Hebrew Union College Founder’s Day Celebration to be held March 23

The Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College will host its annual Founder’s Day Celebration Thursday, March 23, at 11:00 a.m. 

This year’s featured speaker will be Rabbi Karen Thomashow, a 2007 graduate of the HUC Cincinnati rabbinical program who currently serves as associate rabbi at Wise Temple. Thomashow has taught Senior Seminar and Homiletics at the HUC Cincinnati campus, and has also served as a sermon and fellowship adviser to students. 

The Founder’s Day celebration, held annually at the Cincinnati campus, celebrates the founding of the college by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the first permanent institution of Jewish learning in the United States of America. The event celebrates Rabbi Wises’ founding of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s founding of the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, which was merged into HUC in 1950, a year after Rabbi Stephen Wise’s death. In a recent statement, Dr. Andrew Rehfeld, HUC’s current president, said “our founders were at the forefront of creating new kinds of leaders for a modern Jewish world. It is hard to overstate the impact of their vision and efforts to expand our community in ways that were innovative and dynamic times. From Isaac Mayer Wises’ establishment of the CCAR, UAHUC (now the URJ), and HUC, to Stephen S. Wise’s commitment to global Jewish Peoplehood and social justice, to Nelson Glueck’s decision to ordain female rabbis and his recognition that our work in Israel would be a central part of our future, our founders have laid strong foundations for our communities and the world at large.” 

The event will also honor alumni who will receive honorary degrees after twenty five years of service to the Jewish people. 

The event will be held in person but will also be available via Livestream. A link to register for the event can be found on the HUC website.