Hebrew College Spring Gala 2023

Hebrew College spring 2023 gala header

Please join us on Thursday evening, May 4, 2023 for the Hebrew College Annual Spring Gala! We are excited to celebrate this year on our new shared campus at 1860 Washington Street in Newton, MA.

6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception
7:30 p.m. Program
8:30 p.m. Dessert Reception

Our program includes uplifting live music; delicious food; reflections from teachers and alumni on education, history, and hope; blessings for our honorees, Andy Offit and Dan Miller; presentation of the Esther Award to Nancy Schön, internationally-renowned public art sculptor; and live music with Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer, Hebrew College Rabbinical School, Class of 2014.

> RESERVATIONS, TRIBUTES & CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS

The 7:30 program will be livestreamed.


Honorees

Andy-OffitANDY OFFIT
In the spring of 2017, Andy Offit embarked on a journey as Chair of the Board of Hebrew College. This was his goal: Hebrew College to be in a new home, debt free with a balanced and sustainable budget for the first time in over 25 years.

Andy enjoys a steep learning curve and a good challenge. He also demands hard-working and high-energy partners, honest reflection for necessary adjustments, vision, detailed plans, and collaboration with an eye on the numbers. Andy is a numbers guy. Andy also likes to accomplish his goals. And he did. Hebrew College affirmed his skillset—and an opportunity to learn many new skills!!

He chaired the Hebrew College board while taking the LSAT, applying, attending and graduating from law school, and passing the bar. And as Hebrew College stepped into its strong and healthy future, so did Andy as a lawyer, his third professional iteration.

Andy’s passion for learning includes voracious reading about American history, United States presidents, his beloved New England Patriots, the criminal justice system, and anything his three adult sons are also interested in. He loves boats, trucks and bicycles. He has dedicated energy and time to understanding and mitigating the structures that create inequality and instability in this country. Andy’s other past board work includes Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, Social Innovation Forum, My Life My Choice, Courageous Parents Network, and Beaver Country Day.

Andy was born and raised in Pikesville, MD, surrounded by a big, warm and loving family. He attended Emory University, and with his CPA, worked in public accounting for three years in Atlanta. He attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania followed by 13 years at Fidelity Investments as an analyst and portfolio manager. He enjoyed 12 wildly successful years as a partner at Wellington Management. He left the investment business after 25 years influenced by his wife’s soulful and meaningful work as a second career, Hebrew College Rabbi. Andy then graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School with a MPA degree, followed by working for the City of Somerville as special assistant to Mayor Joe Curtatone for seven years. The eye-opening experience led him to believe that change in the system happens in the courtroom. In spring of 2021, he graduated from Suffolk Law School. He is admitted to the bar in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Andy is adored by and devoted to his three sons, Adam, David and Yoni, and his wife, Rabbi Suzanne Offit `09.


Dan MillerDAN MILLER
Dan is the founding supporter, in memory of his late wife, Betty Ann z”l, of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership at Hebrew College, where he is a past Board member and current Finance and Investment Committee member. He is also a 1999 Me’ah graduate.

Among his other philanthropic interests, Dan is a long-time supporter of the Rashi School, where he sits on the Board of Trustees and is a member of its Budget & Finance Committee. Dan helped establish the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Jewish Healing at Jewish Family & Children’s Service, also named in memory of his late wife. He has also been a long-standing member of the Investment Committee of the Squam Lakes Association, one of the country’s earliest non-profit conservation organizations dating back well over 100 years.

Dan is a Partner and Director of Equities at GW&K Investment Management in Boston where, for the past 14 years, he has managed all aspects of the firm’s global equity business, including portfolio management, research and trading. This follows a career of over two decades at Putnam Investments, where he was the Chief Investment Officer of the firm’s Specialty Growth Equity Group and managed the mutual fund of the decade in the 1990s. He began his career in the late 1970s as an analyst at Morgan Stanley. Dan received a BS with highest honors from the University of California Berkeley in 1979 and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1983. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1986 and is a member of the CFA Society Boston and the CFA Institute.

Dan spends his weekdays in the Boston area, although he and his partner, Deborah Ancona, spend as much free time as possible at their lake home in New Hampshire where they particularly enjoy hiking and biking. Dan’s two sons, Adam and Matthew, attended the Rashi School, and were Prozdor students in their teen years.

