Rabbi Dan Zoloth Dorfman '70 will present the 1995 baccalaureate address, "Finding a Door: Seeking a Treasure " at 4 pm Sunday 28 May in Finney Chapel. Calvin Taylor '70 will perform organ and piano music for the service. Margaret Taylor Doane (Peg Palmer) '30 wrote the text to the hymns that Taylor will play and will, with other members of the Oberlin community present two liturgical dances--"hymns in action"--at the service. The Oberlin College Baccalaureate Choir will perform under the direction of associate professor of choral conducting Edward Maclary,
Since 1992 Dorfman has been the executive director of the Israel Project, a joint effort of the Northern California Hillel Council, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. On more than 25 northern California campuses, the Israel Project works to strengthen Jewish students' knowledge of--and their ability to advocate for--Israel. Before Rabbi Dorfman assumed this post, he was the executive director of San Francisco Hillel.
A political science major at Oberlin, Dorfman was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude. He received the Master of Arts degree in English and creative writing from San Francisco State University in 1991.
Doane, who in 1931 went to Berlin to study with choreographer Mary Wigman, once said: "Dance is not just floating around in an ethereal haze. It concerns facing the agonies of life. Sacred dancers have a special trust now to carry on their devotional emphasis and also to contribute dances of meaningful social-spiritual content."
Doane will lead a public workshop titled "Hymns in Action" on Saturday 27 May at 9:30 am in the Warner Center's main studio. Workshop participants will have the option of joining Taylor in her presentations of "hymns in action" at the service the next day. The Reverend Nancy Moore Roth '58, who is helping organize the workshop, says that all ages--"from nine to 90"--are welcome to participate.
