Brandeis Magazine

John Cooper is a rabbi in Queensland, Australia. He received an honorary doctor of divinity from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where he completed his rabbinical and Jewish communal service studies in Jerusalem, Los Angeles and New York. He has been a member of the Brandeis Alumni Admissions Council for more than 35 years. He asks Brandeis alumni visiting Australia, especially those from 1969, to email him. Lee Adlerstein last year was named deputy counsel in charge of litigation for New York State’s Office of Court Administration, which operates the state’s Unified Court System. Lee supervises a range of litigation involving statewide court operations and personnel, as well as prosecutions within the disciplinary system governing judiciary employees covered under collective bargaining agreements. He had spent 12 years with the New York State Attorney General’s Office concentrating on civil rights and employment litigation. While there, he received the Louis Lefkowitz Award for Outstanding Service from then–Attorney  General Andrew Cuomo. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, who recently stepped down after leading the Union of Reform Judaism for 16 years, was profiled in the Forward. The article reported that in Reform circles he will be remembered as the leader who emphasized Torah study and renewed synagogue worship, who spoke about the Sabbath and kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), and who expanded summer camps to embrace a new generation of Reform Jews. Bob Panoff  qualified for his National Hot Rod Association top dragster license by making a quarter-mile pass in 6.793 seconds (207.43 mph) on  Nov. 20, 2011, at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. Bob continues to practice civil and criminal federal tax litigation in Miami and is a member of the visiting committee at the University of Miami’s School of Law. Hillel Schwartz’ sixth book of cultural history, “Making Noise: From Babel to the Big Bang and Beyond,” has been published. An independent scholar in Encinitas, Calif., Hillel founded Sage Case Management and is refining “Last Days: A Down-to-Earth Manual for Those at the Bedside.” In addition, he has collaborated on a translation of Korean poetry by Ko Un and Namjo Kim. He keeps in touch with classmates Sidney Blumenthal; Harold Boll; Ben Gerson; David Roskies, M.A.’71, Ph.D.’75; Sandra Ruffin; and Shelly Gonickman MacKenzie.