Esther Award and Dedication of Sculpture

Nancy SchonInternational sculptor Nancy Schön’s newly commissioned sculpture will live in the Hebrew College Courtyard to honor generations of Hebrew College donors. Schön created the famous “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture in the Boston Public Garden (and another one in Moscow) and has created over a dozen prominent public sculptures and many for private collections.

Proudly Featuring

Jessica Kate MeyerJessica Kate Meyer is a prayer leader, storyteller, vocalist, and rabbi, who served as rabbi-hazzan at Romemu in NYC, and most recently, at The Kitchen in San Francisco. She has studied sacred Jewish music with masters from Ashkenazi and Mizrahi traditions and has performed as a vocalist with ensembles in the United States and Israel. In a previous life, Jessica appeared in film, theater, and television projects in Europe and the United States: most notably, as a principal role in the Oscar-winning film, The Pianist.


Reservations & Tributes

>> MAKE YOUR RESERVATION HERE

Reservations and sponsorships of certain levels (see below) include the opportunity to celebrate our community with a digital tribute “ad” or message. The deadline for sharing your predesigned tributes, text, and/or logos is April 17. Kindly submit your materials to mtavan@hebrewcollege.edu.

Dimensions for predesigned files (full color 300+ dpi JPEG, PDF, or EPS):
Full-page: 7.5″W x 9″H

$100,000+ Meyasdim/Founders: full-page tribute, 10 admissions
$36,000 – $99,999 Bonim/Builders: full-page tribute, 10 admissions
$20,000 – $35,000 Talmidim/Lifelong Learners: full-page tribute, 8 admissions
$10,000 – $19,999 Shutafim/Partners: full-page tribute, 8 admissions
$5,000 – $9,999 Haverim/Friends: full-page tribute, 6 admissions
$1,800 – $4,999 Yedidim/Companions: full-page tribute, 4 admissions

Half-page: 7.5″W x 4.25″H
$1,000 – $1,799 Supporters: half-page tribute, 2 admissions

One ticket and one-line tribute message:
$500 – Our Cup Runneth Over
$360 – Join Us & Support Us
$180 – Join Us

Student price:
Current Hebrew College student: $54

Corporate Sponsorships

Support an incredible community while gaining exposure to over 11,000 households. All Corporate Sponsors at or above $1,800 receive a full-page ad with the giving level banner in our virtual tribute book, recognition at the event and online, entrance to the in-person celebration, and access to the livestream link.

Shutafim/Partners: $10,000 to $19,999
Haverim/Friends: $5,000 to $9,999
Yedidim/Companions: $1,800 to $4,999
Supporters: $1,000 to $1,799

Additional levels and benefits are available. Please contact Mia Tavan at mtavan@hebrewcollege.edu with questions or to submit your high-resolution logo and tribute book text. Thank you!


Event Committee

Nancy Kaplan Belsky
Rabbi Neal Gold
Rabbi Jessica Lowenthal
Rabbi Sonia Saltzman
Susan Schechter
Myra Snyder

Host Committee

Geraldine Acuña Sunshine and Gabriel Sunshine
Julie Altman and Alex Sagan
Deborah Ancona
Rabbi Sharon and Shimon Cohen Anisfeld
Mark Atkins and Miho Sato
Rabbi Marc Baker
Beverly Bavly
Chester and Diane Black
Michelle and Darren Black
Rabbi Danny Burkeman
Harvey and Marsha Chasen
Carol and Carl Chudnofsky
Carol and Stephen Cohen
Lisa Popik Coll and Arieh Coll
Leslie and Alan Crane
Karen and Robert Deresiewicz
Suzanne and David Diamond
Rabbi Jevin and Dr. Janine Eagle
Deborah and Ronald Feinstein
Renée and Steven Finn
Fern Fisher and Jack Eiferman
Ronald Gluck and Liz Brody Gluck
Shira Goodman and Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz
Lillian and Richard Gray
Louis Grossman and Amy Gerson
Beryl and David Hoffman
Elizabeth and Daniel Jick
Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation, Inc.:
Nancy and Mark Belsky, Susan B. Kaplan, Scott K. Belsky, Gila Belsky Modell
Rabbi Jamie and Harold Kotler
Debbie and Todd Krasnow
Lizbeth and George Krupp
Lydia and Bernie Kukoff
Alice and Rabbi Van Lanckton
Sara Lee
Marcia and Alan Leifer
Anne and Rabbi Rim Meirowitz
Yael Miller and Stuart Cole
Tara Mohr and Eric Ries
Beth and Michael Moskowitz
Sara Moss and Michael Gould
Myra Musicant and Howard Cohen
Rabbi Suzanne Offit
Suzanne G. Offit
Priebatsch Family:
Suzanne G. Priebatsch, Seth Priebatsch, Daniella Priebatsch Place
Amy and Bob Rands
Cantor Hollis Schachner
Susan and Bob Schechter
Pamela and James Schwartz
Ellen and Steven Segal
Nancy Antonacci Shaich
Susan Shevitz and Lawrence Bailis
Amy and Ross Silverstein
Myra and Robert Snyder
Sarah Sonnenfeld Noked and Ori Noked
Carol and Steven Targum
Diane Troderman and Harold Grinspoon
Stephen and Susan Wilchins
Arnee R. and Walter A. Winshall
Rose Zoltek-Jick

