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Moving and shaking: Commencement ceremonies, Jews for Hillary and more

Three seminaries — American Jewish University (AJU), Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR-CA) were among the local schools holding commencement ceremonies last month.
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June 9, 2016

Three seminaries — American Jewish University (AJU), Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and the Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR-CA) were among the local schools holding commencement ceremonies last month.

At AJU, which held its 66th commencement on May 15 at its Bel Air campus, nine students received Master of Arts degrees in rabbinic studies. They were ordained in a ceremony the next day. Four students were conferred Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management degrees and 13 were awarded a Master of Business Administration through the Graduate School of Nonprofit Management, while seven students earned a Master of Arts in Education. Eighteen students received bachelor’s degrees.

Among those getting honorary doctorates were Valley Beth Shalom Rabbi Ed Feinstein, philanthropist Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer and Jeffrey L. Glassman, CEO of Covington Capital Management and chairman emeritus of AJU. John Magoulas, the associate chief development officer of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles who received an MBA from AJU in 2001, received the Mickey Weiss Award for Outstanding Alumni. 

HUC-JIR ordained eight students in a May 15 ceremony at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, the president of HUC-JIR, was the ordination speaker. Giving remarks were Cary Davidson, a member of the university’s board of governors and chair of the Western region overseers; Congregation Kol Ami’s Rabbi Denise Eger, president of the board of trustees of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Daryl Messinger, chairman of the Union for Reform Judaism’s board of trustees; and Congregation Or Ami’s Rabbi Paul Kipnes

Graduation exercises took place the following day at Temple Emanuel, with dean Joshua Holo offering opening remarks. A certificate of recognition was presented to Michael Zeldin, retiring senior national director of HUC-JIR’s schools of education, who also gave the graduation address. 

Seven students received the Master of Arts in Jewish Nonprofit Management, seven others were awarded Master of Arts in Jewish Education and eight students earned Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters. One student received a Doctor of Hebrew Letters. 

An honorary doctorate was presented to Rabbi Marc Lee Raphael, the Nathan and Sophia Gumenick Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at the College of William and Mary. The Sherut La’Am award was presented to activist, philanthropist and author Buff Brazy Given

AJR-CA held its graduation and ordination on May 30 at Stephen Wise Temple. Seven rabbis and one cantor were ordained after they had received their master’s degrees a day earlier in an event at the school’s Koreatown campus. At the May 30 event, one student graduated with a certification in chaplaincy and another received a master’s degree in Jewish studies. Rabbi Laura Owens, the school’s interim president, gave the opening address. 

— Avi Sholkoff, Contributing Writer


Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Regional Director Amanda Susskind moderated a May 25 panel discussion titled “Challenges and Opportunities Facing Jewish and Asian-American College Students,” hosted by ADL’s Asian Jewish Initiative in Los Angeles. Panelists were Jerry Kang, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA; Heather Rosen, a graduating senior and student body president at UCLA; Riki Robinson, a student and program coordinator at the Center for Asian Pacific American Students at Pitzer College; and Varun Soni, dean of the Office of Religious Life at USC. 

From left: ADL Asian Jewish Initiative co-chair Vince Gonzalez, UCLA Vice Chancellor Jerry Kang, USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni, ADL Asian Jewish Initiative founder Faith Cookler, ADL Regional Director Amanda Susskind, UCLA senior and outgoing president Heather Rosen and Pitzer College student Riki Robinson.  Photo courtesy of Anti-Defamation League

Approximately 30 people were present as the panelists drew attention to the clash of identities — how students self-identify and how they are perceived — and what was described as a “wealth of diversity” within both communities.

Jewish students Rosen and Robinson said that some of the challenges Jewish students face come from within the Jewish community, while other challenges are external. On UCLA’s campus, Rosen said, “There’s a huge issue with politicization of identity, especially the Jewish identity.”

“A lot of times, because we are considered to be part of the white population, we are excluded from [progressive] conversations,” she said. “I’ve been told I’m an oppressor because I’m Jewish, because Israel is considered the oppressor and Palestine is considered the oppressed.”

