When Rabbi David F. Sandmel left the ICJS earlier this year to devote his energies to his doctoral dissertation, the Institute was faced with the task of finding a new Jewish Scholar. After an extensive search that brought a large and talented pool of applicants to our attention, the ICJS is delighted to announce the appointment of Rabbi Charles L. Arian. Rabbi Arian comes to Baltimore from York, Pennsylvania, where he has been serving since 1997 as the only rabbi at Ohev Sholom Congre-gation. His varied professional and personal experiences will enrich and enliven our organization enormously.

Ordained to the rabbinate at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, Charles Arian has fol-lowed a theological and spiritual discipline that has led him to the Conservative rabbinate. He brings to the ICJS not only his expertise as a pulpit rabbi, but also his more unusual experi-ence as resident scholar in a Trappist Cistercian Abbey. Rabbi Arian spent a year as part of this monastic community lectur-ing on Jewish topics, tutoring monks in Hebrew and Rabbinics, and teaching a course in Judaism to scholastics preparing for ordination.

Rabbi Arian also is experienced in working with students in a university setting. He has served as the Director of the Uni-versity of Virginia Hillel Foundation in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Executive Director of the American University Hillel Foun-dation in Washington, D.C.; and the Director of Student Religious Life at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, California.

The author of articles on various aspects of Judaism and Jew-ish life, Rabbi Arian has been published in Israel Horizons, the Journal of Reform Judaism, Sh'ma, and Conservative Judaism.

The ICJS is very fortunate to add to its staff a Jewish Scholar with such a wide range of abilities. We are confident that Rabbi Arian will play a prominent role in assisting the Institute in its mission to disarm religious hatred and promote interfaith understanding.