Hebrew Union College Community Marks the First Yahrzeit of Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., z”l

This week, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion marked the first yahrzeit of past President and Chancellor Emeritus Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., z"l, who died last December 7 at the age of 76. The HUC community honored the legacy of the renowned educator, scholar, and Jewish leader Wednesday evening during an event at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan with the Ellenson family. More than 200 people attended the gathering, which featured powerful remembrances, and text study led by his friend and colleague, the Israeli academic, writer, and politician Ruth Calderon, Ph.D., who then joined President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D. in conversation.

Rodeph Sholom Senior Rabbi Ben Spratt hailed Ellenson's love of the congregation, "which was his spiritual home here in New York City, his love of HUC-JIR and the incredible legacy of the College that has been forever affected by him and his leadership," including "one of the great facets of his leadership," the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music under its Director Cantor Jill Abramson. She led the evening's music - joined by Rodeph Sholom Cantor Shayna De Lowe and two current cantorial students, Will Brockman and Justin Callis, who is currently a cantorial intern at Rodeph Sholom.

"We are so grateful that we can think about David's heart of many rooms," Spratt concluded, a heart filled with "so many loves: the love of pluralism, the love of education and knowledge and Torah, the love of Israel, and his fervent belief that a vibrant American Judaism and a strong and vibrant Israel are mutually dependent upon one another."

"Hebrew Union College has developed models for living as a global citizen while staying true to your roots and your faith and your homeland, while recognizing that the land and the State of Israel anchor us all," said Tsach Saar, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Israel in New York, who helped support the event. "HUC has invited questions and conversations of how to navigate Israel's identities, as an ancient freehold of the Jewish people, and as a cutting-edge Western democracy." Through its programs, he said, HUC "ensures that Israel is not shelved away as some dusty piece of history, but rather experienced, as a living, breathing part of the lives of millions."

HUC's connections to Israel were also central to President Rehfeld's remarks. He recalled that Rabbi Ellenson was one of the first people he called after the October 7 attacks, seeking counsel on how he could best support students, faculty, and staff in Israel as well as in North America at a moment of uncertainty and fear. "David's most important advice to me was: simply be present," Rehfeld said. "That idea of presence - showing up, paying attention to what mattered most, was so emblematic of his rabbinate, as a teacher, as a scholar, as a president and chancellor of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, because it was emblematic of who he was as a human being."

"Israel was of course at the center of David's concerns, and under his leadership, HUC's programs in Israel expanded significantly," Rehfeld said. As an expression of that legacy, Rehfeld shared with guests the launch of the Ellenson Endowment initiative established in partnership with Rabbi Jackie Ellenson to reflect her late husband's values, "to ensure that those pursuing Jewish leadership, particularly in the rabbinate and cantorate, can attend the Year-In-Israel program or our Israel Rabbinical Program without financial barriers." Rehfeld announced that the endowment has "received a lead gift to name the deanship of the Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem in David's honor."

In keeping with the commitment to the centrality of Israel, Rehfeld welcomed the evening's speaker, Dr. Ruth Calderon. The former Member of Knesset for the Yesh Atid Party, who served as Deputy Speaker and championed Jewish renewal and education, is well known for founding Israel's first secular, pluralistic Beit Midrash for both men and women. She also started ALMA, an organization that promotes pluralistic Hebrew and Jewish culture among secular Israelis by offering courses and study programs.

In her teaching True Love as the Love of Truth: Staying Together at a Time of War, Calderon discussed three moments in scripture that have been particularly meaningful for her since October 7, with themes of vulnerability, grief, and brokenness - not only among human beings, but also, as God is described as experiencing them. She cited one passage from Yalkut Shimoni with "an amazing picture of God crying"- a "tender and unsettling" expression of the Talmudic sages' conception of "a God who mourns alongside his people."

Calderon also discussed a passage from Bavli Berakhot where God asks Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha for a blessing, rather than bestowing favor from on high. The Rabbi, she recounted, offers these words: "May it be your will that your mercy overcome your anger, and that your mercy prevails over your attributes so you may deal with your children mercifully and beyond the strict measures of justice." God responds with the very human gesture of a nod, in what Calderon referred to as a profound "moment of reversal."

"This theme of partnership between the divine and the human, between the teacher and the learner, is a fitting tribute to our beloved David Ellenson," Calderon said. "David, a towering scholar, and the warm presence, embodied this dynamic. He carried both a profound love for tradition, and an openness for modernity. He taught us by example that true faith is not blind obedience, but a relationship that evolves. Like Rabbi Yishmael, he blessed both God and humanity with compassion and wisdom. David understood that the greatest acts of love require the courage to see the other, be it God, or a fellow human in their full complexity."

"David's humanity was his hallmark," Calderon continued. "His smile, his gaze, they invited connection, erasing hierarchies and celebrating the dignity of every person. It felt as if David had discovered the delicate balance between heaven and earth."

Closing the evening and leading the Mourner's Kaddish was Ellenson's dear friend and classmate Rabbi Robert Levine, Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation Rodeph Sholom. "It seems to me that we're still trying to come to terms with all that we have lost in the wake of David's sudden death on the eve of Hanukkah one year ago. We're still trying to come to grips also with all that we have gained by his persona and his legacy. His remarkable and enduring body of scholarship. By his tender neshamah, so rare in a scholar of his brilliance and depth. His boundless capacity to care for every one of you."

Levine concluded, "As Kohelet, as the Book of Ecclesiastes put it so beautifully: 'God put the whole world into his heart.' God put the whole world into Dr. David Ellenson's heart."

If you would like to make a gift in memory of David Ellenson, go to huc.edu/IMO-dellenson

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