Start of Main Content

President Obama Announces New Appointee to United States Holocaust Memorial Council

Press Contacts

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Rabbi Lee T. Bycel as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Rabbi Lee T. Bycel is rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Napa, California, where he has served since 2012. He is also an adjunct professor of Jewish studies and social justice at the University of San Francisco, a position he has held since 2013. Previously, he was executive director of the Redford Center, executive director of the Western Region of the American Jewish World Service, and senior advisor for global strategy for the International Medical Corps. From 1987 to 1997, he was dean of the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, which he joined in 1982 as associate dean and director of admissions.

Rabbi Bycel is founding chair and a member of the board of 3Generations, a senior moderator of leadership seminars at the Aspen Institute, and a past president of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. He received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, an MA and a rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and a DMin from the Claremont School of Theology.

United States Holocaust Memorial Council