The "List"
A friend just e-mailed this to me, and I wanted to pop it up really quick to share. I have to admit that my knowledge of U.S. rabbis is pretty weak. I concern myself so much with the great dead teachers (Rashi, Maimonides, etc.) that I seem to forget to look in my own backyard for inspiration and teaching. But here’s what the list is all about:
Here is the second annual version of the list—generated by Michael Lynton, (chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment), Gary Ginsberg, (executive VP, global marketing and corporate affairs, News Corp.) and Jay Sanderson, (CEO and executive producer, JTN/JTN Productions)—of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. In the fall of 2006, the friends, interested in the future of American Jewry and the evolving role of the rabbi, started a conversation that eventually became “the list.” The machers ranked the rabbis based on the following unscientific criteria:
• Are they known nationally/internationally? (20 points)
• Do they have political/social influence? (20 points)
• Do they have a media presence? (10 points)
• Are they leaders within their communities? (10 points)
• Are they considered leaders in Judaism or their movements? (10 points)
• Size of their constituency (10 points)
• Have they made an impact on Judaism in their career? (10 points)
• Have they made a greater impact beyond the Jewish community and their Rabbinical training? (10 points)
You can find the list by clicking here. Taking the top five spots are a mixture of rabbis from all walks of Judaism. You’ll note that Rabbi Krinksy got knocked off his post at No. 2 by reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie, previously at No. 12. It’s interesting to me — as I’ve heard of Krinsky and Yoffie, but Marvin Hier is off my radar.
1. Marvin Hier (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #1)
Founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
2. Eric Yoffie (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #12)
President of the Union for Reform Judaism.
3. Robert Wexler (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #7)
President of the American Jewish University.
4. Yehuda Krinsky (Lubavitch)
(2007 Ranking #2)
Global leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidism.
5. David Saperstein (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #16)
Director of the Religious Action Center and the co-chair of the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty.
So share what you think about the list, or if the list means anything to you, or how you’d alter the criteria. Or if you have nothing to say, well, nu? I just thought I’d share. And for those keeping score, here’s a breakdown of affiliations (that split is Telushkin, btw). Looks like Reform takes the cake on the public sphere, eh?
Orthodox 14.5
Conservative 14.5
Reform 15
Reconstructionist 2
Renewal 2
Lubavitch 1
Hasidism 1
Reading this year’s list I realized how truly blessed and fortunate I am because I’ve actually had the opportunity to meet face-to-face and study with the following five rabbis who made this year’s list.
19. Harold M. Schulweis (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #13)
Rabbi of Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA.
30. Sharon Brous (Conservative)
NEW!
Founder of IKAR, a Los Angeles-based community focused sharply on social justice.
31. Bradley Shavit Artson (Conservative)
NEW!
Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University.
32. Kerry M. Olitzky (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #27)
One of the leading rabbinical advocates for outreach to interfaith and unaffiliated families in America.
35. Elliot Dorff (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #30)
Leader of the top lawmaking body in Conservative Judaism.
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I was also happy to see these fine rabbis make the list because they’ve all touched/influenced me in one way or another. Especially Art Green (who oddly enough, never seems the self identify as a rabbi) and of course Reb Zalman because although I’ve never actually gotten to meet him, he is by far the closest thing to a Rav that I have.
7. Irwin Kula (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #8)
Co-president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and bestselling author.
14. Harold Kushner (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #5)
Best-selling author, pulpit rabbi and speaker.
21. Joseph Telushkin (Conservative/Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #21)
Best-selling author and speaker.
23. Art Green (Renewal)
NEW!
Dean of Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School.
27. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (Renewal)
(2007 Ranking #22)
Founded the Jewish renewal movement in America.
36. Avi Weiss (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #25)
Senior rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx.
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Nice post Chavi thanks for passing this info along to our readers.
Hi, Chavi. I checked out the list and have to admit that while I was intrigued 1) by the existence of such a list and 2) by who would be on it, in the end reading it left me with the same feeling I have after reading articles with titles like "Top 100 Liberal Arts Colleges" (Will it be Amherst or Williams this year?) and "Ten Items of Clothing No Woman Should Be Without" (#1 being a black leather miniskirt). I devour such lists voraciously, then sit back and ask, "But in the end, who really cares?" Some of the rabbis on this list work at an institutional rather than a personal level and may influence people in a very indirect way. Others have written books or been on the speaker’s circuit and influenced or inspired people in a more direct way. How many of them, though, are like the rabbis with whom you study Torah, who guide you through your conversion process, host you for Shabbat and holiday meals in their homes, or provide a good model for Jewish living is less certain. Saul Berman is the Modern Orthodox gadol on the list, and I’ve heard him speak twice. He’s amazing. I wish he were closer to the top of the list. But neither he nor Marvin Hier (whose work at the Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the greatest examples of the pursuit of belated justice our generation has seen) are my greatest influences. The rabbis and other teachers in my life, like most people’s I would guess, are the ones who live quieter, less public lives, or at least more locally public lives. I’m reminded of the last paragraph of George Eliot’s Middlemarch where she describes her heroine’s life:
Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
Chag sameach!
-Shimshonit