Nineteen New Rabbis to Be Ordained at 120th Ordination Ceremony of HUC-JIR

Nineteen new rabbis will be ordained on Saturday, May 31, 2003 at 9:30 am at Plum Street Temple at the 120th ordination ceremony of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The ordination class has invited Rabbi Uri Regev, executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism from Jerusalem, Israel to deliver the ordination address. President David Ellenson and the family and friends of the ordinees welcome the community to be a part of this most historic event.

The following students will be ordained as rabbis: Matthew L. Berger, Alan S. Cook, Joshua D. Garroway, Eric S. Goldberg, Debra L. Kassoff, Neal A. Katz, Claudio J. Kogan, M.D., Joshua B. Lief, John A. Linder, Dalia S. Marx, Geri Newburge, Anne Persin, Yair D. Robinson, Michael S. Shulman, Pamela Barr Silk, Phyllis A. Sommer, Stephen J. Stein, Victoria S. Tuckman, and Shlomo A. Wing.

Ordination speaker, Rabbi Regev was born in Tel Aviv and is a magna cum laude graduate of the Tel Aviv University Law School and a member of the Israel Bar. He was ordained as a rabbi and awarded a Masters of Hebrew Letters degree from the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1986. He has served in the Israel Defense Forces as a military prosecutor and legal advisor, and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the reserves.

As executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, Rabbi Regev oversees congregations and communities in nearly 40 countries, encompassing more than 1,200 Reform, Progressive, Liberal, and Reconstructionist congregations and more than 1.5 million members throughout the world. The World Union aims to create common ground between its constituents and to promote Progressive Judaism in places where individuals and groups are seeking authentic, yet modern ways of expressing themselves as Jews. Its international headquarters is in Jerusalem, with regional offices in London and Moscow.

In total, the College-Institute will ordain 56 rabbis (28 men, 28 women) in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York this year and will invest 12 cantors (4 men, 8 women) in New York. These new rabbis and cantors will be serving Reform Jewish congregations and community organizations around the country including such cities as Chattanooga, TN, Cherry Hill, NJ, Cincinnati, OH, Glencoe, IL, Glenview, IL, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, Long Grove, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Newtown, PA, Princeton Junction, NJ, and Tyler, TX.