Overview
- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a new lawsuit in Hamilton County seeking to stop Hebrew Union College from closing its Cincinnati rabbinical program, halt any campus sale, block transfers of restricted donations, and require a full accounting of Ohio-based assets.
- Yost cites a 1950 consolidation agreement that promised a permanent rabbinical school in Cincinnati and alleges a breach of charitable trust after HUC removed that language and spent Cincinnati-directed gifts on other campuses.
- HUC’s board voted in 2022 to wind down Cincinnati ordinations by the end of the 2025–26 year, with degree programs centered in New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem, while keeping the Cincinnati library, archives, and museum.
- This is Yost’s second case against HUC, following a 2024 dispute over rare books that ended in a 2025 settlement requiring 45 days’ notice before any sale and restricting proceeds to support the Klau Library.
- Opponents have launched the College for Contemporary Judaism in Cincinnati, led by former HUC figures, offering a local path for rabbinical training that could rely on the city’s deep scholarly resources.