Dear 91 community,
Over the last decade we have learned more about the acts of interpersonal abuse committed by some who carried the title “Dr.,” “Professor,” “Rabbi,” or “President,” at 91 – Jewish Institute of Religion. Through positions of authority, influence, and privilege, their behavior caused significant harm to many individuals. As an institution, we bear our share of responsibility for these unconscionable acts.
We accept responsibility for those on our faculty, staff, and in our leadership who looked away or did not believe those who came forward. We accept responsibility for the discouraging and discounting of those who tried to make their voices heard. And we accept responsibility for not creating the systems of transparency and accountability that might have further limited the abuse of power.
We recognize that many of you and others in our community are survivors, and that many others were silent bystanders. We are grateful to those who have shared their stories and helped direct and guide us through this process.
We are profoundly sorry
for our actions and inactions that allowed these harms to perpetuate at HUC-JIR for decades.
for our actions and inactions that allowed these harms to perpetuate at HUC-JIR for decades.
We are profoundly sorry
for failing to create effective institutional structures that could have limited harm when it occurred;
for failing to impose sufficient consequences for harmful actions when they were discovered; and
for diminishing or dismissing the experience of survivors or not creating the opportunity to hear from them.
We are profoundly sorry
for causing impacted individuals to feel invisible;
for those among us who knew but chose to look the other way; and
for failing to prioritize the welfare of our students.
We are profoundly sorry
for not living our Jewish, ethical values;
for using our sacred texts to cause harm or justify its perpetuation; and
for robbing our students of parts of their education.
We are profoundly sorry
for thinking that changing the admissions rules was enough;
for being unprepared for the diversity of new students; and
for positioning students to defend or explain their experiences.
We are profoundly sorry
for not sharing this history; and
for honoring individuals who caused harm, intentionally and otherwise.
And we are profoundly sorry
that impacted individuals were made to feel that they carried the responsibility for the harms that they experienced; and
for the deep and long-lasting personal and professional effects this had.
For the last five years, HUC-JIR has been on a journey to build transparency and accountability into every part of our institution. This began with a public acknowledgement of the harms that were committed by those who enjoyed positions of power and authority. And it continues through an unrelenting focus on creating a sacred and respectful culture that honors the sanctity of every human being, not merely through the words we deploy and the texts we study, but through the actions of those with the authority and responsibility to achieve the sacred mission of our institution.
We are learning from our past, taking steps to bring healing, and ensuring we are creating environments to prevent this kind of harm from happening again. We are committed to preventing and responding effectively to any unethical or abusive conduct impacting our community, and we will continue to listen, learn, and respond to alumni, staff, faculty, and lay leadership. And as part of our reckoning, we seek to rebuild trust with those who have been harmed. This is a long process. Today marks just one more step in the journey to teshuvah.
David Edelson
Chair, Board of Governors
Chair, Board of Governors
Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.
President
President
