An Update on our Work in Cincinnati

Dear HUC-JIR Community,

I hope that your High Holy Days were meaningful and offered some moments of peace in a world sorely in need of it. As we transition to the new year and embrace its opportunities for transformation, we are redoubling our efforts to transform our beloved institution.

In April 2022, as part of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's decision to sunset the rabbinical program in Cincinnati, our board of governors endorsed the administration's vision to better leverage the resources of our Cincinnati campus for research activities and visiting programs. As part of the future vision for the campus, we are excited that in January, the inaugural class of our new virtual pathway for the rabbinical school will launch with an in-person intensive on the Cincinnati campus.

We consider it both an honor and a sacred responsibility to care for some of the Reform Movement's most important resources, including the unparalleled Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the acclaimed Skirball Museum, and the world-renowned Klau Library. I am writing today to provide an update on how our plans have been developing, and while we recognize that we have moved more slowly than originally planned, we are pleased to share what you can expect next.

Foundational Goals: Preservation and Access
The academic collections available on our Cincinnati campus have become essential resources for our faculty, students, and scholars around the world. Our goals are to increase their accessibility for more researchers, ensure their preservation for generations to come, and do both in a financially sustainable way. The bulk of our rare book collection was amassed in the decades just prior to the devastation of the Jewish communities of Europe when visionary leaders of HUC-JIR collected scholarly and archival materials to ensure their preservation and access for scholars. Our goals are animated by this legacy and inspired by the study, enrichment, and celebration of Jewish history and civilization. As an institution that is not only academic but religious in nature, our collection must benefit the Reform Movement and the Jewish People, in addition to the scholarly community.

Exploring Partnership Opportunities
As we evaluate how best to achieve these dual goals of preservation and access at a time when we no longer have the resources we once did, we have engaged Lord Cultural Resources, a leader in cultural sector planning that has helped other religious archives and collections thrive, to conduct a full exploration of potential paths forward. Their work includes how we can best increase access to these resources to benefit the HUC-JIR and broader Reform community while also assessing potential partnerships with mission-aligned institutions - both neighboring academic institutions and leading institutions within our fields of study - which could create the potential for expanding our reach, sharing costs, and collaborating on fundraising efforts to advance our foundational goals. We look forward to providing updates to our community as this work progresses.

Library Stewardship
Over the past two years, HUC-JIR's leadership has studied the Klau's collections and the Cincinnati campus deeply, including evaluating our holdings and determining how we can properly preserve these vital collections. This work included a third-party assessment of a portion of our rare book collection. While this assessment garnered significant media focus - and the attention of the Ohio Attorney General - such evaluations to understand the value and condition of collections are standard practice for libraries and museums. I reiterate that we have no plans to deaccession our rare books.

Cincinnati Campus Leadership and Activity
We have an extraordinary history in Cincinnati, and I remain optimistic about our ability to increase access to and use of our remarkable collections. It did not surprise me that we were able to attract impressive candidates in our recent search for an executive director of the campus. However, we made the difficult decision to pause this search after the Ohio Attorney General filed suit against HUC-JIR earlier this year over groundless allegations that we are selling our rare books. In response to this development, we determined it would simply have been too challenging for a new director to successfully begin work in this environment. We will revisit this decision in the future.

In the meantime, the Klau Library, American Jewish Archives, and Skirball Museum remain under the able leadership of their respective staffs, and our campus continues to serve as an important gathering place and source of public programs. In addition to the upcoming January intensive for the rabbinical school virtual pathway, we were honored to host the Bronstein Foundation's recent meeting, and we just opened the stunning Sacred Land exhibit at the Skirball Museum. We also look forward to hosting over 100 leaders from Women of Reform Judaism's Heartland District later this week.

As we navigate these challenging times in the Jewish world and the field of higher education, our commitment to HUC-JIR's scholarly mission and dedication to educating future Jewish leaders remain unwavering. We strive to both honor our legacy and ensure that we remain a vital resource for Jewish education and scholarship for generations to come.

Thank you for your continued interest and support.

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.
President

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