Dan Ehrenkrantz, President of Reconstructionist Seminary To Step Down
Image by Courtesy of Dan Ehrenkrantz
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz will step down as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
Ehrenkrantz released a statement on Thursday announcing that he would be leaving the position he held for more than a decade at the college in Wyncote, Pa.
“As I look at RRC today, I see an organization uniquely poised to lead and guide the Jewish community,” Ehrenkrantz said. “I am proud of what we have accomplished. It has been a tremendous blessing for me to advance the vision and serve the people of the Reconstructionist movement.”
Reached for comment on Thursday, Ehrenkranz stated that this is something he had been considering for some time.
Ehrenkrantz was credited in the statement for overseeing a $50 million fundraising campaign at the college, said to be the largest in the RRC’s history, and initiating its first strategic plan.
David Roberts, the chair of RRC’s board, said he reluctantly accepted the resignation and that a search committee to find a replacement will soon be convened.
Ehrenkrantz said he would be staying on in his current role as president until the search committee has selected a replacement candidate.
When asked if the school would keep its current academic direction in the future, he replied: “Ultimately that will up to the new leadership, with the board, to determine,” adding that he is “very proud and pleased of what we’ve accomplished.”
In June 2012, the Reconstructionist movement was restructured, combining the seminary and the congregational services aspect of the movement into a single institution – the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
For Ehrenkranz, this restructuring marked the completion of one of the main goals he had set for himself as head of the RCC.
“That was one of the goals that I had in my job and that the successful completion of that goal did give me a sense of satisfaction and completion. I don’t think that I would have felt good leaving until that was complete,” he said.
Ehrenkrantz is the first RRC graduate to have led the organization.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
