Why did you study with the Rabbis? This is a question I am often asked after people hear that I did my doctoral work at the Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion (in Cincinnati, OH). There are a number of good answers to this question, but I rarely get to explain my reasons in the course of a brief conversation. So I thought I would take this opportunityin my very first blog postto summarize why I chose to do doctoral study at a Jewish seminary.