Dissertation: The Rhetoric of Innovation: Self-Conscious Halakhic Change in Rabbinic Literature Advisor: Lawrence H. Schiffman

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1 Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion 1 West 4 th Street 8 Stonewall Lane New York, NY Mamaroneck, NY apanken@huc.edu aaron@pankenassociates.com Education New York University, New York City Ph.D., Hebrew and Judaic Studies Major: Rabbinic Literature Minor: Second Temple Literature Dissertation: The Rhetoric of Innovation: Self-Conscious Halakhic Change in Rabbinic Literature Advisor: Lawrence H. Schiffman Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Recipient Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion Jerusalem and New York Rabbinic Ordination, May 1991 M.A., Hebrew Literature, May 1990 Awards in Talmud and Liturgy Thesis: The Liturgy of Hanukkah Advisor: Lawrence A. Hoffman 1990 Coolidge Research Colloquium, Cambridge, MA Fellow, Summer Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD B.E.S., Electrical Engineering, May 1985 New York University, Additional Coursework Finance (Audited), Stern School of Business, Arabic, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Languages Fluency in Hebrew Reading knowledge of Aramaic, French, Arabic, Ancient Greek, German

2 Page 2 Professional Leadership Experience 2013 present Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion President-Elect Cincinnati/Jerusalem/Los Angeles/New York Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion Vice President for Strategic Initiatives led, mentored and innovated with a team that grew recruitment and admissions by 50 percent in HUC JIR s core programs while raising the quality of entering students across all campuses wrote, edited, collaborated on and presented successful development proposals, working with major foundations and philanthropists on multi-year grants up to $15 million represented the College-Institute in North America, Israel, Europe and Australia at an extensive array of venues including HUC-JIR/CCAR/URJ events, congregations, universities, seminaries, camps, Jewish Community Centers and Wexner and other foundation events partnered closely with the Boards of Governors and Overseers to recruit members, train inductees, shape meetings and enhance their operations led strategic planning implementation with the President s Council and an international team of deans and directors responsible for budget planning and management, hiring, evaluation and supervision of employee teams across all campuses Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City Dean and Director of the Graduate Rabbinical Program directed all aspects of the New York Rabbinical Program supervised the directors of the Cantorial Program, School of Education, Graduate Programs, Kollel Adult Learning Center, Blaustein Center for Pastoral Counseling and other functions of the New York campus hired, trained, supervised, evaluated and mentored faculty and staff served on the President s Cabinet, numerous committees and policy-making teams, including managing two successful accreditation visits developed and sustained the Eastern Region Board of Overseers, garnering support for programs through public relations, funding and innovative board initiatives traveled extensively to raise funds, speak and teach throughout the Reform movement, with alumni, and in various interdenominational settings founded the Gerecht Institute for Outreach through securing a $1 million gift to create a highly effective program that now extends to all U.S. campuses increased New York student scholarship funding 700 percent over five years successfully managed an annual budget in excess of $5 million, more than 70 faculty and staff members and 150 full-time students

3 Page 3 Professional Leadership Experience (continued) Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City Dean of Students developed and administered admissions and financial aid programs for the rabbinical, cantorial and education programs responsible for student affairs, counseling, fundraising, crisis intervention, learning disability support, academic integrity and grievance adjudication secured funding for, designed and implemented a successful new East Coast recruitment campaign re-envisioned campus programming and student life created vastly improved Rabbinical School senior placement system in cooperation with an operations research professor, the Rabbinical Placement Commission, and students and faculty from all U.S. campuses developed a young leadership program to recruit potential board members involved with strategic planning and the development of New York campus programs and priorities Academic Experience 1995-present Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature 2006-present Assistant Professor Blended Track Assistant Professor Instructor Adjunct Professor designed and taught a wide array of courses on Talmud, Second Temple Literature, Liturgy, Codes, Responsa, Science and Religion, Reform Judaism and Halakhah, the Sabbath, Holidays and Parashat HaShavua, including integrated practical learning and cross-campus courses with students from other HUC-JIR campuses designed the second year New York Rabbinical School Talmud sequence partnered with School of Sacred Music faculty to create a joint course on Music in the Bible and Talmud for rabbinical and cantorial students extensive individual and group student advising on theses, sermons, personal and professional development and through the Mandel Initiative assisted regularly in campus planning through ongoing collaborative committee work with faculty members, administration and students extensive committee leadership, including chairing the New York curriculum committee, and working on accreditation, admissions, kallah planning, and others involved in ongoing alumni education through CCAR/HUC-JIR events, and lay education at numerous congregations and URJ gatherings Columbia University, New York City Rabbinic Intern, Jewish Office

