Conservative Rabbinical Group Appoints Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal As Its New Head

Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, chief executive of the Rabbinical Assembly. Image by Courtesy

By Josefin Dolsten April 12, 2019

(JTA) — The Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly appointed Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal as its new chief executive.

Blumenthal, the spiritual leader at Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, Maryland, will start in July, the organization announced Thursday.

He succeeds Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the first woman to serve as chief executive of a major rabbinical organization. She announced in March 2018 that she was stepping down.

Blumenthal, 52, started working at Shaare Torah after being ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999, when the synagogue was in its startup phase. The congregation now counts 300 families among its members.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO