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Nineteen new Jewish spiritual leaders were ordained on Sunday, May 3, 2026, in a ceremony that brought together music, meaning, and hard-won achievement beneath the storied vaulted ceiling of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. They arrive at this moment having spent five or more years in demanding academic, spiritual, and professional formation, and they step forward now as leaders of exceptional vision, compassion, and purpose.

This ordination is one of four held this academic year across the College’s campuses in New York, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and Jerusalem. Together, these ceremonies represent something larger than any single graduating class: a continuing commitment to preparing leaders who carry ancient tradition forward with intellectual rigor and a genuine dedication to the communities they will serve.

The cantors ordained were Shayna Burack, Sarina Elenbogen-Siegel, David Epstein, Leslie Goldberg, Ilana Mulcahy, Rabbi Ada Luisa Sinacore, and Margo Wagner.

The rabbinical ordinees were Eden Anolick, Deborah Bell, Shayna Burack, Zachary Canali, David Elitzer, Spencer Mandell, Brooklyn Michalowicz, Michael Mitgang, Leah Sherin, Ranata Shlobin, Rebecca Thau, and Morgan Tobey.

The ceremony included two new rabbi-cantors: Shayna Burack, who completed the first simultaneous dual ordination stateside, and only the second in the College’s history, and Rabbi Ada Luisa Sinacore, who is being ordained as a cantor after receiving her rabbinical ordination last year.

Watch the full ceremony:

Judah M. Cohen, Ph.D., the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost, welcomed all who attended, and reminded the ordinees that:

“We who are your mentors, your teachers, your loved ones: today we will sing the song of your ascent and begin a ritual of transformation.

Here, now, we become a congregation, joining together in sacred time. Our feet are at the gates as they open, and we look to you, our ordinands, to lead us as, with each step, you become our guides, our leaders, our comforters, and the sages of our era.” View Full Remarks.

Provost Cohen was followed by the presentation of the Joseph Prize, the award was established by Burton Joseph and Betty Greenberg, of blessed memory, to honor the memory of their brother. This year’s honoree was Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen.

On hand to present the award were Roger E. Joseph’s daughters, Roxane Leopold, Ellen Joseph, and Linda Karshan, and grandchildren Roger Karshan and Sarah Zampell. The family said of World Central Kitchen, “Their work is not charity in the conventional sense; it is a profound act of bearing witness and taking responsibility. And these are the very qualities that define the Joseph Prize’s highest ideals of ethical leadership and humanitarian courage.”

In accepting the award on behalf of Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer Linda Roth read from a letter written by Chef Andres:

“Your family created this prize to keep a flame alive, to uphold the courage and compassion that Roger embodied for the next generation to see. That is a beautiful and powerful thing. To be counted among the people and organizations you have recognized over the decades fills me with pride and a deep responsibility.” View full remarks.

Andrew Rehfeld, The Gus W. Herrman President and Professor of Political Thought addressed the ordinees, saying:

“In a moment, you will ascend these stairs and become rabbis and cantors, in service to God and the Jewish people.  At that moment, something will change. A religious transformation. People will see you differently. In that perception, you will be given power.

You must – and I know you will – use that power to bring hope and the sacred  into the world.

The burden is great— but fortunately, you do not bear it alone. You join thousands of 51������ alumni across the United States, Israel,  and more than 30 countries, working in sacred partnership, supported by your teachers, and by the leaders of the institutions of our Reform Movement who join us today.

Draw on us.”  View Full Remarks.

President Rehfeld then introduced Cantor Josh Breitzer ’11, who offered the assembled a special teaching and gave this advice:

“Find a personal spiritual practice and stick to it. Inculcate your communities with curiosity, with empathy, with humor, with music! Bring holiness to every unsuspecting household, including yours, and question every assumption. Because as we say at [Congregation Beth Elohim], “The only thing you can assume, the only thing you should assume, is that every single person you meet belongs here exactly as much as you do.” View Full Remarks.

Rabbi Michael Marmur ’92, Ph.D, Professor of Jewish Theology, ordained the new clergy. He was joined by Cantor Jill Abramson ’02, Head of Seminary Programs (interim) and Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, and Rabbi Rachel Gross-Prinz ’19, MARE ’16, Seminary Dean of Students. They led ordinands through a transformative moment of holiness, marking their transition into a life of service.

Delivering a Kavanah, Rabbi Marmur said,

“This moment of ordination does not make these eighteen individuals holy. They were already holy. All people are, even though the world contrives every moment to forget this rudimentary fact. Rather, it expresses our belief that they are ready to serve as klei Kodesh, conduits of meaning, vehicles of possibility… instruments of hope.” View Full Remarks.

Rabbi Josh Davidson ’97, Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El and Member of the 51������ Board of Governors, led all present through a moment of remembrance for faculty members lost this academic year, and loved ones of the ordinees.

Bringing the ceremony to a close, David B. Edelson, Chair of the Board of Governors, offered these words:

“May you be sustained by the wisdom of your teachers, the friendship of your classmates, and the love of those who will walk with you through all that lies ahead. May your work bring you joy. And may those whose lives you touch feel the full blessing of your presence.” View Full Remarks.

Graduation in New York was on May 5, 2026. Graduation and Ordination for the Cincinnati class followed on May 8 and 9, and the ceremonies in Los Angeles will take place on May 17 and 18.

The full program can be found .

More information about Graduation and Ordination can be found here.