News Highlights Hebrew College to Award Honorary Degrees to David Broza and Rev. Liz Walker
Internationally renowned Israeli singer-songwriter, David Broza, and Boston cultural and religious icon, Rev. Liz Walker will be awarded honorary doctorates from Hebrew College on Sunday, June 4, 2023, as we celebrate graduates of our master’s degree and ordination programs.
“It is an honor for all of us at Hebrew College to celebrate these two inspiring individuals whose voices have come to represent hope to so many,” said President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld. “Through the power of story and song, through courageous and loving leadership that refuses to give in to despair, they embody the values that we seek to lift up and bring to life through the work of the graduates we are proudly sending into the world this weekend.”
Rev. Walker’s rich career traverses several fields, including journalism, community organizing, and international relief efforts. She is currently leading the Corey Johnson Project, an organization that serves over 1,800 people per year with weekly trauma support, using an intersectional community-based approach to foster recovery and healing. Walker is still best known as Boston’s first Black television news anchor, a position she held for 21 of her 28-year television news career. She is the recipient of two Emmys, symbolizing the highest recognition from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and an Edward R. Murrow award for journalistic excellence.
“Rev. Liz Walker is a Boston treasure! Her cultural, spiritual, and civic contributions to our city are too numerous to count. Simply put, Liz is one of my Sheroes!” said Rabbi Or Rose, founding director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership of Hebrew College.
David Broza is one of the best-known Israeli musicians around the world. A singer-songwriter, his signature sound brings together songs in Hebrew, Spanish, and English, with influences from Jewish, Spanish flamenco, and American folk and rock and roll sources. Using his platform to be an instrument of justice, Broza has made major humanitarian efforts and contributions, including serving as a goodwill ambassador for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Broza’s interests in social justice and peace advocacy are intimately woven into his work, as witnessed by his 1977 hit song “Yihye Tov” (“There Will Be Good”) which remains an Israeli peace anthem. He has released more than 40 albums, many of which are multi-platinum, and in 2007 performed alongside Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and others in Masada.
Like many Jewish communities around North America, Hebrew College has its fair share of Broza admirers: “David Broza’s voice and lyrics, Spanish guitar rhythms, and peace activism, have sustained the muscle of hope in Israel for over four decades,” said Rabbi Rachel Adelman, associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Hebrew College and a long-time Broza fan. “He lives the words that have become the anthem of the peace movement,” she added.
Celebrate with us on Sunday, June 4, 2023! Learn more and register for the event on our website.