Elie Kaunfer (b. 1973) is an American rabbi and serves as president and CEO of
Yeshivat Hadar
Yeshivat Hadar is a traditional egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The Yeshiva offers both summer and year-long fellowships for students to learn full-time in the yeshiva setting. Prominent rabbis associated with the Yeshiva i ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Kaunfer has been named as a leading American rabbi by ''
The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
'' and ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''.
Career
Elie Kaunfer received a doctorate from the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
, his dissertation concerned Jewish liturgy. Kaunfer was a co-founder and served as the executive director of Mechon Hadar (Hadar Institute), also known as Yeshivat Hadar. He also was a co-founder of the independent minyan Kehilat Hadar which is affiliated with the institute. Additionally, he served as a fellow at the
Avi Chai Foundation
The Avi Chai Foundation is a private foundation endowed in 1984 by Zalman Bernstein, a well-known successful investor and founder of Sanford Bernstein. Zalman Bernstein became a Modern Orthodox Baal teshuva (a returnee to Orthodox observance) who ...
. Aside from his rabbinic role at Hadar, Kaunfer worked in journalism and banking.
Publications
Kaunfer co-authored a book with
Jonathan Sarna
Jonathan D. Sarna (born 10 January 1955) is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and director othe Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University ...
on the rise of independent Jewish congregations and their contribution to building Jewish communities:
* Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities (Jewish Lights, 2010).
Other publications include:
* Kaunfer, E. (2019) Applying Jewish Wisdom to Philanthropy: The Case of Aggripas and the Sages, ''Journal of Jewish Education 85''(4), 349-361.
See also
*
Shai Held Shai Held (born July 2, 1971) is a rosh yeshiva (Rabbinic dean) and Chair in Jewish Thought at Mechon Hadar.
He founded Mechon Hadar in 2006 with Rabbis Elie Kaunfer and Ethan Tucker.
Education
Held attended Ramaz High School and studied ...
*
Ethan Tucker
Ethan Tucker is rosh yeshiva (rabbinic dean) and co-founder of Yeshivat Hadar in Manhattan.
Early life and education
Tucker is the son of Rabbi Gordon Tucker and Hadassah Lieberman, and the stepson of former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman.
...
References
American Conservative Jews
Living people
Conservative rosh yeshivas
Place of birth missing (living people)
1973 births
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