Untold Stories: A Special Issue of the American Jewish Archives Journal Celebrates Hebrew Union College at 150

When the American Jewish Archives Journal set out to mark the 150th anniversary of Hebrew Union College, Editor Dana Herman, Ph.D., wanted to do more than simply commemorate a milestone. “A college is not just buildings,” she said. “It’s the people.” That philosophy shaped every decision behind the special anniversary issue — from the articles selected to the black-and-white photograph of Julius Lewy teaching graduate students that graces its cover.

The journal itself has a history worth celebrating. Founded in 1948 by Jacob Rader Marcus, just a year after the American Jewish Archives was established, it has been in continuous publication ever since. Today it stands as one of only two peer-reviewed academic journals devoted to American Jewish history. The journal is distributed to more than 6,000 libraries and individuals across the United States and Canada, and its full archive, going back to the very first issue, is available free online. Herman, who has overseen the journal since 2007, said she takes pride in balancing accessibility with academic rigor. “I want lay people who love the journal to read it cover to cover,” she said, “and I want scholars to think it’s a good publication and something they’re proud to publish with.”

The idea for a special anniversary issue came together as a collaboration. Professor and former Provost Rabbi Michael Marmur, Ph.D. approached Herman with the concept, something she had also been thinking about. With approval from then-Head of Seminary Rabbi Andrea Weiss, Ph.D. z”l, to move forward, Herman reached out to a number of scholars were already deep in research on the college’s history and invited them to contribute to this special edition.

The result was three articles, all written by current or former fellows of the American Jewish Archives. One piece, by Hebrew Union College faculty member Jason Kalman, Ph.D., tells the story of David Joseph Solomon, believed to be the first South Asian Jew in Cincinnati. Solomon traveled from India to study at Hebrew Union College in the 1890s, a journey that speaks to the institution’s already-international reputation. A second article, by Peter Raulwing, draws on a recently rediscovered trove of documents to illuminate the lives of refugee scholars Julius and Hildegard Lewy, who taught at the College after fleeing Nazi Europe. The material had sat untouched in an old administration building for decades before being brought to the archives and made available to researchers. Raulwing, who specializes in Assyriology, is now working on a full biography of the Lewys — the journal article serves as a scholarly starting point. The third is possibly closer to home for its author, Amie Thurber, Ph.D., who wrote about her great-grandfather, the immensely influential and controversial Rabbi Irving Frederick Reichert and his formative years at Hebrew Union College.

Judah M. Cohen, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost, sees the issue as emblematic of something larger. “One of the things that makes Hebrew Union College truly remarkable is that its history continues to surprise us,” he said. “The untold stories emerging from our archives don’t just look backward; they remind us why the work we do here still matters today.”

For Herman, the anniversary issue carries meaning beyond its contents. She noted that a persistent misunderstanding follows the College’s Cincinnati campus: “Aren’t you guys closing?” The journal, she said, is a tangible answer to that skepticism — evidence that the institution and its archives remain vital. “We’re still going strong, we’re still publishing, we’re still doing the work we are known for,” she said. “And 150 years in, there’s still a lot of history left to uncover.”