Susskind stressed that there is no competition over who is more victimized. From her knowledge of individual instances, “The only allies Jews have had on campuses … have been oftentimes Asian, oftentimes South Asian.” 

“I want to [end] on an overarching positive,” Susskind added. “We have a lot in common among the Asian and Jewish cultures: the ancient cultures, the strong moms, the great food. And we want to see these alliances improved.”

— Lakshna Mehta, Contributing Writer


The Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) recently announced a $1 million donation from Jay H. Geller and his husband, Lowell Gallagher, to establish the Geller-Gallagher Leadership Institute (GGLI). 

From left: Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management at HUC-JIR Director Erik Ludwig, Jay Geller, Lowell Gallagher and HUC-JIR President Rabbi Aaron Panken. Photo courtesy of HUC-JIR 

The announcement was made at the Zelikow School’s honors reception on May 15, which celebrated eight individuals who received honorary doctorate degrees from the school. Geller is a Los Angeles attorney and member of the HUC-JIR Board of Governors, and Gallagher is an English professor at UCLA. 

The institute is being established “to engage in an open dialogue with professional leaders in the Jewish community to address challenges in the leadership pipeline,” said Erik Ludwig, the director of the Zelikow School. Although the institute will operate under the umbrella of the Zelikow School, it will be open to the general public. 

“Mentorship is really, really important to me,” said Geller, who is the chairman of the Zelikow School Advisory Council. “The reason why we started the institute was to create relationships and foster mentorships. The institute will work with professionals, lay leaders and students to develop those relationships.” 

The inaugural event of GGLI will be on Aug. 8. The speakers at the event will be Gali Cooks, executive director of Leading Edge: Alliance for Jewish Leadership; David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House; Jordan Fruchtman, chief programming officer of Moishe House; and Allan Finkelstein, former president of Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

Of the eight honorees at the recent reception, two were from the Los Angeles area: Lori Klein, senior vice president of Caring for Jews in Need at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles; and Lesley Plachta, development director of the Los Angeles Jewish Home Foundation. Lori Goodman, the chief development officer of CALM (Child Abuse Listening Mediation) in Santa Barbara, also was an honoree.

— Lakshna Mehta, Contributing Writer


American Jewish Committee Los Angeles (AJC-LA) elected Scott Edelman as its regional president during its 71st annual meeting and luncheon, held on May 23 at the Intercontinental hotel. He succeeds outgoing AJC-LA President Dean Schramm, who continues on as chairman of AJC-LA.

New American Jewish Committee Los Angeles regional president Scott Edelman. Photo courtesy of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

“What attracts me most to AJC is its outreach to the non-Jewish world,” Edelman, a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner and 2015 AJC-LA Judge Learned Hand Award recipient, said during his acceptance speech, as quoted in a press release. “We cannot take our freedom for granted; we live in perilous times. We must fight against anti-Semitism, all forms of bigotry, and the spread of radicalism and extremism.”

The meeting also marked appointments of new AJC-LA board members, including Glenn Sonnenberg, the current president of the board of directors at Stephen Wise Temple. Additionally, Reeve E. Chudd, Julie Bram and Cathy Unger were named AJC-LA vice presidents; Dan Schnur was named treasurer; and Eva Dworsky was named secretary. 

Additional new board members include Jonathan Anschell, Brian Cohen, James Dasteel and Marc Graboff.

Attendees at the event included L.A. City Councilmen Paul Koretz and Bob Blumenfield, and L.A. City Controller Ron Galperin, among others.

Faithful Central Bible Church Bishop Kenneth Ulmer delivered the invocation and spoke about the importance of Black-Jewish relations.

AJC-LA Director Janna Weinstein Smith said she is looking forward to working with Edelman in his new role. “AJC is thrilled to have Scott, an accomplished Jewish community leader, serve as president of our region,” she said in a statement.


Samara Hutman, the executive director of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH), traveled to Washington, D.C., on  May 6 to see photographs of Los Angeles-based Holocaust survivors on display in the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda. The exhibit, which initially debuted at LAMOTH, is titled “Portraits in Black and White: Survivors and What They Carry” and features 20 black-and-white photos taken by photographer Barbara Mack.

