Hillel Hires Rabbinical Student To Replace Reform Rabbi

Following the controversial departure last spring of its Reform rabbinic adviser, Rabbi David Kudan, Harvard Hillel has hired a part-time employee to fill the position.

And Kudan’s replacement, Benjamin Shalva, is not a Reform rabbi like his predecessor, but a student at a Conservative seminary.

Shalva, who hails from New York City, will come to Harvard every other weekend to assist in leading services, teaching classes, and participating in several venues in the Jewish community. He is a second-year rabbinic student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, which declares itself “the intellectual and religious center of Conservative Judaism.”

Lance Hartford, Harvard Hillel’s deputy director, said that Shalva’s status as a student at a Conservative seminary does not compromise his ability to lead Reform services.

“We went through an extensive search process,” said Hartford, who is Harvard Hillel’s deputy director. “We’re very happy with our selection and his performance so far.”

More than half a dozen students declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Kudan’s departure and Shalva’s arrival, including whether it was conventional to have a Conservative-trained adviser leading a Reform service.

Several said they were told explicitly not to discuss the issue publicly.

But Julia N. Bonnheim ’06, the leader of Harvard Hillel’s Reform Minyan, wrote in an e-mail that Shalva has been an “excellent teacher.”

“He is enthusiastic and engaging,” she said. “And [he] is committed to the goals of the Reform Minyan.”

THE SHAKEUP

Shalva, who did not respond to repeated e-mails requests, comes to Harvard on the heels of Kudan’s contentious dismissal last May.

The controversy began last December when Bernard Steinberg, the executive director of Harvard Hillel, announced Kudan’s departure in an open letter to the Hillel community. Kudan responded to the letter with one of his own, in which he said Steinberg’s announcement was the first time he had heard his departure confirmed.

“It has come as quite a shock to me and my family, and to the entire Hillel community,” he wrote.

Kudan had been hired in 2001 as a full-time Reform Rabbinic Adviser and Director of Community Relations for Hillel, financed by a three-year grant from outside donors.

Rabbi Kudan, who spearheaded a fund-raising effort in hopes of remaining at Harvard, said that Hillel didn’t seem to want him to stay. “Hillel put obstacles in my path,” he said.

The rabbi was also investigating working at Harvard part-time in a similar capacity or serving as the Reform Rabbinic Adviser for Harvard’s graduate students.

Kudan said, however, that he soon noticed that Hillel had placed an advertisement for a Conservative rabbi on a Jewish employment website. At the time, he said, Hillel had not had a Conservative rabbinic adviser for undergraduates for three years.

While Kudan said he believes that Conservative students at Harvard deserve a full-time rabbinic presence, he was also perplexed that Hillel would search for a Conservative rabbi while his own position was in jeopardy.

In his letter, Steinberg emphasized that Harvard Hillel was the only Hillel in the country that actively tried to maintain a full-time rabbi for Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jewish communities. He cited a lack of funding as the reason that Hillel cannot employ three rabbis at the time.

“One can view the glass as half empty or as half full—either harping on Hillel’s inability to employ three rabbinic advisers as full-time staff members or recognizing the successful steps we are taking towards ensuring that this important goal becomes a reality,” Steinberg wrote.

While Hillel has had trouble consistently maintaining Conservative and Reform advisors, Harvard Hillel has employed Robert Klapper for several years as its Orthodox rabbinic adviser, although he has not always been a full-time employee there.

THE AFTERMATH

Kudan questioned the circumstances surrounding his departure.

“Is there a lack of funding?” he wrote last spring. “Or is Hillel simply choosing a new set of priorities?”

Kudan notes that two of his predecessors as Reform rabbinic advisers, Neil Kominsky and Sally Finestone, had been removed from their positions under similar circumstances.

Kudan added that, at the time, several students tried to convince Steinberg and Hartford to restore the rabbi to his post but were unsuccessful.

Hartford would not comment on the continuing controversy.

“We won’t be commenting on prior employees’ performances,” he said.

While Rabbi Kudan was once an active member of Harvard Hillel, he now declares that he is no longer eager to return. He said, however, that faculty members still ask him to lead bar mitzvahs and funerals even though he no longer works for Harvard.

But Rabbi Kudan remains popular among those in the Hillel community who worked with him.

“David Kudan was a wonderful rabbi,” said Darren S. Morris ’05. “And I was disappointed to see him leave.”