President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Presidential Professor
215-576-0800 X129
dehrenkrantz@rrc.edu

Named one of the 50 most-influential American rabbis by Newsweek magazine in both 2008 and 2007, Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz became the fifth president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in 2002. He is the first graduate to assume leadership of an institution that is both the intellectual center and the rabbinical training school of the Reconstructionist movement, one of the four main branches of Judaism. Ehrenkrantz came to RRC after 14 years as rabbi of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist congregation in Montclair, NJ. There, his work in helping to foster interfaith understanding as a member of the Montclair Clergy Association received national attention in The Washington Post.

Since arriving at RRC, Ehrenkrantz has launched a $50 million fundraising campaign—the organization’s largest ever; completed RRC’s first strategic plan; initiated a grants program that has raised almost $2 million for interfaith initiatives, alumni education and work in the areas of aging and gender studies; and completed a rebranding effort that included the launch of a new Web site, www.rrc.edu.  At Bnai Keshet, from 1988 to 2002, Ehrenkrantz completed a comprehensive capital campaign and oversaw the ensuing purchase of the congregation’s first building—a project that entailed preserving a historic mansion and constructing a new facility. During his tenure, the congregation doubled in size.

As RRC’s Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Presidential Professor Ehrenkrantz has taught courses on Jewish and Hebrew literature, darshanut (text interpretation), the Jewish holiday cycle, and the Jewish lifecycle. He has written rabbinic commentary for Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect on Why Israel Matters to Them (Jewish Lights, 2007), the forthcoming Men’s Torah Commentary (Jewish Lights), The Guide to Jewish Practice (RRC Press) and the Kol Haneshama prayer book series (Reconstructionist Press). His writings have also appeared in The Jerusalem Report, New York’s Jewish Week, the Charlotte Observer, the Hartford Courant, and Contact and Child magazines.

Ehrenkrantz is an advisory board member of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger and Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, which educates Jewish teenagers about the connection between civic engagement and Judaism. He is also a member of the Jewish Publication Society National Council.

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a B.A. in Religion and received both rabbinic ordination and an M.A. in Hebrew Letters from RRC. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his family.

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