A Community Celebrates: Six New Rabbis Ordained at Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles

On May 17, 2026, six new sacred religious authorities were ordained in a ceremony overlooking Los Angeles at Stephen Wise Temple.

Setting the tone for the day, Rabbi Josh Knobel '14, MAJE '12, asked the ordinands:

"What does it mean to become a rabbi in the second quarter of the 21st century? What does it mean to serve our people at a moment when discord tears at the fabric that binds us together? What does it mean to embody a three-thousand-year-old tradition in an era when TikTok and Joe Rogan possess as much sway as philosophy and theology?  View full remarks.

VIDEO:

Dean of the Los Angeles Campus, Rabbi Mari Chernow '03, followed with her welcome to those assembled with a promise to the ordinands that they could always look to those who came before them, their professors, their colleagues, their sponsors, their communities, to support them in their future endeavors. She ended with these simple but true words for the ordinands: "We're rooting for you; we've got your back. Mazal Tov."

President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., continued that theme, offering this wisdom:

"Even with its powerful legacy that inspires all of us, Judaism cannot and does not advance on its own.

As dynamic leaders, our students, soon to be rabbis, will connect and strengthen our communities, applying Jewish wisdom to the most pressing challenges of our day."

Using Talmudic passages as a backdrop, ordination speaker Rabbi Neal Scheindlin, offered a strong message for our new rabbis:

"At bottom, we become rabbis to serve a purpose greater than ourselves. However, understood, that purpose is the divine at work in the human world. As you begin your service in the rabbinate, everything you do must follow from that sense of purpose. You will keep your insides and outsides in alignment by asking if what you want to do serves heaven. When the answer is affirmative, you will know you can move forward; and you will have the best possible chance of success."

Provost Judah Cohen, Ph.D., offered a Kavanah, saying that we all "take these final steps with you as a congregation."

Rabbi Laura Novak Winer '95, Ed.D., MAJE '94, Interim Rabbinical School Director, then joined Provost Cohen to conduct the ordination ritual.

Accompanied by their sponsors, who offered their own words of hope, the ordinands ascended the bima to be blessed and to become the rabbis our Jewish future needs.

The six new rabbis are Rebeca Carillo, Julie Fishbach, Lizzie Frankel, Tori Greene, Sarah Livschitz, and Erika Purdy-Patrick.

The new rabbis spoke in thanks and offered some memories from their time at Hebrew Union College.

"Our cohort enters the rabbinate with deep Jewish joy, unending curiosity, and vibrant creativity. We are eager to serve as klei kodesh, as vessels of holiness, and to respond to the joys and pains of the world with abundant love."

They then led the congregation in a rousing rendition of a song from Batya Levine called "May I Be Empty."

David Edelson, Chair of the Hebrew Union College Board of Governors, offered congratulations, and Sarah Bunin-Benor, Ph.D., offered these words in benediction to close out the ceremony:

"As the Yiddish expression goes, may you live mit a breyter hant - generously, and may you follow your passion mit beyde hent, enthusiastically.

May you be praised for your handiwork, as many Jews in the Middle East thank the chef for a delicious meal: "Long live your hands," Ashtidek in Iraq, i'iso iddik in Syria, Ilokh basime, in Hulaula, Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Let's end with a collective Ladino blessing, meaning May your hands be blessed - repeat after me: bendichas manos. Bendichas manos." View full remarks.