News Highlights Meet Our Gala 2025 Award Recipients
On Thursday, May 1, students, leaders, alumni, supporters, and friends will gather for Hebrew College’s 2025 Spring Gala, “Braiding Hope”, to recognize the dedication and passion that transform our community into a vibrant hub of Jewish learning, leadership, and innovation.
In addition to an evening of music, learning, noshing, and sipping, we will celebrate four award recipients who together represent the best of Hebrew College, braiding their conviction, creativity, and compassion into an enduring legacy of hope. Please join us!
RABBI DAVID ELLENSON MEMORIAL AWARD
Honoring Leadership in Pluralism and Ahavat Yisrael
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central’s Reform congregation in its 185-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi.
Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor in 1999 and ordained as a rabbi in 2001 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a cantor or rabbi in North America. Prior to her service at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Buchdahl served as Associate Rabbi/Cantor at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via livestream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries. Rabbi Buchdahl was invited by President Barak Obama in 2014 and President Joe Biden in 2023 to share blessings and light the menorah for the White House Hanukah Party, the first rabbi invited by two administrations.
Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, and PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of the Avodah Jewish Service Corps, AJC, the New York Board of Rabbis, UJA-Federation of New York, Yale University President’s Council and the Israel Center at Seoul National University. Her memoir, entitled Heart of a Stranger, will be published by Penguin Random House Press in October 2025.
Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.
ESTHER AWARD
Honoring Courageous Women’s Leadership
Dr. Judith Rosenbaum, CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive
Judith Rosenbaum (she/her) is CEO of the Jewish Women’s Archive, a pioneering digital archive and public history project that documents Jewish women’s stories, elevates their voices, and inspires them to be agents of change. Before becoming CEO ten years ago, Judith served for nearly a decade as JWA’s Director of Public History and Director of Education, developing its major programs and educational initiatives to create a more inclusive history, and to promote history as a tool for social change.
Under Judith’s leadership, JWA has expanded its reach to 15 million people around the world each year, launching new programs including the New York Times-recommended podcast, Can We Talk?; an ongoing series of popular virtual programs that bring in a global audience; a new, expanded edition of the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women; and the new Pomegranate Writing Fellowship for Jewish Women of Color.
Judith earned a BA in History summa cum laude from Yale University and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University, with a focus on women, gender, and social movements. As a Fulbright Fellow, she studied women’s collective communities in Israel. She has served on the faculty of the Bronfman Fellowship and is a Schusterman Senior Fellow. An educator, historian, and writer, she teaches, lectures, and publishes widely on Jewish studies and women’s studies.
Judith lives in Newton with her spouse, Rabbi Or Rose, and their teenage twins. She is proud to be the second generation of her family connected to Hebrew College, from which her mother and aunts graduated in the 1960s.
BETZALEL AWARD
Honoring Leadership in Arts and Culture
Denise Sobel, Chair of the Clark Art Institute Board of Trustees
Denise Littlefield Sobel is a dedicated philanthropist and advocate for Judaism and the arts. She has supported exhibitions for Helen Frankenthaler and Camille Pissarro at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees, becoming the first woman and the first Jew to hold this position.
In her hometown of San Francisco, Sobel has supported an opera about Frida Kahlo and an exhibition about Tamara Lempicka, both openly bisexual. She has also sponsored Esther in the Age of Rembrandt, currently on display at the Jewish Museum in New York, as well as their remarkable exhibition on the Sassoon family.
Denise established the Tikkun Olam Foundation Inc., where she currently serves as President. The foundation’s primary focus is on women’s health, gender equality, and reproductive rights. Notably, the foundation commissioned a choral work performed at Lincoln Center, drawing inspiration from the prophet and judge, Deborah.
Sobel remains deeply committed to her alma mater, Williams College, where she was among the first female graduates. She has supported the inauguration of the Jewish Religious Center, the renovation of the Chapin Concert Hall, and the construction of the new building for the Williams College Museum of Art.
Denise recognizes the significance of maintaining a beautiful synagogue building as an integral aspect of worship. In New York City, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, and in San Francisco, at Sherith Israel, Denise has provided substantial support for essential infrastructure requirements to preserve the architectural splendor of these sanctuaries.
The new Hebrew College campus features a state-of-the-art wing dedicated to offices and educational programs. Denise is honored to support the college, which places a strong emphasis on the arts as an integral component of education.
L’DOR VADOR AWARD
Honoring Intergenerational Learning and Leadership
Ted Teplow z’’l and the Teplow Family
The Teplow family has been a pillar of leadership and philanthropy for Hebrew College and the broader Jewish community. Their deep-rooted connection to the college spans multiple generations, from David Teplow, a supporter of the college and of Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, to grandfather Dr. Harry Savitz, z’’l, who served as President of Hebrew College, to his great-uncle, Nathan Friedman, z’’l, a former trustee of the college whose generosity helped build the college’s previous campuses.
David’s father, Ted Teplow, who passed away last fall, honored the family’s legacy of support through his dedicated service as a trustee and chairman, playing a critical role in the institution’s growth and leadership during a decade of digital transformation. For many years, the family endowed a Professor of Jewish Thought on the Hebrew College faculty. The Teplows’ commitment has extended to David, who continues to champion higher education, both through Hebrew College and as the former chair of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Beyond their impact on Hebrew College, the Teplows’ dedication to the Jewish world is reflected in their intergenerational commitment to leadership and philanthropy. David’s great-uncle, Dewey Stone, was a visionary Zionist who played a pivotal role in establishing the Weizmann Institute of Science and supporting the foundation of the State of Israel through his political and philanthropic efforts. Whether advancing scientific discovery, bolstering Jewish education, or fostering Jewish leadership in Boston and beyond, the Teplow family is a testament to Judaism’s intergenerational strength.