Religion briefs

New rabbi named at Orthodox BSBI

Brith Sholom Beth Israel Synagogue announced the appointment of Rabbi Moshe Davis, who will join the Orthodox temple Aug. 1.

Davis, 30, is originally from Chicago but spent six years in New York while studying at Yeshiva University.

He and wife Ariela, a native New Yorker, spent two years in Jerusalem, where Davis continued his rabbinic studies. They then moved to Houston, Texas, where Davis served as assistant rabbi of United Orthodox Synagogues (UOS), a 350-member synagogue.

Davis received his B.A. in psychology, M.S. in Jewish education and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University. Additionally, he has completed advanced training on the laws of Jewish Family Purity from Machon Puah in Jerusalem and outreach training at Ner Le’Elef.

Ariela Davis is a Jewish educator who has taught middle school, high school and college in the U.S. and Israel. She received a B.A. in journalism from Stern College for Women and an M.S. in Jewish education from Azrieli Graduate School for Jewish Education. Her areas of academic interest include the development of Jewish Law as well as Holocaust studies. The Davises have three daughters: Yaelle, 6, Elisheva, 4, and Adiel, 16 months.

Steve Wood to lead new ACNA diocese

The Rev. Steve Wood, rector of St. Andrew’s Church-Mount Pleasant, will be consecrated bishop of the newly formed Diocese of the Carolinas on Aug. 25. St. Andrew’s left the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in 2010 to join the Anglican Church in North America.

Before the ACNA conference held earlier this month in Ridgecrest, N.C., Wood was vicar general of a “diocese-in-formation,” responsible for overseeing the drafting of a constitution and canons, and setting in place other pieces of the foundation. ACNA designated Wood bishop-elect. The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, archbishop of ACNA, will preside over the August consecration.

ACNA was started in 2008 at the invitation of the Global Anglican Future Conference and formally recognized by its Anglican leaders in April 2009. ACNA is a province in formation that brings together Anglicans in the U.S. and Canada, many of whom have left the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada in recent years because of theological differences over homosexuality, the requirements for salvation, the authority of Scripture and other issues. ACNA includes about 700 congregations in 22 dioceses.

Voorhees College’s accreditation renewed

Voorhees College, a historically black school in the small rural town of Denmark, has been reaffirmed for accreditation for the next 10 years from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

“This is an exciting time for us at Voorhees because everyone worked so hard toward this goal,” President Cleveland L. Sellers Jr. said in a statement. “The reaffirmation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) keeps the institution on the right path of becoming a premier liberal arts institution.”

Every 10 years, SACS’ Commission on Colleges conducts an in-depth evaluation of an institution’s academic policies and programs to ensure compliance with established standards. Reaffirmation indicates that institutional programs meet or exceed national standards, and it clears the way for offering financial aid.

Voorhees, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, was first accredited in 1946 as Voorhees School and Junior College. Its accreditation never has lapsed, and it was the first historically black college or university in South Carolina to receive this status from SACS.

Staff reports