Dan Ehrenkrantz, President of Reconstructionist Seminary To Step Down
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.
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