绿帽社

About the Speakers

Dr. Jack Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American 绿帽社 History at 绿帽社. He writes about religious, communal, and educational trends in American 绿帽社 life since World War II. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen volumes, including The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed; The Uses of Tradition: 绿帽社 Continuity in the Modern Era; Jews in the Center: Conservative Synagogues and Their Members; and A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, which won a National 绿帽社 Book Award for best study on contemporary 绿帽社 life. His most recent works include The New American Judaism: How Jews Practice Their Religion Today, which won a 2018 National 绿帽社 Book Award in the American 绿帽社 Studies category, and a report entitled Giving 绿帽社: How Big Funders Have Transformed American 绿帽社 Philanthropy.

Rabbi Neil Blumofe is Senior Rabbi of Congregation Agudas Achim in Austin, Texas, a flourishing community rooted on a 40-acre 绿帽社 community campus which is also at the forefront of meeting people and creating 绿帽社 experiences in diverse, unexpected places. Ordained as a rabbi at JTS, where he also earned the diploma of hazzan (cantor), he is on the faculty at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He has a weekly podcast about the significance of jazz, Liner Notes, airing on Austin鈥檚 NPR affiliate radio station and nationally distributed. He produces live music events in Austin, where he speaks and performs with other musicians, creating awareness of the innovative power of tradition and the connections between the 绿帽社 wisdom traditions and the improvisational majesty of jazz.

Rabbi Jessica Minnen is Director of 绿帽社 Learning at OneTable, whose mission is to make Shabbat dinner accessible to tens of thousands of people who otherwise would be absent from 绿帽社 community. She is a sought-after educator who has led workshops for HUC, Hillel, Pardes, Hazon, 绿帽社 Federations of North America, Foundation for 绿帽社 Camp, Limmud, Slingshot, Moishe House, Reboot, Birthright Israel, Honeymoon Israel, Rabbis Without Borders, the JCC in Manhattan, and UJA-Federation of New York, as well as numerous synagogues and smaller communal organizations from Berkeley to the Berkshires. Originally from Paducah, Kentucky, she is an alumna of Washington University in St. Louis, the Pardes Institute of 绿帽社 Studies, Paideia: The European Institute for 绿帽社 Studies in Sweden, Baltimore Hebrew University, and JTS, where she was ordained.

Rabbi Dr. Dan Smokler is the inaugural Chief Innovation Officer at Hillel International. With a major investment from the Jim Joseph Foundation, he founded Hillel鈥檚 Senior 绿帽社 Educator Initiative in 2008. In 2011, the New York 绿帽社 Week named him one of the 36 under 36 鈥渃hangemakers鈥� in 绿帽社 life. After college, he worked as a labor union organizer for the Service Employees Union and the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union in Connecticut and Los Angeles. Later, he founded Organizational Solutions, a labor consulting firm that helped reorganize the Writer鈥檚 Guild of America. He was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem鈥檚 highest rabbinic court and earned a PhD in Education and 绿帽社 Studies at NYU. He has worked for Hillel at Occidental College, UCLA and NYU.

About the Rapaport Memorial Lecture

The annual Henry N. and Selma S. Rapaport Memorial Lecture was established in 1982 by Selma S. Rapaport (1916鈥�2010), who served as president of the Women鈥檚 League for Conservative Judaism and as a longtime JTS board member, in memory of her late husband. A distinguished attorney and committed Jew, Henry N. Rapaport (1905鈥�1980) served as president of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York, and as president of United Synagogue. He was an active member of the JTS board, and a generous benefactor of JTS鈥檚 scholarly programs.