4 Page 4 Selected Congregational Experience Congregation Rodeph Sholom, New York City Assistant/Associate Rabbi served as rabbi for a dynamic and growing 1,400-family synagogue with a 500-student day school and 500-student religious school population involved in broad teaching, worship and community programming for all ages developed novel programs to attract those in their 20s and 30s to affiliate initiated innovative chapel services that continue to this day involved in intensive pastoral counseling and the full range of life cycle events hired, supervised and mentored interns and other staff Westchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, NY Rabbinic Intern to Rabbi Jack Stern at a 1,000-family congregation Selected External Leadership Roles Wexner Foundation, Faculty and Consultant, 2000-present Consultant for the Foundation in a variety of planning modalities Taught select groups of high-level Jewish lay leaders and philanthropists in Atlanta, Houston, Boca Raton, Metro West (NJ), Montreal and Columbus Taught and led educational sessions for graduate fellows and lay leaders online and in multiple retreat locations across North America and Israel Scholar-in-Residence/Lecturer at 200+ North American congregations, 1996-present Union for Reform Judaism Scholar at National and Regional Biennials, Board Meetings, Staff Conferences and numerous other venues, 1996-present Jim Joseph Foundation/Campaign for Youth Engagement Consultancy, 2013 URJ Presidential Transition Steering Committee, RJ Magazine Advisory/Editorial Board, 2004-present Central Conference of American Rabbis Scholar, Online Learning, Annual and Regional Conferences, 1996-present Committees: Governance, ; Ethics and Appeals, ; Nominating, 2003 New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, Today Show, Interviews 1996-present New Israel Fund, International Council, 2003-present Caux Round Table Abrahamic Faith Scholars Retreat, Caux, Switzerland, 2010 Reform Leadership Council, Rabbinical Placement Commission, Taglit/Birthright International, Education Committee, United States Air Force Academy, Jewish Baccalaureate Sermon, 2004 USS Harry S. Truman, Distinguished Visitor on Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, 2002

5 Page 5 Learned Societies and Selected Academic Affiliations Mandel Center at Brandeis University, Fellow, Project on Pedagogies of Engagement in Jewish Studies, Oxford University Press, External Reader, 2012-present Association for Jewish Studies Co-Chair (with Beth Berkowitz, Barnard University), Rabbinics Section, 2012-present Nominating Committee, 2013; Member, 1996-present Society for Biblical Literature Co-Chair (with Edward Allen, Union College), Sabbath in Text and Tradition Group, 2011-present Member, 1996-present North American Academy of Liturgy, Member Candidate/Visitor, 2012-present Columbia University Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, Member, 2012-present World Union for Jewish Studies, Member, 2012-present Jewish Law Association, Member, 2008-present Jewish Studies, University of Nanjing, China, Visiting Faculty, November, 2008 Shalom College/University of New South Wales, Australia, Visiting Faculty, 2005 University of Sydney, Australia, Invited Lecturer, 2005 HUC-JIR/New York, The Modern Study of the Halakhah Academic Conference, Co-Chair with Michael Chernick, 2001 Books The Rhetoric of Innovation: Self-Conscious Legal Change in Rabbinic Literature. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2005 (in Studies in Judaism Series). Hanukkah: A History (forthcoming). Selected Articles A Talmudist Manifesto: Why Reform Judaism Needs the Talmud, and Why the Talmud Needs Reform Judaism, forthcoming in CCAR Journal, Summer The Machzor Before the Machzor: Interpreting the High Holy Days during the Second Temple Period, CCAR Journal, Summer Yizkor: Prayer for the Dead, Promise for the Living, forthcoming in Lawrence A. Hoffman, ed., May God Remember (Yizkor): Memory and Memorializing in Judaism. Sabbath, forthcoming in Chris Keith et al., eds., Dictionary of Bible and Ancient Media (T&T Clark: Edinburgh). Healing Miracles, Enemy and Evil, forthcoming in Dale C. Allison, Jr. et al., eds., Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Walter de Gruyter GmbH: Berlin).