List in formation


Corporate Sponsors

Haverim/Friends

Dellbrooks logo


Yedidim/Companions

Levine Chapels logo

AAF_Logo
PCA logo

Supporters
WKLA Logo with Tagline
campus cafe logo
S&W-Hilb logo-
Gordons Liquor-logo

A Celebration of Learning with Rabbi Toba Spitzer discussing God is Here

God is Here book coverLet’s celebrate Jewish learning together! Our Hebrew College community of learners will come together on Monday evening, February 27 at 7:30 pm on Zoom with Rabbi Toba Spitzer for a reading and conversation about her new book God Is Here: Reimagining the DivineGod is Here explores how metaphor shapes our experience of the divine. With a rich palette of metaphors from Jewish tradition, seekers and doubters alike can begin to understand and access the sacred in new and powerful ways.

Rabbi Spitzer’s talk is sponsored by Hebrew College Adult Learning. To see other learning opportunities please visit our brand-new Adult Learning Catalog.


About the Author

toba-spitzerRabbi Toba Spitzer has served Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in West Newton since 1997. She is a past president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis, and the co-chair of the Massachusetts chapter of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. She is a popular teacher and writer on a wide variety of topics, including new approaches to Jewish theology, the sacred use of money in our everyday lives, and changing the conversation around Israel-Palestine. More information about Rabbi Spitzer and God Is Here is available at www.rabbitobaspitzer.net.

Purchase the book at the event or online here.

Dignity Project Closing Celebration

Please join the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College for our Dignity Project Fellowship closing celebration!

The 2022-2023 high school fellows will share insights from their interreligious and cross-cultural journey together. The celebratory gathering will include music, writing, dialogue, and a service opportunity. The celebration is open to the public and children of all ages are warmly welcomed.

The Dignity Project Fellowship is designed to annually train outstanding high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Greater Boston to serve as interreligious and cross-cultural leaders, with the capacity to engage the diversity of our city and broader society with thoughtfulness, skill, and care. 

We look forward to inviting you in to the unique community we have built together.

The Rhythm of Israel Concert

music-illustration

 

 

 

This event has reached audience capacity but we invite you to stay tuned for details about another concert in March in our new home!

Please join us in-person to enjoy live choral and solo works by Israeli composers, all sung in Hebrew and Ladino, and performed by Hebrew College rabbinical and cantorial students and Kol Arev, Hebrew College Chamber Choir (Amy Lieberman, Music Director).

Enjoy the music while surrounded by our “Syncopation” art exhibit, featuring works by Israeli artists in the 1970’s from the College’s permanent collection, and hear remarks from exhibit curator Deborah Feinstein.

Free parking is available and the performance area is handicap-accessible. If you have any additional accessibility needs, please contact Mia Tavan at mtavan@hebrewcollege.edu by December 5. We regret that we will not be able to livestream the concert.

