The College for Contemporary Judaism is getting involved in a lawsuit against Hebrew Union College brought by the Ohio attorney general.
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A fledgling liberal rabbinical school, the College for Contemporary Judaism, is seeking to take over Hebrew Union College’s historic Cincinnati campus and other assets, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
On Thursday, the new institution filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit against Hebrew Union College by Ohio attorney general Dave Yost, which claims HUC reneged on its commitment to donors and breached Ohio nonprofit law by shuttering its Cincinnati campus. The lawsuit argues HUC promised in a 1950 agreement to “permanently” house a rabbinical school in the city and can’t take its assets out of Cincinnati. (HUC has maintained campuses in New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.)
The College for Contemporary Judaism suggested in court filings that it should inherit the campus alongside HUC’s other Cincinnati assets, including the Klau Library, the American Jewish Archives, the Skirball Museum and donations to the campus. CCJ was founded in 2022 in response to HUC’s decision to shut down its Cincinnati campus and aims to become a new hub for rabbinical education in the Midwest. But it currently has no students, campus or opening date.
CCJ argued in its motion to intervene that the attorney general “appropriately stepped forward to enforce the charitable trust obligations that bind those assets to the State of Ohio and their underlying charitable mission,” presenting itself as “a concrete, mission-aligned Ohio candidate capable of carrying forward the very charitable purpose at issue.”
An HUC representative told JTA that the rabbinical college “is responding to the Ohio attorney general’s unwarranted lawsuit and will respond appropriately to any additional filings.”
