View our 82nd Commecement slideshow


As HC’s first cantor-educators enter the job market and the Rabbinical School’s first fifth-year students seek positions as rabbis-in-training, congregations are lining up to make offers. In fact, there are not enough rabbinical students to fill all the placement requests from across the U.S.

Fifth-year rabbinical students—who will be the College’s first ordained rabbis next June—will spend 10–20 hours each week in their field placements, starting this September.

HC Graduates First Four Cantor-Educators Sarra Spierer MJEd’07, CEP’07 speaks upon receiving her cantorial ordination on June 3. The Cantor-Educator Program graduated its first four cantor-educators at HC’s 82nd Commencement, including (not pictured) Leslie Hamilton Penn MJEd’07, CEP’07, Michael McCloskey MJEd’07, CEP’07 and Shana Onigman MJEd’06, CEP’07.

“We have received requests for student placements from all over the Northeast, and many other congregations and institutions have contacted us, asking when our first graduates will be ordained,” says Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Dean of the Rabbinical School. “For next year, many of our students are interested in pulpit positions, but others are considering work in Hillel, Jewish education, chaplaincy and Jewish communal work.”

The Rabbinical School cultivates placement opportunities through advertising and professional networking, and also has fielded numerous unsolicited requests. Members of the Rabbinical School staff work with all students to help them find positions in which they may grow and gain meaningful experience with rabbinic supervision. The Rabbinical School has received at least 15 more placement requests than there are students to fill positions.

Among the 11 students in the class of 2008, Jim Morgan looks forward to interning with fellow student Chaim Koritzinsky at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, under the supervision of Rabbi Bill Hamilton. Having interned previously at Temple Beth Zion and the Northeastern University Hillel, Morgan is excited to develop new community relationships, in preparation for becoming a congregational rabbi when he graduates.

Sonia Saltzman has obtained a placement at Temple Aliyah in Needham, working with Rabbi Carl Perkins to help train bar/bat mitzvah students, assume various responsibilities during Shabbat morning services, and teach. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to help Hebrew College Rabbinical School students gain professional experience,” says Rabbi Perkins, who has taught at the Rabbinical School. “These students are a wonderful resource for our community.”

Stephen Landau has landed a unique placement at Beth El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vt., traveling to this small congregation of 50 families one weekend a month. Serving as Beth El’s rabbi, Landau will face the challenge of how to serve the congregation from a distance. His many plans for the coming year include enriching learning, music and youth programming, as well as developing relationships with other clergy and rabbis in northern Vermont.

David P. Miller MAJS’07, (R) traveled all the way from Zurich, Switzerland, to receive his online Master of Arts in Jewish Studies at Hebrew College’s 82nd Commencement on June 3 from Provost Barry Mesch (L). A real estate professional from an Orthodox community, Miller found learning through HCO a “powerfully satisfying and joyful experience” where he was “exposed to a wide spectrum of professionals, each with unique processes of analysis, thought and communication.” He presented his master’s thesis—on using modern game theory analysis to understand the Book of Esther—to the HC community in May via videoconferencing.

There also has been no shortage of job placements for HC’s first CEP graduates. Among them, Shana Onigman MJEd’06, CEP’07 has been hired as the first full-time cantor at Congregation B’nai Israel in Basking Ridge, N.J. In this 17-year-old congregation, she will work closely with all of the congregational school students, in addition to preparing bar/bat mitzvah students, whom she hopes to train as regular Torah/Haftorah readers. She looks forward to serving this congregation, with its strong focus on education. When B’nai Israel broke ground seven years ago, they first built a school. A sanctuary is under construction this summer.

Leslie Hamilton Penn MJEd’07, CEP’07 will serve as Assistant Cantor at Temple Emanuel in Providence, R.I. Her responsibilities will include teaching, Torah reading and leading services; like Onigman, she plans to focus on education. “I want to increase the number of adults who can read Torah, through a course or teaching them individually,” she says. “For congregants who don’t feel they have the skills to lead [services], I want to increase their comfort levels.”

Dr. Scott M. Sokol, Dean of the Jewish Music Institute and Director of the Cantor-Educator Program, says, “Our students have had a far broader education than is typical for cantorial students. The emphasis on Jewish education as well as Jewish music, liturgy and text, has allowed them to apply for a wide range of positions within the Jewish community. I have no doubt that their educations will support them well in whatever capacities they serve.”


back to top