Gary Phillip Zola is the Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and Associate Professor of the American Jewish Experience at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. In his academic capacity, Professor Zola edits The Marcus Center’s award-winning biannual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal — one of only two academic periodicals focusing on the total historical experience of American Jewry. In 2006, Dr. Zola became the first American rabbi to receive appointment to the Advisory Council of the congressionally recognized Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

Dr. Zola is the second director of the American Jewish Archives, having succeeded his teacher and mentor, Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995), a pioneering scholar in the field of American Jewish history and the institution’s founding director. Under Zola’s leadership, the physical home of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) tripled in size. The AJA’s Malloy Education Building, dedicated in 2005, houses electronic classrooms, distance learning centers, and public exhibition galleries.

Dr. Zola has simultaneously initiated an impressive array of innovative historical programs and projects that have captured the attention of both the Jewish and general communities. The national commemoration of the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America constitutes the most notable example of Zola’s contribution to the field. He is widely acknowledged as the initiator of this national commemoration marking the arrival of the establishment of New Amsterdam’s first Jewish community in 1654. Zola was the organizer and chair of the congressionally recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, a consortium of research institutions established to promote the study of American Jewish history and thereby enhance the significance of the 350th anniversary. The Commission represented a historic collaboration of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the American Jewish Historical Society and The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

In his capacity as Commission chair, Rabbi Zola was invited to serve as guest chaplain at the U.S. House of Representatives (September 21, 2004) and the U.S. Senate (May 26, 2005). He participated in opening ceremonies for the Commission’s historical exhibitions held at the Library of Congress (September 8, 2004), the Cincinnati Museum Center (February 13, 2005), the American Jewish Historical Society (May 16, 2005), and the HUC-JIR Skirball Cultural Center (November 8, 2005). On September 14, 2005, Zola delivered the invocation at the 350th Gala Diner in Washington, D.C., where President George W. Bush delivered the keynote address.

Dr. Zola is a historian of American Jewry. He is widely acknowledged as an expert on the development of American Reform Judaism. His published volumes include A Place of Our Own: The Rise of Reform Jewish Camping in America (co-edited with Michael M. Lorge and published by the University of Alabama Press, 2006); The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus’s Essays on American Jewry (Brandeis University Press, 2004); Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration (HUC-JIR Alumni Press, 1996) and Isaac Harby of Charleston (the University of Alabama Press, 1994), a major biographical study on the life of one of the founders of the first organized effort to reform Judaism in the United States of America. His scholarly articles have appeared in publications including American Jewish History, American Jewish Archives, Southern Jewish History Canadian Jewish History, the Journal of Reform Judaism, and the Hebrew Union College Annual.

Prior to assuming leadership of The Marcus Center, Zola served for more than 15 years as the National Dean of Admissions, Student Affairs and Alumni Relations for HUC-JIR. During his tenure as the school’s chief admissions officer, Rabbi Zola admitted more than 800 students to the College-Institute — more than any other admissions officer in the history of the institution. In this capacity, Zola served as Production Consultant for the movie "Rabbi" -- a one-half hour cinema verite on the work of the American Reform rabbi (1989).

Dr. Zola joined the national administration of the College-Institute upon his ordination as Rabbi in June of 1982. Before entering HUC-JIR’s Rabbinical School, Zola served as the Assistant Director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregation’s first summer camp: Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Camp Institute located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. He also served as the regional director for the Chicago Federation of Temple Youth and the Northern Federation of Temple Youth. Today, Rabbi Zola is a lifetime honorary member of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). He has held the title “Reform Jewish Educator” since December 1984.

Dr. Zola is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), and he served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Reform Judaism (the CCAR’s quarterly journal known today as the CCAR Journal) from 1985-1990.

On December 6, 1999, Zola appeared on ABC’s “Nightline” which brought the voice and message of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise to its listeners. The show was prompted by the rediscovery of hundreds of aluminum disk recordings that are now being preserved at the AJA. A noted interpreter of the American Jewish experience, Dr. Zola has been quoted by the New York Times the Chicago Sun-Times, and numerous national publications. In addition to his involvement in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Zola has been active in both national and local Jewish communal affairs. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Community Relations Council, Cincinnati Chapters. Dr. Zola is also serving as the president of the Martin Luther King Coalition. Dr. Zola has also served on the Boards of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, the Glen Manor Home for the Jewish Aged and the Hillel Jewish Student Center. From 1993-4, Rabbi Zola served as President of the Greater Cincinnati Board of Rabbis. Zola has been serving as the rabbinic consultant to the Ethics Committee of The Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati, since 1993. In both 1988 and 1992, the American Center for International Leadership invited Dr. Zola to be one of two rabbinic delegates on the Religion Commission of the first U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Emerging Leaders Summit. In June of 2004, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized Dr. Zola’s community work by conferring on him the Rabbinic Leadership Award.

