All posts tagged: rabbinical

She was shunned for renouncing Zionism. A decade later, a rabbinical college is honoring her.

She was shunned for renouncing Zionism. A decade later, a rabbinical college is honoring her.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — There’s nothing unusual about the honorary doctorate the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College will grant at commencement next week to Hasia R. Diner — except one thing. Ever since she publicly renounced Zionism in an op-ed in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz 10 years ago, this leading historian of the American Jewish experience has been persona non grata in most institutional Jewish spheres. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College insists the honor it will grant her on Sunday (May 17) has nothing to do with her views on Zionism. “Our criteria for this award is outstanding contributions in one’s field of expertise,” said Rabbi Deborah Waxman, the college’s president and CEO based in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. Still, the honor is noteworthy for what it says about American Judaism at this moment. The consensus that made Zionism a centerpiece of Jewish identity has broken down. Younger Jews are increasingly alienated from an identity joined at the hip with unquestioning support for Israel. Anguished over Israel’s war on Gaza — one 2025 survey found that half of American Jews …

The oldest U.S. Jewish seminary, Hebrew Union College, shuts down a rabbinical program : NPR

The oldest U.S. Jewish seminary, Hebrew Union College, shuts down a rabbinical program : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Hebrew Union College, the oldest Jewish seminary in the United States, was established in 1875 in Cincinnati by the founder of Reform Judaism in North America. The college has other campuses, but its rabbinical program in Cincinnati will shut down and graduate its last four students at the end of the first week in May. AILSA CHANG, HOST: The final class of students at the first permanent Jewish institution of higher learning in America will graduate this weekend. The school is called Hebrew Union College, and it’s not closing, but it will no longer offer classes in the city where it was founded. Tana Weingartner with member station WVXU in Cincinnati has our story. (SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING) TANA WEINGARTNER, BYLINE: It’s a quiet spring afternoon on the green lawn of Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Gone are the boisterous students playing frisbee that Rabbi Laura Baum experienced when she arrived from her home state of Connecticut two decades ago. LAURA BAUM: I loved being a student here. It was a …