Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is asking a Hamilton County judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by now former Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Yost sued in April, essentially seeking to prevent the school from relocating local assets to its other campuses or closing the Cincinnati campus all together.
In its response, Hebrew Union College (HUC) calls the lawsuit unconstitutional and suggests it infringes on the First Amendment's protections for religious freedom and church autonomy.
The lawsuit
In the lawsuit filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in April, Yost argues the school violated Ohio's charitable laws with its plans to shutter its historic rabbinical program by the end of the 2026 academic year. (The college graduated its final Cincinnati in-person class of rabbis in May.) The lawsuit further alleges the college has inappropriately moved donations meant for the Cincinnati campus to its other locations.
The lawsuit says in 2022 the college's board removed a line from its 1950 Consolidation Agreement — the document created when it combined the Jewish Institute of Religion, formerly based in New York, with the Cincinnati campus — stating that it would "permanently maintain rabbinical schools in Cincinnati, Ohio and New York, New York."
Yost argues many charitable donations were made for programs in Cincinnati, or to support a 2005 master plan that refers to "a permanent address on Clifton Avenue" — the Cincinnati street where the college is
located. He alleges the college has redirected those funds outside of the state since the decision to close the Cincinnati rabbinical school and end its Cincinnati-based graduate school programs.
The lawsuit suggests the state has "information and belief" that the college is "actively pursuing the sale or lease of the land that it owns which houses its Cincinnati rabbinical school."
The suit asks the court to prohibit the sale of the Cincinnati campus, prevent any restricted donations from being transferred out of state, and for a full accounting of Ohio-based assets along with a court order that they support a permanent rabbinical campus in Cincinnati.
Yost resigned as attorney general in May, eight months before the end of his term. He was ineligible to run for the office again, and dropped out of Ohio's gubernatorial race in May 2025. His last day in office was June 7. He left to become vice president of Strategic Research and Innovation with the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.
Gov. Mike DeWine selected Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson to fill the rest of Yost's term. Wilson's name is now attached to the lawsuit.
Motion to dismiss
In its motion to dismiss, Hebrew Union College says the state's lawsuit rests on a single sentence — that HUC shall "permanently maintain" a rabbinical school in Cincinnati — from 1950, which was amended in 2022. HUC says the change was allowed under the college's charter, and followed the rules of Ohio Revised Code. The school says the lawsuit thus fails to "establish any cognizable legal claim" and "is an affront to the constitutionally recognized separation of church and state."
Hebrew Union College has said it made the 2022 decision to shutter its graduate school and stop ordaining rabbis in Cincinnati because of low enrollment and a large financial deficit. HUC is the country's largest Reform rabbinical seminary, but it has made cuts on its other two domestic campuses in New York City and Los Angeles, as well.
In a release, Hebrew Union College President Andrew Rehfeld says despite sunsetting the rabbinical program, the school maintains a significant presence in Cincinnati.
"These decisions were made thoughtfully and responsibly to ensure the long-term success of the institution and our ability to continue graduating strong Jewish leaders. While we respect the role of public officials, former Attorney General Yost’s lawsuit improperly seeks to interfere in the decisions of a religious organization, and this cannot be allowed to go unchallenged,” he writes.
What about the school's assets?
The AG's lawsuit requests the college's assets in Cincinnati be given to his office to be redistributed to support a permanent campus or school in Cincinnati.
HUC's response says that's illegal.
The college's motion states, "the AG seeks to take control over HUC’s rabbinical-education program and its Ohio-centered assets to redistribute in his sole discretion. The Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine and the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions forbid such governmental intrusions into religious affairs."
But what would the AG do with whatever assets the court might determine were funded by local charitable donations?
At the end of May, a newly established rabbinical college filed a motion asking to be a party to the lawsuit.
The College for Contemporary Judaism — founded by former HUC faculty and board members — said it was presenting itself as a "remedy" to the question created by the lawsuit, and asking that it be given the Clifton Avenue campus and various assets should the AG prevail.
In a separate filing, Hebrew Union College requests the court grant a motion of stay in considering the College for Contemporary Judaism's request until it has ruled on Hebrew Union College's request to dismiss the case.
The court case is currently before Hamilton County Judge Christopher Wagner.
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