Days after Hebrew Union College graduated its final rabbinical class in Cincinnati, a new Jewish seminary has its eyes on the school’s campus — and wants the state of Ohio to bestow the prize on them.
The College for Contemporary Judaism, which aims to become a new home for liberal rabbinical students in the Midwest, last week added its voice to a lawsuit against HUC brought by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
The state’s suit claims that HUC, the Reform rabbinical school, violated state nonprofit law and misled its donors by shuttering its historic Cincinnati campus this year.
In its motion to intervene, the new college argues that it should be the rightful steward of HUC’s campus, as well as all other Cincinnati assets of the Reform movement mainstay, including the Klau Library, the American Jewish Archives, the Skirball Museum and hundreds of millions of dollars given by donors who believed HUC would “permanently” remain in the city.
“The Attorney General has appropriately stepped forward to enforce the charitable trust obligations that bind those assets to the State of Ohio and their underlying charitable mission,” the College of Contemporary Judaism argues in its brief.
The new college argued that the court “has before it a concrete, mission-aligned Ohio candidate capable of carrying forward the very charitable purpose at issue.”
A representative for HUC said the school “is responding to the Ohio attorney general’s unwarranted lawsuit and will respond appropriately to any additional filings.”
A representative for Yost declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
HUC has previously criticized the state’s lawsuit against them and is fighting the state to retain its assets.
HUC President, Andrew Rehfeld has said the allegations “mischaracterize our decision-making, misrepresent our stewardship of donor funds and ignore our sustained record of transparency and good faith.”
The College for Contemporary Judaism’s request is unusual for an institution that exists in name only. The CCJ, formally founded in 2022 in response to HUC’s announcement of closure, has no permanent home and has yet to enroll any students.
It also lacks a set timeline for when its first class would start. It is not known whether it has hired any instructors.
HUC, meanwhile, with campuses in New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem, has been the Reform movement’s foremost seminary since its founding in Cincinnati in 1875 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise.
CCJ’s founders, most of whom have deep associations with HUC, argue they are better positioned than any other party to carry on the mission of ordaining liberal rabbis in the Midwest.
It is a cause they say HUC is abandoning, in violation of its own charter language promising to “permanently maintain” a campus in Cincinnati — the same language AG Yost is drawing on in the state’s suit against the college.
