Center for Jewish Life director Diamond steps down

After serving nine years as director of the Center for Jewish Life, Rabbi James Diamond announced yesterday his decision to resign in an email directed to Princeton's Jewish community.

"I believe [after the end of this academic year] the time will have come for me to do something else," he wrote. "My decision to leave the directorship of the CJL is entirely self-motivated. It springs from a need and desire to explore new terrain at this season of my life."

Diamond, who currently teaches NES 214/JDS 214: "Masterworks of Hebrew Literature in Translation," said in an interview that he plans to continue teaching part-time at the University and to spend some of his extra time reading and writing. He said he hopes to complete the book he is currently working on about "how we read the Bible today, in a non-fundamentalist way."

Diamond was appointed the first full-time director of the CJL in 1995, two years after the Center's opening.

Students and faculty alike said that one of the main achievements of Diamond, a Conservative rabbi, has been his effort to bring different Jewish denominations together.

"Rabbi Diamond came to Princeton when the CJL was newly built, but not yet established on the campus," said Arlene Pedovitch '80, chair of the board of the CJL. "He managed to do what no one had done for the Princeton Jewish community — literally, not just figuratively, bring together under one roof all the many Jewish constituencies on campus."

Pedovitch said when she was a student at Princeton, "the Orthodox [students] had no interaction with the other Jewish students on campus."

Marc Grinberg '05, president of the CJL student board, praised Diamond's effort to obtain an official kosher certificate for the CJL's kitchen that met the specifications of all denominations.

Among Diamond's other successes, Grinberg said, were his ability to raise funds for the CJL and his recent restructuring of the program staff. Diamond was instrumental in hiring Rabbi Uri Cohen and Dr. Yocheved Cohen, the CJL's new educational directors, Grinberg said.

Diamond's dual involvement in both religious and secular life on campus was well-known and appreciated by many on campus, he said.

"Students respect him because he's an intellectual," Grinberg said.

Though students and faculty alike expressed their sadness over news of Diamond's upcoming departure and their gratitude for his services to Princeton's Jewish community and the University as a whole, Diamond said "[his] work here is never done."

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In his resignation email, he wrote, "We still have this whole year ahead of us . . . There is much for all of us to do, to learn, and to celebrate. Every single day."

Pedovitch, who is in charge of the board that will begin the search for Diamond's replacement in early October, said the search committee will include faculty, students, alumni and community members.