Michele Prince, LCSW, Director,
mprince@huc.edu

Michele Prince is Director of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, appointed in July 2007. She received her M.S.W. from the USC School of Social Work and M.A. in Jewish Communal Service from HUC-JIR in 2002. Since 2004, she had been associate director of the Kalsman Institute and a member of the oncology social work staff at the USC/Norris Cancer Hospital. At the end of her first year of service at Norris, she was named Norris Employee of the Year. Michele is passionate about helping HUC students learning about working with people in times of illness and wellness, and with helping Jewish healthcare and communal professionals work at the intersection of Judaism and health.

Ms. Prince is founder of The Jewish Bereavement Project, at a website based service which has served thousands of people in the Los Angeles area with information and referrals since it was launched in 2002 (JewishBereavement.com). She has conducted over thirty workshops on such topics as "A Behavioral Health Introduction for Rabbis," "The Basics of Hospice," "Communication Skills," "Advanced Cancer & End of Life Care," and "Putting Our Affairs in Order: Legal and Financial Matters from a Jewish Perspective."

Michele moved into to the world of health and communal service after a fifteen-year career as an accomplished account manager in marketing, strategic planning and advertising in the non-profit and for-profit marketplaces. To learn more about Michele Prince, visit our press page.

Julie Pelc, Assistant Director
jpelc@huc.edu

Rabbi Pelc is the Kalsman Institute's Assistant Director. She received master's degrees from the University of Judaism and from Harvard Graduate School of Education and was ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2006. As a graduate student, she was the recipient of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Rabbi Pelc has been published in numerous magazines and periodicals including Spirituality and Health, Lilith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, CleverMag, Jewish Magazine, and The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. She is co-editor of the anthology, Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives, which was published by the State University of New York Press in 2003. She found deep personal and spiritual meaning writing and researching her Rabbinic Thesis on the Book of Job: "Talk to Me: (Or, When More Bad Things Happen to Good People)." To learn more about Julie Pelc, visit our press page.

Rabbi Cutter is Emeritus Professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he held the Paul and Trudy Steinberg Chair in Human Relations, and was Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature and Education. He has taught at the College-Institute since 1965, and has served as the Assistant Dean and Director of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, which he helped found in 1970. Rabbi Cutter is an accomplished author, educator and public speaker. His most recent publication is Healing and the Jewish Imagination: Spiritual and Practical Perspectives on Judaism and Health (2/07, Jewish Lights Publishing).
Ordained, HUC-JIR (1965), Ph.D., UCLA (1971)
To learn more about Bill Cutter, visit his faculty page. To read about Bill's latest journey to Israel click here.

Jay Abarbanel, Staff Consultant
kalsman@huc.edu

Jay Abarbanel received his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester, England. He has done research in Israel and taught at the University of Southern California. Jay has been active in several organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. He is currently on the Boards of the Renewal of Spirit Foundation and Bet Tzedek, the Jewish Legal Aid Organization in Los Angeles.