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Lessons Learned from Professor Bubis

[additional-authors]
August 25, 2015

It’s been more than three decades, but I can still remember many details from my first day of the Jewish Communal Service grad program at Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1983.

It was mid-June, hot, smoggy and I was very nervous. I had graduated just a few weeks earlier with a journalism degree from Cal State Fullerton, my grandmother on my maternal side had recently passed away, and I felt intimidated by classmates who had attended more well known, elite universities. Most of all, I was unsure if I made the right career choice to work in the Jewish nonprofit community.

Professor Jerry Bubis stood in front of us, an imposing figure both in stature and reputation. His deep voice boomed out, telling us we were the largest class ever, and that the two years ahead would be very demanding but worthwhile. He also told us that we were embarking on sacred, meaningful work. As he wrote in an address to the General Assembly that same year, “In Judaism the notion of “klei kodesh” – holy vessels—is one of great importance. The professionals in Jewish communal service are in a way the holy vessels, for they are working in partnership and helping to evolve for and with their lay partners a sense of values, priorities and directions in the shaping of a healthy and vibrant Jewish life here and abroad.”

I was hooked.

I was a double-major grad student — studying Jewish Communal Service at HUC and Public Administration at USC. The majority of my classmates were studying Social Work at USC, but Jerry had recently expanded the program, recognizing that the field was changing fast, and that more perspectives were needed to add to the traditional clinical approach. Jerry was always forward-thinking, realizing the need for lifelong Jewish education, new ways of creating community and belonging such as the Havurah movement, and he embraced change, whether in the form of feminism, or welcoming openly gay and lesbian Jewish professionals. He believed in analysis and evaluation. He urged us to never accept the rationale: “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Later on, Jerry was one of my own volunteer leaders when I worked as the staff liaison for the Middle East Commission of the JCRC at the Federation, and he could be tough. He was a leader with Peace Now, and sometimes questioned certain policies and decisions even if it meant clashing with official Israeli government positions.

A few years later, in 2001, Jerry emailed me, asking if I would edit (or more accurately cull) a collection of his then 50-year career of writings into one book. I said yes, not realizing that this meant reading a collection of over 200 articles, essays and books. With the help of my good friend and former classmate Ellen Rabin, we were able to distill many of his major themes into a 495-page book titled, “Growing Jews” one of Jerry’s many original phrases that captured his optimistic take on what we really going to do as professionals in the Jewish community.

I saw him infrequently in the last few years of his declining health, but he was always very supportive of this blog, and in general, my work in creating awareness and new programs for children and adults with disabilities. I spent an afternoon with him and his life partner and wife, Ruby in mid-July. Although frail in body, his mind was still quick, curious and engaged. When I told him about a new special needs project that I was working on, he was very interested, and without a moment’s hesitation, he asked about how the budget would work beyond the initial grant-funded period.

And now, it’s very hard for the reality of his passing to sink in. We as his former students, colleagues and community members are left to carry on his important, dynamic, and vital work. His “vessel” may no longer be with us, but the contents are still there, his legacy for many generations to come.

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