His ordination in June of 1982 was the result of five years of rabbinic training, during which time he was the recipient of the following awards:

• Harry W. Ettelson Award for the essay, "Halachic Roles & Reform Judaism"
• Mother Hirsch Prize for noteworthy academic achievement
• Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn Prize for most effective congregational project in Social Action
• Louise & Victor E. Reichert Prize for the best essay in the field of Hebrew poetry
• Cora Kahn Prize for sermon delivery & oratory

Rabbi Zola was born on February 17, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of the late Roy M. and Estelle (Chessen) Zola. Upon graduation from Evanston Township High School, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree -- with distinction -- from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1973), and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1976). He earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters (1981) and a Master of Philosophy (1988) from the College-Institute. Rabbi Zola received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History from the College-Institute on May 29, 1991.

Dr. Zola, his wife Stefi, and their four children — Mandi, Jory, Jeremy, and Samantha — reside in Cincinnati, Ohio.

BOOKS (authored)

• Isaac Harby of Charleston by Gary P. Zola (Tuscaloosa, Alabama,  University of Alabama Press, 1994).

• American Jewish History: A Primary Source Reader, edited, with notes and
  introduction by Gary P. Zola and Marc Dollinger (University Press of
  New England, forthcoming)
• A Place of Our Own: The Rise of Reform Jewish Camping in America (co-edited with Michael M. Lorge and published by the University of Alabama Press, 2006)
• The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus's Essays on American Jewry , edited, with introduction and notes by Gary P. Zola (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2004).
•  Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: HUC-JIR Rabbinic Alumni Association Press, 1996).
• Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion -- A Centennial History,1875-1975 written by Michael A. Meyer and edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992).
• To Learn and To Teach: Your Future as a Rabbi written by Alfred Gottschalk and revised by Gary P. Zola (New York: Richards Rosen Press: 1988).
• The Beginnings of Reform Jewish Camping in America: Essays Honoring the Fiftieth  Anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, edited, with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, forthcoming).

• “The Ascendancy of Reform Judaism in the American South During the Nineteenth Century" in A New History of the Southern Jewish Experience edited by Marcie C. Ferris and Mark I. Greenberg (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, forthcoming).
• “The 2003 Concurrent Resolution of Congress to Commemorate the 350th Anniversary of the American Jewish Community ” in American Jewish History: Volume 91, Numbers 3 & 4, September and December 2003 (The Johns Hopkins University Press)
• “Historical Reflections on 350 years of American Jewish History” in CCAR Journal:, Fall 2004
• “Foreword” in From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish life in America edited by Michael Grunberger (New York: George Braziller in association with the Library of Congress, 2004).
• “N.A.T.E.’s Place in the History of Jewish Education in America: An Afterword” in Vision and the Will: A History of the National Association of Temple Educators, 1954-2004 by Alan D. Bennett (New York: Union for Reform Judaism, 2004).
• “Jewish Camping and its Relationship to the Organized Camping Movement in America” in The Beginnings of Reform Jewish Camping in America: Essays Honoring the Fiftieth Anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, edited, with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama, 2006).
• “A Brief History of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, UAHC” in The Beginnings of Reform Jewish Camping in America: Essays Honoring the Fiftieth Anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, edited, with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama, 2006).
• “Southern Rabbis and the Founding of the First National Association of Rabbis” [reprint] in Mark Bauman (ed) Southern Jewish History: An Anthology (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, forthcoming).
• "The First Reform Prayer Book in America: The Liturgy of the Reformed Society of Israelites" in Dana Evan Kaplan (ed.)  Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2002), pp. 99-118.
• "The Common Places of American Reform Judaism's Conflicting Platforms" in Hebrew Union College Annual, Volume 72 (HUCA: Vol. LXXII, 2001) pp. 155-191.
• "The Man Behind the Name: Stephen S. Wise" in Stephen S. Wise Temple (October 2001), pp. 6-7.
• "An Account of the Jews and Judaism 34 Years Ago in New York (Circa 1870)" by Zvi Hirsch Bernstein (annotated and translated from the Hebrew by Gary P. Zola), in The American Jewish Archives Journal (forthcoming).
• "Why Study Southern Jewish History" in Southern Jewish History (Vol. 1, No. 1), pp. 1-21.
• "What Price Amos?:  Rabbi Perry E. Nussbaum's Career in Jackson, Mississippi" in Mark K. Bauman and Berkley Kalin (eds.) The Quiet Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1997), pp. 230-257.
• "Southern Rabbis and the Emergence of a National Association of Rabbis" in American Jewish History December 1997 (Vol. LXXXV, No. 4), pp. 353-372.
• "Funding Rabbinic Education: Retrospect and Prospect" in CCAR Journal Winter, 1997 (Vol. XLIV, No. 1), pp. 9-24.
• "Reform Judaism Magazine" in Popular Religious Magazines of the United States, edited by Mark Flacker (Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press: 1995).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "Maximillian Heller" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of  Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "Gustavus Poznanski" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "NFTY After Fifty Years: A Symposium" in Journal of Reform Judaism Fall, 1989 (Vol. XXXVI, No. 4), pp. 1-3.
• "Jews" in Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America, edited by John Mack Faragher (New York: Sachem Publishing Associates, 1990), pp. 216-217.
• "The American Rabbinate, 1960-1986: A Bibliographic Essay," (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1988).
• "Louis Kraft" (entry) in Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America, edited by Walter I. Trattner (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986).
• "Louis H. Levin" (entry) in Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America, edited by Walter I. Trattner (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986).
• "A History of the Communitarian Settlement Known as 'New Odessa'" (a translation of Herman Rosenthal's Hebrew essay with introduction by Zola) in The American Jewish Farmer (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1986).
• "You Are in Canada Now: Zvi Hirsch Masliansky on Montreal Jews - 1898" in Canadian Jewish  Historical Society, Spring 1985 (Vol. 9, No. 1), pp 31-40.
• "HUC, JTS and Women Rabbis" in Journal of Reform Judaism, Fall 1984 (Vol. XXXI, No. 4), pp. 39-45.
• "Reform Judaism's Pioneer Zionist: Maximillian Heller" in American Jewish History, June 1984 (Vol. LXXIII, No. 4), pp. 398-421.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary, revised by Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolia Press).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming The South Carolina Encyclopedia, edited by Thomas M. Downey (Columbia, SC: Institute for Southern Studies).
• "Penina Moïse" (entry) in forthcoming The South Carolina Encyclopedia, edited by Thomas M. Downey (Columbia, SC: Institute for Southern Studies).
• "Julius Eckstein" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Solomon B. Freehof" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "James K. Gutheim" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Edgar F. Magnin" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "David Neumark" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Benjamin Szold"(entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Jacob Voorsanger" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "The Rabbinate" (entry) in Contemporary American Religion, edited by Wade Clark Roof (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1999).

