World-renowned scholar and historian in American Jewish Life Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) became the director of a newly expanded Hornstein program in Jewish Communal Service this semester, according to a University press release this month. "It is gratifying to think that I can help move Hornstein into a new era," Sarna said of his appointment.

Hornstein students currently can earn either a MBA/MA in Jewish Community Leadership that includes classes at the Heller School or a single MA in Jewish Communal Service and Jewish Studies that includes classes at Brandeis' Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department.

Susan Shevitz, the director of Hornstein for the last eight years, oversaw a year long review of the program to examine its structure and how well the program meets the needs of contemporary Jewish life. Highlighting one challenge, Shevitz said, "In our open and free society where being Jewish is a choice for all Jews, there is the danger of slippage and assimilation."

Following the review, Shevitz and her faculty recommended the program focus more on leadership training and increase student interaction with faculty working in other areas or centers in the University involved in modern Jewish studies, "whose work is defining current discourse about contemporary Jewish life."

Shevitz also suggested greater alignment of the academic and field-based learning components to fully "develop sophisticated intellectual and professionals skills." Through field experiences, students learn to apply the theories and ideas explored in the

classroom, according to Hornstein's website.

Also, Hornstein needs to strive to ensure research is "informed by the real concerns of communities and its leaders." She said also that professionals should learn to use their latest information in their work at Hornstein.

To accomplish these goals, Shevitz said the faculty, which has been reduced over the years, should be "rebuilt." "The appointment of Jonathan Sarna is a step in this direction," she said.

As the Director, Sarna said he plans to cut back "somewhat" on his teaching beginning in the 2006-2007 school year, and work on dismantling the wall he sees separating the world of "academic Jewish studies" and the world of "Jewish communal service." The revised program will work more closely with the University's research centers on Jewish life, including the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, and the Fisher-Bernstein Institute for Jewish Philanthropy and Leadership.

Shevitz, who will resume full-time faculty status, said the review concluded the program is operating "from a position of strength," as 70 percent of the 500 Hornstein alumni hold positions in the Jewish community, and "are doing amazing things" in all sectors of Jewish life.

University President Jehuda Reinharz, a scholar in Judaic Studies, said, "Professor Sarna's intimate and deep knowledge of American Jewish life -past, present and future -make him the perfect person to lead the Hornstein Program."

Shevitz said Sarna takes over the program at a time of both optimism and pessimism about the American Jewish community. Sarna echoed Shevitz. "The American Jewish community is simultaneously experiencing revitalization and assimilation," he said. While there is high enrollment in Jewish Day Schools, "intermarriage [is] going through the roof."

Sarna studied under one of the founders of the Hornstein Program, Prof. Leon A. Jick, who along with Professor Emeritus Bernard Reisman outlined the graduate program in 1969 to train professionals to be "technically proficient, Jewishly competent, and ideologically committed to Jewish continuity," according to the Hornstein Web site.

Sarna has written and edited more than twenty books, and serves as chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History and of the 350th commemoration of Jewish life in America, 1654-2004.