The appointment of Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, 40, to head the movement’s seminary is seen by many as a sign of maturation of North America’s smallest and youngest Jewish stream.
A congregational rabbi, Ehrenkrantz has been a national leader in the movement, serving as immediate past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
However, unlike many seminary presidents, including the current heads of the Conservative, Reform and modern Orthodox seminaries, Ehrenkrantz is not an academic.
As the RRC’s fifth president, Ehrenkrantz — who will take over the post this summer –assumes the helm at a time of transition in the Reconstructionist movement, which is headquartered in suburban Philadelphia. He will replace Rabbi David Teutsch, who has led the college since 1993.
Ehrenkrantz grew up in Berkeley and suburban Westchester County, N.Y. Although his family belonged primarily to Conservative synagogues, its religious outlook was closer to Reconstructionism, he said.
Reconstructionism, which views Judaism as an “evolving civilization,” was founded in the 1930s by Conservative Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.
It has grown dramatically in the past 15 years, with 100 congregations now, compared with 52 in 1986. In addition, the movement has recently produced its own prayerbooks, launched a summer camp and is creating a youth group.
The college has grown as well, increasing its entering rabbinic-student class from 10 to 18 and adding new academic programs.
The first movement to celebrate the bat mitzvah and approve rabbinic officiation at same-sex commitment ceremonies, Reconstructionists have long been seen as quirky, politically progressive and on the cutting edge.
But they have also embraced many traditional rituals that the liberal Reform movement until recently had rejected.
As the Reform movement, America’s largest stream of Judaism, has become more open to tradition and has sought to create more intimate, participatory worship experiences, some see fewer practical distinctions between Reform and Reconstructionism.
Reconstructionist officials believe Ehrenkrantz’s pulpit experience will be just as valuable for the college — whose primary function is training rabbis — as would scholarly credentials.
Ehrenkrantz has served for 13 years as a congregational rabbi at Montclair, N.J.’s Bnai Keshet, where he is known as “Rabbi Dan.” Under his leadership, Bnai Keshet pioneered a family-education program replicated at more than 20 other congregations. He also oversaw a successful $2 million capital campaign there.
Ehrenkrantz brings “a strong representation of the day-to-day life of rabbis working in the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Richard Hirsh, executive director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. He described Ehrenkrantz as “an interesting combination of a very precise thinker and serious learner. He takes ongoing learning seriously.”
Not being a scholar “would be a major issue if weren’t someone of substantial intellect, but Rabbi Ehrenkrantz has shown himself to be a person who is of substance, thoughtful and deeply rooted in the sources of our tradition,” Teutsch said.
As president, Ehrenkrantz expects to see the movement and college continue to expand, and said he hopes to implement a center for Jewish education and one for “Jewish creativity in the arts.”
“Much of the way into Jewish spiritual life can be achieved through a variety of arts,” he said.
He would also like to see the college focus more attention on Israel-diaspora relations — particularly the different ways Jewish identities are constructed in Israel and North America — as well as social action.
The college, which trains rabbis and cantors and has a small master’s and doctorate program, already has an ethics center and center for gender studies.