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Hebrew Union College to end 4 graduate programs, including 2 in Cincinnati
(JTA) – When Reform Judaism’s leading educational institution adopted a controversial plan last year to discontinue rabbinical seminary studies at its flagship Cincinnati campus, leaders were insistent that other graduate programs would still be on offer there.
That no longer appears to be the case, as Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s president has announced that the school will shutter all of the full-time degree programs based in Cincinnati.
In a letter to the school community sent Tuesday, HUC-JIR President Andrew Rehfeld announced that the four-campus school would discontinue four programs: the doctoral and master’s degree programs in Jewish studies that are based in Cincinnati, as well as a doctoral program in interfaith ministry in New York and a master’s program in educational leadership in Los Angeles.
Rehfeld cited “financial constraints” and enrollment among the reasons for discontinuing the programs.
HUC-JIR’s rabbinical and cantorial programs remain intact, although Rehfeld said the schools would each soon adopt a new curriculum and a “new hybrid pathway that will help us attract and retain highly qualified and dedicated individuals and be more responsive to the diverse needs of our students.” Rehfeld had previously indicated that HUC-JIR would make itself more hospitable to students who cannot or do not want to commit to a five-year course of study in New York or Los Angeles.
Rehfeld said the educational leadership master’s degree program would admit its final class in 2024 and cease operations by 2026, while the school would be “supporting all current students in these programs through the completion of their degrees.” A part-time, non-residential doctor of Hebrew letters course for ordained rabbis that has been based in Cincinnati is not being discontinued. A master’s degree program for Jewish day school educators and an array of certificate programs for teachers and nonprofit professionals who wish to enhance their training also remain.
“We are committed to supporting both our current students in completing their programs and our accomplished alumni — their dedication to HUC-JIR and to advancing Jewish learning is an inspiration to all of us,” Rehfeld wrote in his email. He also said the institution would hire an executive director to oversee the remaining elements of the Cincinnati campus — the American Jewish Archives, a library and a museum — which the school collectively dubs its “Research Center.”
A spokesperson for HUC-JIR did not immediately return a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment. But the board’s decision last year to stop training rabbis at HUC’s 148-year-old flagship Cincinnati campus, in favor of investments in its New York and Los Angeles outposts, opened up fault lines in the Reform community and some political opposition from Ohio officials. Rehfeld’s own faculty openly rebelled against him, as did a large network of HUC alumni, many of whom said the Reform movement was abandoning the middle of the country and its own history with its plan.
Proponents of the plan argued at the time that HUC’s declining enrollment and the Reform movement’s overall challenges with financing its programs necessitated a changes. The campus’s graduate programs had limited enrollment as well, with Rehfeld telling JTA last year that only 13 students were enrolled there at the time. Rehfeld had promised the board would be “doing an evaluation of our graduate program” in its first year of phasing out the rabbinical program.
“I just think already much of the education is being done outside of Cincinnati,” he said at the time.
A page on HUC’s website meant to advertise its Cincinnati campus was sparsely populated as of Tuesday.
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White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called “special government employee,” a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
“Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home.”
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
“He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump,” said the official.
“This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives,” Boehler told Reuters in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza. The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders. According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.
Boehler was given permission from the Trump administration to engage directly with Hamas, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this week, calling the talks a “one-off situation” that had not borne fruit.
Boehler has been credited with helping secure the release of Fogel, a US schoolteacher who was freed by Russia in February after three and a half years in prison.
The post White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy addressing the 38th Zionist Congress. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – A French intellectual superstar and a pair of German officials announced that they withdrew from a conference on antisemitism organized by the Israeli government, citing the participation of far-right figures in the Jerusalem event.
Iconic thinker Bernard-Henri Lévy, who was set to deliver the conference’s keynote address, opted out upon learning that Marion Marechal and Jordan Bardella from France’s far-right National Rally party were among the other speakers.
Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism, “has decided not to attend,” his representatives told Haaretz.
“He was unaware of the other attendees when he accepted the invitation, and upon learning who the other speakers were, he decided to withdraw.”
Volker Beck, a former Green Party parliamentarian who chairs the Germany-Israel Friendship Society (DIG) also announced he was cancelling his attendance. “If we associate ourselves with extreme right-wing forces, we discredit our common cause; it also goes against my personal convictions and will have a negative impact on our fight against antisemitism within our societies.”
The post Bernard-Henri Lévy, German Officials Bow Out of Israeli Antisemitism Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador
Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
i24 News – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated the South African ambassador to Washington Ebrahim Rasool as a Persona Non Grata, branding Rasool a “race-bating politician.”
The decision comes after Rasool made the inflammatory allegation that Trump was “leading global white supremacist” movement.
A known supporter of the genocidal Palestinian group Hamas, Rasool even boasted that he owned a keffiyeh signed by late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
South Africa filed a claim with the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas, a charge both Israel and the US regard as slanderous and antisemitic.
The post US Kicks Out South Africa’s Hamas-Linked Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.