•  "The High School Community Period" (with Kerry M. Olitzky) in The Jewish Principal's Handbook, edited by Audrey Friedman Marcus and Raymond A. Zwerin (Denver, Colorado: Alternatives in Religious Education, 1983), pp. 327-336.
• "My People Jacob: Thy Tents have Grown Old: A Manual for Organizing Weekend Kallot for Older Adults," (New York: U.A.H.C., 1981).

• “A Rose Among the Thorns”; A Tiny Wellspring, A Thundering River”; and “Written on the Heart” in For Praying Out Loud: Interfaith Prayers for Public Occasions, edited by L. Annie Foerster, (Skinner House Books, 2003) pp. 78-800, 101-103, 134, 135.
• “Lessons from 180 Years of American Reform Judaism” in Torah at the Center (UAHC, 2003) pp. 7-9.
   
• "Are Jews the Chosen People?" Allan L. Smith (ed.), Where We Stand: Jewish Consciousness on Campus (New York: UAHC Press, 1997), pp. 60-65.
• "On Being A Blessing" in The Orchard: A Compendium of Sermonic and Other Material, Fall 1997, pp. 9-10.
• "Becoming A Rabbi: A Wonderful Occupation" in Shofar, November 1989 (Vol. 7, No. 2), pp. 24-25.
• "Who Will Lead Us Tomorrow?" in Reform Judaism, Fall 1988 (Vol. 17, No. 1), pp. 4-6.
• "Becoming a Rabbi" in Keeping Posted (Vol. XXXIII, No. 6), pp. 14-15.

• Review: A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust by David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff (New Press: New York, 2004) in Jewish Culture and History (forthcoming).
• Review: Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights by Clive Webb (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001).
• Review: Rabbi Max Heller: Reformer, Zionist, Southerner, 1860-1929 by Bobbie Malone in AJS Review (Vol. XXIV, No. 1, 1999).
• Review: Branching Out: German-Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1820-1914 by Avraham Barkai in The International History Review (Vol. XXII: June 1998).
• Review: The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora by Robert P. Swierenga in Journal of the Early Republic Summer, 1995 (Vol. 15, No. 2), pp. 305-307.
• Review: This Happy Land: The Jews of Colonial and Antebellum Charleston by James William Hagy in American Jewish Archives Fall/Winter, 1994 (Vol XLVII, No. 2), pp. 357-362.
• Review: Guts and Ruts: The Jewish Pioneer on the Trail in the American Southwest by Floyd S. Fierman in The Western Historical Quarterly (April 1987).
• Review: Jerry Falwell and the Jews by Merrill Simon in Religious Studies Review (Vol. II, No. 3/July 1985).