Photographer Barbara Mack and LAMOTH Executive Director Samara Hutman visit Washington, D.C.  Photo by Bryan McLamara 

Two members of the Argus Quartet, violinist Clara Kim and violist Diana Wade, accompanied Hutman. Kim and Wade performed two pieces, “Found Missing” and “Tracks,” which students created as part of the Righteous Conversations Project at Milken Community Schools in Los Angeles. Milken student Noah Daniel composed “Tracks” after learning from survivor Armin Goldstein

“The piece begins with an academic-sounding, exercise-like scale in order to portray the rigorous 14 hours a day Armin spent in school (apart from homework and studying), but also has a youthful joy as the waltz-like pizzicato comes in,” Daniel said, as quoted by LAMOTH. “It then moves into the period Armin spent in forced labor, as a lumberjack in freezing wind and snow. The augmented chord played by the violins as the piece accelerates creates the illusion of a train, as Armin is forced into a cattle car and taken to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in today’s northern Germany.”

Hutman praised the event and stressed the importance of students learning about the Holocaust. “This generation of students is the last one that will be able to connect in person with Holocaust survivors in our community,” Hutman said. “LAMOTH’s Righteous Conversations Project Music Composition Program gives students the opportunity to carry on the legacy of memory to future generations through music.”

— Avi Sholkoff, Contributing Writer


If you want to celebrate an organization that works to help churches, synagogues and mosques create sustainable gardens on their properties, what better place to do it than in the middle of a … sustainable garden?  Netiya’s “Not Just a Garden Party” on May 26 at the home of founder Devorah Brous and Laurence Weber brought together 90 supporters of the organization amid the home’s raised beds, fruit trees, aquaponic pond and chicken coop.

An interfaith gardening event organized by agriculture group Netiya.   

“Almost everything grows here in this part of the world,” Brous said in impassioned remarks to guests. “Yet 600,000 kids are food insecure in Los Angeles County.”

Netiya helps by converting congregations’ water-intensive crabgrass lawns into sites for fresh food production. So far, it has installed 16 food gardens at faith-based institutions and given 10 microgrants to L.A. congregations to grow food.

“These congregations are essentially the greatest source of ready-to-repurpose lands in the entire city,” Brous said. “Faith communities are literally the fertile ground to seed institutional scale change around the city.”

As night came and lights twinkled in the garden, performance artists entertained a crowd including Rabbi Sharon Brous and David Light, Melissa Balaban and Adam Wergeles, Jack Weiss and Leslie Kautz, Brian Pass, Yuval Ron, Carolyne Aycaguer, Shep and Shari Rosenman, Rabbi Noah Farkas, Rabbi Ahud Sela and Jessica Ritz.  

— Staff report


Former Congressman Howard Berman discussed the Democratic Party platform on Israel at the Beverly Hills home of Ada and Jim Horwich during a “Jews for Hillary” event on May 31. 

A “Jews for Hillary” event was held at the Beverly Hills home of Ada and Jim Horwich on May 31.

“My sense from conversations with people who are very involved in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, more so than I am, is … a firm resolve to stand with American support for Israel,” Berman told the standing-room-only crowd that filled the Horwich courtyard.

Co-organized with activist Donna Bojarsky, the event brought out Democratic pols and community leaders en masse. 

“We really need a strong united Jewish community,” said Sarah Bard, Clinton’s Jewish outreach coordinator. “Hillary Clinton is going to fight hard to make sure the platform reflects her long record of support for Israel.”

“I think we got our marching orders,” Bojarsky called out to the crowd.

Spotted at the event were Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, L.A. City Controller Ron Galperin, L.A. City Councilman Bob Blumenfield, Wendy Greuel, Zev and Barbara Yaroslavsky, Rabbi Naomi Levy, Sharon and Leon Janks, Rabbi Ken ChasenSam Yebri, Jesse Gabriel, and Rabbi Sharon Brous and David Light.

— Staff report

Moving and Shaking highlights events, honors and simchas. Got a tip? Email ryant@jewishjournal.com

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