Gary Phillip Zola is a rabbi and historian of American Jewry who specializes in the development of American Reform Judaism. He is a professor of the American Jewish Experience at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati. Since 1998, he has served as the second Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, founded in 1947, is committed to preserving a documentary heritage of the religious, organizational, economic, cultural, personal, social and family life of American Jewry...

 (AJA), succeeding his teacher and mentor, Jacob Rader Marcus

Jacob Rader Marcus

Jacob Rader Marcus was a scholar of Jewish history and a Reform rabbi. Born in New Haven, Pennsylvania, United States, into a traditional Jewish family, Marcus became interested in Reform Judaism at the age of 15. At that time, he travelled to Hebrew Union College , in Cincinnati, Ohio, to begin...

 (1896–1995). Zola is also editor of The Marcus Center’s award-winning semi-annual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal.

Zola served as the organizer and chair of the congressionally-recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, a consortium of leading research institutions established to promote the study of American Jewish history during the 350th anniversary Jewish life in America (2004–2005). In 2006, Zola became the first American Jewish historian to receive appointment to the Academic Advisory Council of the congressionally-recognized Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Congressionally created 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010...

.

In addition to these national activities, Zola has been actively involved in community relations in Cincinnati, Ohio. In May 2009, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission conferred the Bishop Herbert Thompson, Jr. Outstanding Humanitarian Award on Zola in recognition of his service to the people of the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized Zola’s service to Cincinnati’s Jewish community in 2004 by awarding him its Distinguished Leadership Award.

In 2011, President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 appointed Zola to serve as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad

The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad is an independent agency of the Government of the United States of America. It was established by U.S. Public Law 99-83 . The law directs the Commission to -- identify and report on cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings...

. Although HUC-JIR presidents have received such distinctions over the years, Zola is the first regular member of the College-Institute’s faculty to serve on a standing commission of the United States Government in the history of the school.

Education

Zola holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1973), and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1976). He earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters (1981) and a Master of Philosophy (1988) from HUC-JIR. Zola received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History from the College-Institute in 1991.

Books

• ‘He Was Like One of Us’: Abraham Lincoln and American Jewry (Forthcoming from Southern Illinois University Press).
• The American Jewish Experience: A Primary Source Reader (Forthcoming from Brandeis University Press) with Marc Dollinger
• The Americanization of the Jewish Prayer Book and the Liturgical Development of Congregation Ahawath Chesed, New York City (New York: Central Synagogue, 2008).
• Isaac Harby of Charleston by Gary P. Zola (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1994).

Edited Volumes

• A Place of Our Own : the Rise of Reform Jewish Camping : Essays Honoring the Fiftieth Anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, URJ, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin edited with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2006).
• The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus's Essays on American Jewry, edited with introduction and notes by Gary P. Zola (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2004).
• Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: HUC-JIR Rabbinic Alumni Association Press, 1996).
• Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion -- A Centennial History, 1875–1975 written by Michael A. Meyer and edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992).
• To Learn and to Teach: Your Future as a Rabbi written by Alfred Gottschalk and revised by Gary P. Zola (New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1988).