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 Rabbi Julie Pelc Succeeds Rabbi Donielle Aaron as Director of Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism and the National Organization of American Mohalim The administration of the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism, a joint project of the CCAR, HUC-JIR and the URJ, and of NOAM (the National Organization of American Mohalim) is moving back to the HUC-JIR/Los Angeles campus. Rabbi Donielle Aaron has directed these programs for the past six years, starting in Los Angeles and for the past four years from Chicago. "We are grateful for the dedication, energy and creativity Rabbi Aaron has brought to the Berit Mila Program and NOAM and are delighted that she will remain a consultant of transition to these programs in the coming months," said Dr. Norman Cohen, HUC-JIR Provost. During her tenure as Director, Rabbi Aaron has made a very significant contribution to the development of the Berit Mila Program and NOAM. This includes the training of 59 new mohalim since 2002, mostly in areas of need, including Wyoming, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Louisiana, Washington. Students were, in addition, attracted internationally from Poland and Argentina. The total number of mohalim certified by the Berit Mila Board now stands at over 300. Rabbi Aaron created new materials for our mohalim, community and rabbis on berit mila, including a booklet on Circumcision Resources, collected all the Reform Responsa on issues related to circumcision, oversaw the updating of the Berit Mila website, published articles on interfaithfamily.com, and has been interviewed and quoted in numerous publications, including the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune on the topic of circumsicion. She organized NOAM's 20th anniversary conference, and arranged for Dr. Edgar Schoen, international circumcision expert, to be a regular consultant with the Berit Mila Program. Rabbi Julie Pelc has been appointed as the new Director of the Berit Mila Program and NOAM. Rabbi Pelc originally is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 Los Angeles in 2006. As a graduate student, she was the recipient of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. "We welcome Rabbi Pelc and look forward to the contribution she will make to the next period of development of this significant program," said Dr. Cohen. Rabbi Pelc has been published in numerous magazines and periodicals including Spirituality and Health, Lilith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, CleverMag, Jewish Magazine, The Epoch Times and The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. She is co-editor of the anthology, Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives, published by the State University of New York Press in 2003. She currently is the Assistant Director of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health at HUC in Los Angeles and also teaches undergraduate courses in the Literature and Communications Department at the American Jewish University. Rabbi Pelc can be contacted by phone at (213) 765-2666 (office), or (310) 497-8030 (cell); by e-mail at beritmila@huc.edu or rabbipelc@gmail.com, and by mail at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3077 University Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90007-3796. Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal service professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate programs to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise renowned library and museum collections, the American Jewish Archives, biblical archaeology excavations, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array of cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history, identity, and contemporary creativity and which foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding. Visit us at www.huc.edu |