6 Page 6 Selected Articles (continued) The Remembrance of Things Past (and Future), Private (and Public), Lawrence A. Hoffman, ed., Ashamnu and Al Chet, Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, Courting Inversion: Kol Nidre as Legal Drama in Lawrence A. Hoffman, ed., Kol Nidre, Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, The Eternal and the Ephemeral: The Stark Contrasts of Un taneh Tokef in Lawrence A. Hoffman, ed., Who by Fire, Who by Water, Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, HUC-JIR and the Creation of Visionary Jewish Leadership, CCAR Journal, Winter 2009, Response to Michael Berger's Religious Purposefulness in Jewish Day Schools, HaYediyon, Fall Virginia Tech: One Rabbinical Response, Jewish Week, April Revealing Rabbinic Revision: Meikara as a Marker for Legal Change in Talmud Bavli, Jewish Law Association 17, (2007) Choosing Abraham: Viewed Through the Ages, Festschrift for Rabbi William Kuhn, November The Few Against the Many, The Few Among the Many: The Evolution of Ideal Types in the Texts of Hanukkah, Australian Journal of Jewish Studies 19 (2005), Reforming Reform: An Assessment of the Future of the Reform Movement in America. Aufbau 70:3, February Hi Tech for a Higher Authority, Interfaces 33:3 (2003), Shall We Counsel Germ Cell Gene Therapy? with Carole B. Balin, in Eugene B. Borowitz, ed., Reform Jewish Ethics and the Halakhah (New Jersey: Behrman House, 1995). Review articles Review of Devora Steinmetz, Punishment and Freedom, H Net Judaic, February Review of K. William Whitney, Jr., Two Strange Beasts: Leviathan and Behemoth in Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Judaism, in Religious Studies Review 33:2 (2007), 162.

7 Page 7 Selected Conference Papers This Is Your Brain on Music, presented at the North American Academy of Liturgy Annual Meeting, Liturgical Hermeneutics Section, January 2013, Albuquerque, NM. The Sabbath in This World and the Next, respondent to Charlotte Fonrobert, David Kraemer and Edward Allen, Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, November 2012, Chicago, IL. Jewish Past, Present and Future: A Round Table, at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, December, 2009, Los Angeles, CA. Higher Virtue, History or Halakhah? Some Diverse Approaches to the Sabbath in Late Second Temple Literature, presented at the Society for Biblical Literature Conference, November 2009, New Orleans, LA. The Uses and Abuses of Academic Scholarship on Rabbinic Literature, Panelist, Mandel Conference on Teaching Rabbinic Literature, January 2008, Brandeis University. Rabbis Studying Rabbinic Texts About Rabbis: An Exploration of Text, Context and Subtext, Mandel Conference on Teaching Rabbinic Literature, January 2008, Brandeis University. Barishonah: A Preliminary Typology of Self-Conscious Change in Rabbinic Literature presented at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, December 2002, Los Angeles, CA 9/11: A Jewish Religious Response, presented at the Academic Conference in Honor of the Publication of Ian Markham and Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, eds., September 11 th (Oxford: OneWorld, 2002) by the Hartford Seminary, September The Future of Religious Leadership, presented at the Academic Convocation in honor of the inauguration of Dr. Heidi Hadsell, President, Hartford Seminary, September Sharpening the Tool of Torah: Thematic Connections in the Aggadah of the Bavli, presented at the Association of Jewish Studies Conference, December 1998 in Boston, MA. Interests Certificated commercial pilot rated for gliders, seaplanes and instrument flight; sailing; travel; hiking; guitar and music; radio, electronics, science and technology. References Available upon request.