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The Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center (JHVRC) for Sexual Orientation Issues in the Jewish Community is dedicated to the memory of Jeff Herman by his parents, Agnes and Rabbi Erwin Herman, “whom he taught so well.” The College-Institute is indebted to the Herman’s for their vision and generosity. (Click on the link above to learn more about Jeff and the Herman’s.)
The JHVRC supports the efforts of HUC-JIR students, faculty, administrators, alumni, the larger Jewish community, and the general community. The JHVRC is a growing and dynamic tool for change, helping individuals to understand the religious, cultural, health and communal needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews and their families and, ultimately, to become “agents of change.”
The JHVRC is part of the Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity, which held its inaugural training seminar series on the Los Angeles campus of in 2000 as part of the Sexual Orientation Initiative which was HUC-JIR’s first step toward creating an Institute. In addition to the training seminars, the Institute provides scholarships, internship opportunities and programs to help rabbinical, cantorial, educational and Jewish communal service students gain the necessary tools to successfully work to create an inclusive Jewish community. Today the Institute helps HUC-JIR continue to fulfill the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam, healing our broken world, by reaching out to a segment of the Jewish community that once was invisible.
The Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center is also a prototype model for the College-Institute’s National Department of Distance Education, that exemplifies its philosophy of “e-learning”. The mission of the Department is “to enhance, to expand, and to extend all learning opportunities at HUC-JIR.”
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| E-nhance how one learns, through a variety of tools and resources for accessing information, primary texts, and related activities, for a richer experience; |
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| E-xpand the learning experience with additional resources and/or learning opportunities, that are continuously available (24/7) and constantly being updated. |
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| E-xtend learning and availability beyond the immediate educational setting or context; this reaching out to the extended HUC-JIR community of Alumni and the Reform movement, as well as to the general community.
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To learn more about HUC-JIR’s efforts in e-Learning and Distance Education, visit
www.huc.edu/academics/continuing/de.shtml..
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