Rabbi Steven Pruzansky (born in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, N.Y. April 28, 1958) is an American

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

rabbi, an author and leader in the Orthodox Jewish community. Pruzansky is best known for quarter century of spiritual leadership at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) fr ...

. He has also authored several books on religious topics, been an executive at the

Rabbinical Council of America The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). It is the main pr ...

, and a spokesman for the International Rabbinic Coalition for Israel. Some of his opinions have generated controversy and criticism, including comments about college campus rape culture.

Early life and education

Pruzansky grew up in

Monsey, New York Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. ...

"Heilman, Uriel 'Orthodox N.J. Embraces Rabbi Pruzansky – Extreme Anti-Arab Views and All;Teaneck Cleric: 'My Words Find a Very Receptive Audience' (Nov 25, 2014) The Forward"Teaneck Cleric: 'My Words Find a Very Receptive Audience' He received his B.A. Degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in 1978 and in 1981 he received his Juris Doctor degree from

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the Law school in the United States, law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court Associate Just ...

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universi ...

Career

Following graduation from law school, Pruzansky worked as an attorney and litigator for 13 years. He then began his career as a religious leader after being ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway, Queens, Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 3 ...

, New York. In 1993 he became rabbi of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, one of the largest

congregations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

with several thousand members. He retired in 2020 and was succeeded by Rabbi

Elliot Schrier Elliot Schrier (Hebrew language, Hebrew: חנוך העניך שרייער; born October 10, 1989) is an American Modern Orthodox Judaism, Modern Orthodox Rabbi. He is the current ''Mara d'atra, Mara d'asra'' of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teane ...

in 2021. For seven years, Pruzansky led the

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

's conversion court or beit din for

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Barry Freundel of the RCA was arrested on charges of voyeurism for spying on women at a mikva and was accused of abusing potential converts, the RCA appointed a committee that will include women to review the conversion process and safeguards. Pruzansky resigned from the Bergen County beit din in protest. He said he blamed the action on the left wing of the Orthodox movement for creating "quasi-rabbinical functions for women."

Publications

Pruzansky is author of several books, including "The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility Volume 1: Breisheet and Shemot," "Prophet for Today: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Yehoshua," and "Judges for Our Time: Contemporary Lessons from the Book of Shoftim." He also maintains a blog.

Controversies

Abraham Foxman Abraham Henry Foxman (born May 1, 1940) is an American lawyer and activist. He served as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League from 1987 to 2015, and is currently the League's national director emeritus. From 2016 to 2021 he served a ...

, the national director of the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

, who had been a longtime member of Pruzansky's congregation, left in protest against political statements Pruzansky had made about Israeli Prime Minister

Rabin Rabin is a Hebrew surname. It originates from the Hebrew word ''rav'' meaning Rabbi, or from the name of the specific Rabbi Abin. The most well known bearer of the name was Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel and Nobel Peace prize Laureate. ...

, including calling him the "Rabin Judenrat." Foxman complained that the rabbi ""spews hate and vitriol toward the elected leaders of Israel." Following the election of U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

, members of Pruzansky's community organized a petition to protest a blog post he wrote insulting the president. He wrote that the president won by "pandering to liberal women, Hispanics, blacks, unions, etc." In November 2014 Pruzansky likened

The New York Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish ...

Der Stürmer ''Der Stürmer'' (, literally "The Stormer / Attacker / Striker") was a weekly German tabloid-format newspaper published from 1923 to the end of the Second World War by Julius Streicher, the ''Gauleiter'' of Franconia, with brief suspensions ...

, a Nazi publication, following a story it published about him. Pruzansky also posted a blog that month entitled "Dealing with Savages," which many considered to be racist and anti-Arab. In it, he proposed using live ammunition on Arab stone-throwers and suggests that any village that is home to more than two terrorists should be razed and its inhabitants deported. Abe Foxman denounced the blog as "outright racism and bigotry," and lamented the congregation's support of Pruzansky. On November 25, 2014, the

Orthodox Union The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs ...

issued a public statement distancing itself from Pruzansky's remarks, noting that it could not support a response to terror that includes wholesale demonization of Arabs, collective punishment of Arabs or destruction or dismantling of Muslim holy sites. The OU called on the community to reject the attitude promoted in Pruzansky's essay: "Such rhetoric is wrong and must be repudiated, whether it is voiced by lay leaders, community leaders or rabbis.” Pruzansky's synagogue announced in a letter to the congregation that Pruzansky agreed to have his future blogs reviewed by editors and that the board would periodically review the process. The board has also acted to ensure security for the synagogue is tightened. Pruzansky wrote his own letter to the congregation expressing regret for having written in a way that "many have deemed harsh." On March 31, 2016, Pruzansky published a blog post titled "A Novel Idea," wherein he dismissed the idea of

rape culture Rape culture is a setting, studied by several sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut- ...

on college campuses, blamed a promiscuous culture for many rapes reported in college, and proposed marriage as a solution to the overall issue. The post prompted many angry responses, in which Pruzansky was accused of blaming victims of rape, of not taking rape seriously, and of not acknowledging or understanding that marital rape exists. After Pruzansky followed the March 31 blog post with another, on April 13, 2016, entitled "Culture Wars – Update," in which he defended his position and reiterated his arguments and position, the

Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) is an Open Orthodox Jewish organization providing educational services on women's issues, with the aim of expanding "the spiritual, ritual, intellectual, and political opportunities for women within ...

responded, demanding that the rabbi be removed from the speaking roster of a one-day conference scheduled to be held at Bnai Yeshurun. The organization's demands were met, and Pruzansky was dropped from the conference. In April 2016, the

decried Pruzansky position, noting that "while Rabbi Pruzansky raises some important points regarding sexual behavior on college campuses, the RCA rejects the tone and much of the substance of his recent comments regarding rape." On Nov 9, 2020, Pruzansky published a blog post titled, "The Way Forward," in which he spread unsubstantiated rumors and multiple debunked lies about election fraud without citing a single source for his claims. The debunked claims included, (a) that election officials filled in blank ballots; (b) that poll watchers were denied access to watching polls, despite court orders; (c) that voters were told to use a writing implement that would disqualify their ballots; (d) that election officials illegally covered the windows of their facilities so they could not be observed; (e) that statistically-impossible numbers of Biden “voters by mail” – in some cases, 100% of vote batches went for Biden; and (f) that computer “glitches” switched thousands of Trump votes to Biden votes.

Personal

Pruzansky is married to the former Karen Hausdorff, who is a speech language pathologist, and has four children, three of whom live in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

, or moved to Israel, in 2020 and is now Rabbi Emeritus of Bnai Yeshurun.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruzansky, Steven 1958 births Living people American Orthodox rabbis American Jewish theologians Jewish American writers Columbia University alumni 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis