Erev Sukkot Service w/ HUC President, Dr. Andrew Rehfeld
Members & non-members
In person & online
Join us for our Erev Sukkot service, where we will hear from our special guest speaker, Dr. Andrew Rehfeld, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. We will also welcome Yael Schweid, Israeli Reform Rabbinic Student from Jerusalem who will be spending two weeks with us here at Shaaray Tefila. This is a service you won't want to miss!
Please note that the stream will appear under ‘HOME’ about ten minutes prior to the service start time.
Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D.
Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., is the 10th President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Appointed in April of 2019, Rehfeld’s career has bridged the academic and Jewish professional worlds as a tenured faculty member in Political Science at Washington University (2001-2019) and as President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis (2012-2019). The author of The Concept of Constituency (Cambridge University Press, 2005), his academic research focuses on the intersection of democracy, human rights, justice and institutional design. Other areas of published research include the history of political thought, and the philosophy of the social sciences. Rehfeld earned a Ph.D. in Political Science (2000) and a Master of Public Policy (1994) from the University of Chicago, and a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, in the Philosophy Honors Program at the University of Rochester (1989). He held the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in the Study and Practice of Federalism, McGill University, and had visiting faculty appointments at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago, and Libera Universita Internazionale Degli Studi Sociali (LUISS Guido Carli), Rome. Rehfeld has served on communal boards in Chicago and St. Louis, and currently serves as a member of the board of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and on the national board of directors for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
Yael Schweid
Yael Schweid was born and raised in Jerusalem in a secular and very Zionist family, granddaughter to Third Aliyah pioneers and daughter of Palmach veterans. Yael completed her BA in psychology and Jewish Thought,has an MA in psychology, became a clinical psychologist, and later became a psychoanalyst. Upon a move to Tzur Hadassah, Yael became acquainted with the local Reform congregation and began her religious journey. As she gradually learned more, she became a leader in her local congregation and has been part of efforts to build bridges between different religious congregations. She also became involved in the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ), and occasionally joined the Women of the Wall in their Rosh Chodesh prayers.
At the age of fifty, Yael began her second MA studies at Shechter Institute of Jewish Studies, focusing on Jewish Thought and Jewish History, and three years ago, she finally decided and applied to HUC-JIR for Rabbinic Studies. Yael has found her latest journey delightful, interesting, and very demanding, and she was also lucky enough to meet her present life-partner, Naomi, who will be ordained this coming November. Last year, Yael did her Rabbinic internship at Achva Ba-Kerem congregation in Jerusalem with Rabbi Tamir Nir, and next year she will act as interim Rabbi during his half sabbatical. Yael has three wonderful children – Neta (30), Ehud (28) and Hadas (21), the youngest is still at home.
