Lee Bycel

Last updated
Rabbi Lee Bycel Rabbi Lee Bycel.jpeg
Rabbi Lee Bycel

Lee Bycel is an American Reform rabbi, rabbinic educator and social activist. He served as dean of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion [1] in Los Angeles for 15 years, [2] as western regional executive director of American Jewish World Service, [3] and, in 2017, retired from Congregation Beth Shalom of the Napa Valley. [2] [4] He is an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies & Social Justice with the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Bycel grew up in Huntington Park, California. Bycel spent his 1977 honeymoon with his wife Judy in the Soviet Union opposing discrimination against Soviet Jews . [3] They now have two "adult" sons and three grandchildren. [6]

Bycel received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley, was ordained as a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College, and received a doctorate from the Claremont School of Theology. [5]

Humanitarian work and activism

Bycel has done humanitarian work in Chad and Darfur. [5] With the International Medical Corps, he has led relief trips to Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan, [3] and has also done relief work in Haiti and Ethiopia. [5] Bycel traveled extensively to mobilize support for the people of Darfur. [7]

He served as president of the Human Rights Commission of Los Angeles County. [8]

Honors

He has received the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference for Community and Justice. [9]

On November 7, 2014, he received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters decree from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. [6] The degree was presented by chancellor David Ellenson of the college, at the dedication of the new synagogue building for Congregation Beth Shalom of the Napa Valley, and that congregation's 60th anniversary celebration.

Congregational work

Executive and board service

Bycel has served on the board of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and as president of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. [11] He served as executive director of the Redford Center, [12] founded by Robert Redford “to collaborate in cultivating creative, action-based solutions to some of today’s most compelling civic, environmental and social challenges.” [13] [14] Along with Redford and Teri Heyman, he was an executive producer of the documentary film Watershed: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the New West, about western water issues. [15]

He is a senior moderator at the Aspen Institute, [5] [9] and operates a consulting business called CedarStreet Leadership. [5]

On April 10, 2014, President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Bycel as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. [16] He now serves on the council's Committee of Conscience. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Tifereth-Israel</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio, US

The Temple Tifereth-Israel was a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 26000 Shaker Boulevard, in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The synagogue was a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. On 1 July 2024, Tifereth-Israel merged with Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple to create a new Reform congregation, Mishkan Or, located at the site of Tifereth-Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice</span>

The Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice is a Jewish studies program at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, California. Originally founded in 1977, and re-established in 2008, it is the only program in the world to formally link the fields of Social justice and Jewish studies. It offers a minor in Jewish Studies and Social Justice (JSSJ), an annual Social Justice Lecture, an annual Human Rights Lecture, an annual Social Justice Passover Seder, intermittent films, presentations, and workshops, a study-abroad course, and Ulpan San Francisco.

The Jewish Community High School of the Bay is a coeducational, college preparatory high school located in the Western Addition Neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Founded in 2001, JCHS is a pluralistic Jewish high school.

Balfour Brickner, a leading rabbi in the Reform Judaism movement, was rabbi emeritus of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan when he died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Sinai (Oakland, California)</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in California, United States of America

Temple Sinai is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2808 Summit Street in Oakland, California, in the United States. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the East San Francisco Bay region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angel Orensanz Center</span> Art and performance space in Manhattan, New York

The Angel Orensanz Center is an art and performance space at 172 Norfolk Street, between Stanton Street and East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally built as a synagogue, running through a succession of congregations and continues to be used as one occasionally as The Shul of New York.

Congregation Am Tikvah is a combined Conservative and Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 625 Brotherhood Way in San Francisco, California, in the United States. The congregation was formed in 2021 as the result of the merger of the Conservative B'nai Emunah and the Reform Beth Israel Judea congregations, with the latter formed in 1969 through a merger of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel and the Reform Temple Judea. The congregation is affiliated with both the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodef Sholom (San Rafael, California)</span> Reform Jewish synagogue in San Rafael, California, US

Congregation Rodef Sholom is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on the Lonee C. Hoytt Jewish Campus, at 170 North San Pedro, in San Rafael, Marin County, California, in the United States.

Pamela Frydman is an American rabbi. She is the founding rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community, a San Francisco Jewish Renewal congregation.

Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, commonly called the Fairmount Temple, was a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 23737 Fairmount Boulevard, in Beachwood, Ohio, in the United States. The congregation was the oldest Jewish congregation in the Cleveland area through mid-2024. The congregation's membership exceeded 2,000 families in the mid-1990s.

Michal Mendelsohn became the first presiding female rabbi in a North American congregation when she was hired by Temple Beth El Shalom in San Jose, California, in 1976.

Nehirim was a national community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) Jews, families, students and allies that was founded in 2004. The organization ceased operations at the end of 2015.

Temple Ahavat Shalom Northridge is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 18200 Rinaldi Place, in Northridge, in San Fernando Valley, Southern California, in the United States. The congregation was established in 1965 and is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Beth-El (New York City)</span> Former Reform synagogue in Manhattan, New York

Temple Beth-El was a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 945 Fifth Avenue and 76th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. The synagogue operated between 1891 until c. 1929, and was demolished in 1947. The Temple Beth-El congregation merged with Congregation Emanu-El of New York in 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Wolsey</span> Jewish-American rabbi

Louis Wolsey was an American Reform rabbi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation Beth Sholom</span> Synagogue in San Francisco, CA, US

Congregation Beth Sholom is a Conservative Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 301 14th Avenue, in San Francisco, California, in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Pearl, Lesley (November 24, 1995). "Why be Jewish? Jews and non-Jews seeking answers". Northern California Jewish Bulletin . San Francisco . Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Congregation Beth Shalom welcomes Rabbi Lee Bycel as new Rabbinic Leader". Napa Valley Register . March 2, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Palevsky, Stacey (June 22, 2007). "Activist rabbi returns to Bay Area with AJWS". Jweekly . San Francisco . Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Pine, Dan (March 22, 2012). "Napa synagogue picks rabbi with passion for social issues". Jweekly . San Francisco . Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lee Bycel: Adjunct Professor". Jewish Studies & Social Justice. University of San Francisco. Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Rabbi Bycel receives honorary doctorate, Napa Valley Register , November 6, 2014
  7. ↑ Forgey, Pat (October 7, 2006). "Rabbi speaks out on African genocide". Juneau Empire . Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  8. ↑ "County Offers Hot Line for Reporting Conflict Situations". Los Angeles Times . October 13, 1995. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Seminar Moderator Lee T. Bycel". Seminars. Aspen Institute. 2014. Archived from the original on 2009-07-26. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Get to Know Us". Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple. 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Mazon Pledges Funds to Sudan". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles . September 16, 2004. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  12. ↑ Quinn, Michelle (February 10, 2010). "Redford Honors Activism at Berkeley Center". New York Times . Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  13. ↑ Palevsky, Stacey (April 30, 2009). "Local rabbi joins Robert Redford's newest initiative". Jweekly . San Francisco . Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Credo: Redford Center director Lee Bycel". San Francisco Examiner . December 6, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  15. ↑ "WATERSHED: EXPLORING A NEW WATER ETHIC FOR THE NEW WEST (USA, 2012, 50 min.)". Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital. 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  16. ↑ White House Press Secretary (April 10, 2014). "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.