The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of The American Jewish Archives.

Gary Phillip Zola is the Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, the world's largest archival resource which documents the history of North American Jewry.  Dr. Zola also serves as an 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 biannual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal - one of only two academic periodicals focusing on the total historical experience of American Jewry.      Dr. Zola is the second director of the American Jewish Archives having succeeded his teacher and mentor, 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 American Jewish Archives (AJA) has initiated an impressive array of innovative projects that have captured the attention of both the Jewish and general communities.  Currently, Dr. Zola is serving as Chair of the Commission for Commemorating the 350th Anniversary of American Jewish History which has been organized to help our nation mark the 350th anniversary of Jewish communal life in North America (1654-2004).  This commission represents a historical collaboration of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the American Jewish Historical Society and The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

Dr. Zola is a historian of American Jewry and a highly regarded expert on the development of American Reform Judaism.  Dr. Zola is the author of Isaac Harby of Charleston (University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa, 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 articles have appeared in many scholarly publications including American Jewish History, American Jewish Archives, Canadian Jewish History, and the Journal of Reform Judaism.

Dr. Zola has edited a number of scholarly volumes including: 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).  Other volumes edited by Dr. Zola include a revision of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at One Hundred Years by Michael A. Meyer (1993) and To Learn and To Teach:  Your Life as a Rabbi by Dr. Alfred Gottschalk (1988).  Rabbi Zola has also served as Production Consultant for the movie "Rabbi" -- a one-half hour cinema verite on the work of the American Reform rabbi (1989).

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.  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" program 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 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 Religion Commission of the first U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Emerging Leaders Summit.

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.  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 Hebrew Union College-Jewish institute of Religion.  Rabbi Zola received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on May 29, 1991.

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

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS of GARY PHILLIP ZOLA:

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

BOOKS (edited)
• A place of our own : the rise of Reform Jewish camping : essays honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, URJ, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin edited, with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: 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).

HISTORICAL ARTICLES
• "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).

APPLIED EDUCATION ARTICLES
• "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).

CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS CONCERNS
• "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.

BOOK REVIEWS
• 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).