Weeklong event explores Judaism and wellness

By Rachel Heller
Published on April 18, 2013

When Rabbi Laura Geller learned that her father had Alzheimer’s disease, she struggled with the news. He was only in his 70s, after all, and it was painful for her to watch the man who had raised her — who she said had been “important and powerful and wonderful” in her life — lose his ability to perform daily tasks.

Who knows who L.A.'s Jews are?

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on July 25, 2012

Susan Goldberg, rabbi of Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, grew up in nearby Echo Park. “There were no Jewish families around when I was growing up,” Goldberg, 38, said. Now that these neighborhoods are being gentrified, and a young, creative crowd is moving in, the Jews are coming, too.

Leading feminist theologian to be ordained … at last

By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Published on May 9, 2012

In the first few weeks of Rachel Adler’s rabbinic internship at Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), Rabbi Lisa Edwards had a hard time introducing Adler. For decades, Edwards had quoted Adler; she had taken classes with Adler and had been deeply influenced by Adler’s acclaimed works on Jewish feminism and feminist theology.

What’s in a word? For ‘ordained’ rather than ‘invested’ cantors, a lot

Published on May 1, 2012

What’s the difference between investiture and ordination? Plenty, say officials at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which has announced that for the first time since establishing its cantorial school in 1948, it will ordain rather than invest its graduating class of cantors.

The Circuit: Jewish Vocational Services 80th Anniversary, Richard Michael Powell inducted into HUC-JIR board of governors

By Adam Wills
Published on May 10, 2011

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) celebrated its 80th anniversary on Jan. 29 with a gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel to honor its past board presidents. Among the 500 guests were Stanley Dashew, who received the agency’s Tzedakah Award, and emcee Keith Erickson, a former L.A. Laker and longtime CBS sports broadcaster. Thirteen board presidents attended the event as well as family members representing JVS board presidents who had passed away.

Historian charts L.A. reform academy’s future

By Jonah Lowenfeld
Published on February 8, 2011

When he took over as dean of the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in July 2010, Josh Holo, already a professor at the college, brought with him a few photographs of 11th-century letters to hang on the wall behind his desk. Among the letters is one that mentions a major problem for the Jewish communities in Egypt at the time: how to raise funds to redeem fellow Jews who had been taken captive by pirates.

Reform College Cuts Might Lead to Campus Closures

Published on April 23, 2009

Due to unprecedented financial distress, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) is poised to make deep cuts to its programming that might include the closure of two of its three U.S. campuses. HUC-JIR has campuses in Los Angeles, Cincinnati and New York, as well as a fourth location in Jerusalem, which annually cost about $40 million to operate.

Torah that moves

By David Suissa
Published on December 20, 2007

This is especially true for Jews who study biblical texts. Over the millennia, Jews have never stopped dissecting and debating the multiple layers of meanings of the written and oral Torah to arrive at deeper truths.

The vision of a chevruta -- two Jews, sitting across from each other, arguing over minute details -- is an icon of the Jewish intellectual experience. There is one thing, however, that is rarely challenged or debated: the sitting position.

Half a Century on Reform’s Frontlines

By Julie G Fax
Published on May 19, 2005

When the Reform movement published its new "Mishkan T'filah" last November, the prayer book looked comfortably familiar to Reform rabbinic students in Los Angeles. It was clear to them that a homemade siddur they had created for their own use had influenced the first official prayer book published by the Union for Reform Judaism since 1975.

Once again, the L.A. branch of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) had made its mark on the Reform movement. The new, official prayer book, like the homemade siddur, includes traditional prayers in Hebrew, as well as new alternative readings and meditations -- changes in keeping with Reform's adoption of more traditional practices.

Day School for Reform Jews, Too

By David Ellenson
Published on September 2, 2004

The idea that a significant number of American Jewish children would come to attend Jewish day schools would have seemed unimaginable no more than 40 years ago, and the notion that thousands from Reform Jewish homes would attend such schools would have seemed even more fantastic. After all, the public school was the major institution that facilitated the entry of upwardly mobile immigrant Jews and their children into American life throughout the major part of the 20th century.

A Jewish World Without Denominations

By Michael Berenbaum
Published on November 7, 2002

A new president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) was inaugurated in a moving ceremony held Oct. 13 in the ornate Plum Street Temple in downtown Cincinnati.

The Big Win

By Rob Eshman
Published on June 7, 2001

Rabbi David H. Ellenson was named president of Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). This, as they say, is huge: for Ellenson, for Reform Jewry, for Los Angeles.

125 and Still Growing

By Ellen Jaffe-Gill
Published on April 19, 2001

This Sunday, HUC-JIR's Los Angeles school will celebrate the seminary's 125 years with a day of study, song, and partying.

The Man Behind a Quiet Revolution

By Julie G Fax
Published on August 26, 1999

By the end of his first year at HUC in Cincinnati, Rabbi Richard Levy was well on his way to keeping kosher, to wearing a kippah full-time and to observing a traditional Shabbat.