Los Angeles campus of HUC will now ordain Reform rabbis

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21 (JTA) — Hebrew Union College’s Los Angeles campus will begin ordaining Reform rabbis. The move to expand the school’s rabbinic training program, which was authorized here by HUC’s governing board, puts the Los Angeles campus on a par with HUC’s three other schools, in Cincinnati, New York and Jerusalem. In its unanimous decision, the governing board took note “of the burgeoning significance of the Reform movement in the Western states and the growing number of West Coast Reform congregations and schools seeking professional and spiritual leadership.” The Cincinnati and New York campuses last year ordained 67 rabbis, who joined 1,700 Reform rabbis already active in North America. There are currently 875 Reform congregations in the United States, with an estimated membership of 1.5 million. In 1954, HUC established its Los Angeles campus, which now includes schools of communal service, education and Judaic studies.