Schagrin*
Joan and Richard* Scheuer
Rabbi Milton I. Schlager
Rabbi Leonard A. Schoolman
Melvin L.* and Zelma J. Schulman
William M.* and Frances Schuster
Frederick and Peri Schuyler
Rabbi Arthur L. Schwartz
Rabbi and Mrs. Frederick C. Schwartz
Theodore L. and Debra L.* Schwartz
Rabbi Sylvan* and Sylvia* Schwartzman
Rabbi Max Selinger
Rabbi Robert M. Seltzer
Rabbi Barton A. and Jane Shallat
Betsy and Lawrence* Shapiro
Rabbi Alan R. Sherman
Lenore T. Sherwin*
Rabbi John M. Sherwood
Steven Shifman and Julie Cohen Shifman
Mr. and Mrs. Rocco Siciliano
Dorothy Silverman
Kurt Simon
Susan M. and Samuel A. Simon
Mr. and Mrs. Paul G. Sittenfeld
Audrey Skirball Kenis* and Charles R. Kenis*
Grace Skirball*
John H. Slade*
Elise S. Small
Amelia W. Solinger*
Edgar Sonder*
Michael Spritzer
Marjorie Spritzer*
Dr. and Mrs. Sigmund Stahl
Rabbi Mark N. Staitman
Joan L. Stark*
Moise S. Steeg, Jr.
Rabbi Sherman Stein
Dr. Paul M.* and Trudy Steinberg
Rabbi Richard F. Steinbrink
Peggy Steine
Raymon S. Sterman
Dr. Thomas N.* and Harriet W. Stern
Rabbi Malcolm H.* and Louise B. Stern
Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Stern
Rabbi Richard S. Sternberger
Mr. and Mrs. Donald J. Stone
Mr.* and Mrs.* J. Jacques Stone
Rabbi Michael S. Stroh
Honorable Theodore* and Selma P. Tannenwald
Shirley Tartak
Bess Teitelbaum*
Teledyne Charitable Trust Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Jerome S. Teller
Charles H. Tobias, Jr.
Rabbi Leonard B. Troupp, D.D.
Harlow G. Unger
Dr. Carl Voss
Jane West Walsh, Ed.D.
Rabbi and Mrs. Roy A. Walter
Henrietta S. Weil*
Marcia* and Richard A. Weiland
Dr. Werner Weinberg*
Mr.* and Mrs.* Sol S. Weiner
Rabbi David and Susan Weis
Hilda L. Weltman*
Alice and Harris* Weston
Rabbi David H. Wice*
David Wild*
Ida S.* and Howard M.* Wilkoff
Otti Y.*, Fred W.*, and Dr. Steven F. Windmueller
Edell Nelson Wingers*
Rabbi Leonard Winograd*
Rabbi Alton M. and Jacqueline Winters
Rabbi* and Mrs. Alfred Wolf
Rabbi Arnold J. Wolf*
Corale B. Workum*
Mr. and Mrs. Justin Wyner
Rabbi Stanley Yedwab
Bernard Young
Alice R. Zacharius*
Rabbi Michael R. Zedek
Mr. and Mrs. Lester Ziffren
Moyshe Zilber*
Audrey Y. Zucker
Mr. and Mrs. George J. Zuckman