{"id":534784,"date":"2010-04-19T17:38:26","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T21:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2683"},"modified":"2010-04-19T18:07:36","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T22:07:36","slug":"mazel-tov-rabbi-hirsch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/534784","title":{"rendered":"Mazel Tov, Rabbi Hirsch!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hirsch.jpg\"<\/span>Today marked an exciting day for the Reform Movement and for the RAC in particular. At Israel’s Independence Day ceremony today, Rabbi Richard Hirsch, the RAC’s first director and longtime head of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) became the first Reform rabbi to receive the honor of lighting a torch<\/a> during the evening ceremony opening Israel’s Independence Day
\ncelebrations on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. He was one of 14 Israelis invited to participate<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The torch-lighting honor, bestowed upon Rabbi Hirsch by a committee within the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recognizes his key role in the Zionist movement, as chairman of the Zionist General Council, and in strengthening ties between Reform Judaism and the Zionist movement. <\/p>\n

In 1962, Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, President of the URJ (then called
\nthe UAHC) appointed Rabbi Hirsch to direct the newly-formed Religious
\nAction Center. he served as director of the RAC until 1973, when he
\nmoved to Israel and became executive director of WUPJ. He is largely
\ncredited with influencing the organization’s decision to relocate its
\nheadquarters to Israel, solidifying the commitment of Progressive
\nJudaism and its adherents to Israel and the Zionist endeavor. He became
\na major figure in Zionist politics, serving as chairman of the Zionist
\nGeneral Council.<\/p>\n

In a statement today<\/a>, Albert Vorspan, Senior Vice President Emeritus of the URJ, said, “Dick Hirsch led the Religious Action Center during this
\ncountry’s historic and tumultuous struggles for civil rights and peace
\nin Vietnam. He helped to mobilize the coalitions of decency which
\nsecured passage of milestone civil rights laws and Great Society
\nprograms in America.”<\/p>\n

Echoing Vorspan’s sentiments in today’s statement, Rabbi David Saperstein, who is
\nHirsch’s successor as Director of the RAC, said, “Rabbi Hirsch is one
\nof the great institution-builders in Reform Jewish history. His
\nworld-wide reputation as an influential Zionist leader makes our work
\nso much easier, and we congratulate him on this wonderful honor. When I
\narrived here in the mid-1970s, Dick had set a remarkable standard as
\nthe RAC’s first director. A respected friend of Israeli Ambassadors,
\nMembers of Congress, and interfaith leaders during his tenure in
\nWashington, he helped set in motion the trademark social justice
\nprograms and advocacy efforts that have helped define the Reform Jewish
\nMovement in America and across the globe.”<\/p>\n

On behalf of the RAC staff, a hearty mazel tov<\/i> to Rabbi Hirsch on this great honor!<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Sasson Tiram and the Jewish Agency for Israel<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today marked an exciting day for the Reform Movement and for the RAC in particular. At Israel’s Independence Day ceremony today, Rabbi Richard Hirsch, the RAC’s first director and longtime head of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) became the first Reform rabbi to receive the honor of lighting a torch during the evening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}