Annual Lecture: Jonathan Sarna — Re-evaluating the Role of American Jewry During the Shoah

The Heidi Urich Annual Lecture on Jewish Genealogy

Holocaust scholarship has generally been critical of the role of American Jewry during the Shoah. Many believe that American Jews could have done much more than they did to save the Jews of Europe. However, recent research documents the clandestine rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and other agencies; the Jewish resistance to German Bund pro-Nazi activities in the U.S.; and the work of the Overseas News Agency, the Jewish Labor Committee, and the World Jewish Congress. This new scholarship, Jonathan Sarna argues, calls for a full-scale re-evaluation of American Jewry’s role in saving Jews and fighting Nazism during the Holocaust years.

JGSGB members: The program is free. Members do not need to register. You can find the Zoom link by logging in to your JGSGB Membership account. Once logged in, use the “What would you like to do” dropdown to locate the members-only page for the Zoom link. You will also receive an email with the Zoom link on the morning of the program. This program will be recorded, so members will be able to view it on the members-only Page.

Non-members: Click here to receive the Zoom link. If you do not receive an email with the link to the program within 15 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Joanthan SarnaJonathan Sarna is a leading scholar of American Jewish history. His renowned treatise, American Judaism: A History, won the Jewish Book Council’s Book of the Year Award in 2004 and is now available in a 2nd edition. Coming to Terms with America: Essays on Jew­ish His­to­ry, Reli­gion, and Culture (JPS 2021) is the most recent of his more than thirty books on American Jewish history. He is University Professor and the Braun Professor of America Jewish History at Brandeis University.

Writing the Other Half of the Jewish Bookshelf: Celebrating the Publication of Dirshuni—Contemporary Women’s Midrash

An Evening With Tamar Biala, Rabbi Avi Killip and Rabbi Avi Strausberg

Dirshuni book cover

Dirshuni is a collection of modern Israeli women’s midrash, which brings together voices from across the religious spectrum. The feminist theologian and author, Tamar Biala, composed a selection of these midrashim, and collected and painstakingly edited others. She provides a lucid commentary on each piece, with reference to the classic rabbinic sources. Dirshuni expands the canon to include contemporary women authors and is a must for every modern Jewish bookshelf!” says Rav Rachel Adelman, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Hebrew College.

Join us on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. at Hebrew College for an evening of study and conversation where we will explore the meaning of the project that seeks to expand our sacred texts.

Please join us in marking the publication of the English volume of Dirshunithe first-ever English edition of a historic collection of midrashim composed by Israeli women, which has been long-anticipated by multiple American audiences, including synagogues, rabbinical seminaries, adult learning programs, Jewish educators, and scholars of gender and religion.

Using the classical forms developed by the ancient rabbis, the contributors express their religious and moral thought and experience through innovative interpretations of scripture. The women writers, from all denominations and beyond, of all political stripes and ethnic backgrounds, contribute their Torah to fill the missing half of the sacred Jewish bookshelf. This book reflects dramatic changes in the agency of women in the world of religious writings.

This event is made possible through generous support from Hebrew College Board of Trustees member Diane Troderman.

>> View the flyer [pdf]


Speakers

Tamar Biala
Tamar Biala teaches in various Batei Midrash, rabbinical schools, and adult education programs in the US and Israel. She co edited Volume 1 of the Hebrew language edition of Dirshuni: Women’s Midrash with Nehama Weingarten Mintz and in 2018 edited volume 2. In 2022 she published an English volume Dirshuni—Contemporary Women’s Midrash (Brandeis University Press). Currently, with Yael Kanarek, she is working on the Toratah project of regendering the Hebrew bible

Avi KillipRabbi Avi Killip `14 is the executive vice president at Hadar. She received her rabbinic ordination and MJEd from Hebrew College and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brandeis University. She was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Schusterman Fellow. Avi teaches as part of Hadar’s Faculty and is host of the Responsa Radio podcast.

Avi StrausbergRabbi Avi Strausberg `15 is the senior director of National Learning Initiatives at Hadar, and is based in Washington, DC. Previously, she served as the Director of Congregational Learning of Temple of Aaron in St. Paul, MN. She received her rabbinic ordination and MJEd from Hebrew College  and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Avi has worked as a chaplain intern at Hebrew SeniorLife and organized an anti-trafficking campaign as a rabbinic fellow at T’ruah.


Event Co-Sponsors

We are grateful to our co-sponsors: Brandeis University Press, Hadar, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Israeli American Council, Kerem Shalom, Kehillath Israel, Lehrhaus, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Temple Reyim, and Temple Beth Zion.

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