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William Harry Lebeau (born 1938) is an American rabbi, former Dean of The Rabbinical School, Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the Department of Professional Skills, and Lecturer of Professional Skills at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America of Conservative Judaism in New York City.
Rabbi Lebeau was born in Ohio in 1938. [ citation needed ] He was raised in Akron and graduated from Buchtel High School in 1955. [1]
Rabbi Lebeau was ordained at JTS in 1964, having earned his bachelor's degree from New York University in 1959 and a master's degree from JTS in Jewish studies in 1962. Rabbi Lebeau and his wife, Beverly, have five children and fourteen grandchildren. [2]
Lebeau stepped down at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) on July 1, 2007. [3] He was succeeded by Rabbi Daniel S. Nevins. [4] During his tenure as Dean, Rabbi Lebeau expanded enrollment in The Rabbinical School. [2]
Lebeau started his career at JTS in 1988 as Vice Chancellor for Rabbinic Development, and served two stints as dean of The Rabbinical School, from 1993-1999 and since June 2002. [3] He has been an advocate for students studying in Israel as part of their rabbinic training. [5] Rabbi Lebeau has also written on the subject of rabbinic training, including On Becoming a Conservative Rabbi. [6]
As a congregational rabbi, he served three communities over a period of 24 years, beginning with two years as a chaplain in the United States Navy and Marine Corps. His first pulpit position was in Port Jefferson Station, New York, where he grew the congregation from 50 to 750 members during his 13-year tenure. He later served for ten years as the rabbi of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, Illinois before joining the JTS faculty. [2] Rabbi Lebeau was also a race car driver for a short period of time, due to a birthday gift from a close friend that supported the cost of driving school, and helped Rabbi Lebeau fulfill a dream of his. He placed second in a race, losing narrowly to a professional race car driver. [ citation needed ]
Conservative Judaism is a Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations, more than from divine revelation. It therefore views Jewish law, or halakha, as both binding and subject to historical development. The conservative rabbinate employs modern historical-critical research, rather than only traditional methods and sources, and lends great weight to its constituency, when determining its stance on matters of practice. The movement considers its approach as the authentic and most appropriate continuation of halakhic discourse, maintaining both fealty to received forms and flexibility in their interpretation. It also eschews strict theological definitions, lacking a consensus in matters of faith and allowing great pluralism.
The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards for the Conservative movement. It organizes conferences and coordinates the Joint Placement Commission of the Conservative movement. Members of the RA serve as rabbis, educators, community workers and military and hospital chaplains around the world.
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies. The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the most significant collections of Judaica in the world.
Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism.
Joel Roth is a prominent American rabbi in the Rabbinical Assembly, which is the rabbinical body of Conservative Judaism. He is a former member and chair of the assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) which deals with questions of Jewish law and tradition, and serves as the Louis Finkelstein Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City, where he formerly served as dean of the Rabbinical School. He is also Rosh Yeshiva of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, an institution founded and maintained by the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism and under the academic auspices of JTS. In 2006, Rabbi Roth took over as chair of the Hebrew Language department at JTS. Rabbi Roth is a well-known teacher of Hebrew grammar. He is a vociferous proponent of the existence of the "sheva merakhef".
Saul Lieberman, also known as Rabbi Shaul Lieberman or, among some of his students, The Gra"sh, was a rabbi and a Talmudic scholar. He served as Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA) for over 40 years, and for many years was dean of the Harry Fischel Institute in Israel and also president of the American Academy for Jewish Research.
David Golinkin is an American-born conservative rabbi and Jewish scholar who has lived in Jerusalem since 1972. He is President of the Schechter Institutes, Inc., President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and Professor of Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Israel.
Amy Eilberg is the first female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism. She was ordained in 1985 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, one of the academic centers and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism.
Gordon Tucker is a prominent rabbi, with a reputation as both a political and a theological liberal in Conservative Judaism. He is the former senior rabbi of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York. Since September 2020, he has served as the Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Ismar Schorsch is the Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish history.
Criticism of Conservative Judaism is widespread in the Orthodox Jewish community, although the movement also has its critics in Reform Judaism and in other streams of Judaism. While the Conservative movement professes fidelity to Jewish tradition, it considers Halakha to be a dynamic process that needs reinterpreting in modern times. The criticism by Orthodox Jews and traditionalists within the movement itself revolves around the following:
Daniel S. ("Danny") Nevins is an American rabbi and a leader in the Conservative Movement who is head of school at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, NJ On January 29, 2007, Rabbi Nevins was named the Dean of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, succeeding Rabbi William Lebeau. In 2021, it was announced that Rabbi Nevins would be stepping down as dean of the JTS Rabbinical School. He was previously the spiritual leader of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he served for 13 years in his first pulpit. He is an authority on Jewish Law who co-authored a responsum that was passed by the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards paving the way for the Conservative Movement to allow gay marriage and to ordain lesbian and gay rabbis.
Harry Halpern was an American religious and community leader, a powerful orator, a respected religious educator, and a prominent Conservative rabbi who served for almost 49 years as the rabbi of the East Midwood Jewish Center (EMJC), in Brooklyn, New York.
Gerson David Cohen was a Jewish historian, a Conservative rabbi, and the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America from 1972–86. He was born in New York in 1924 and graduated from City College of New York in 1944. Cohen received his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and rabbinic ordination (1948) from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He received his Ph.D. in Semitic Languages at Columbia University in 1958.
Mychal Springer is a rabbi and the manager of Clinical Pastoral Education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Burton L. Visotzky is an American rabbi and scholar of midrash. He is the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).
Sylvia Cutler Ettenberg was a Jewish educator at the forefront of many Conservative Jewish educational initiatives and was one of the founders of the Camp Ramah camping movement. A graduate of Brooklyn College and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), she was invited by JTS Chancellor Louis Finkelstein to join the JTS administration in 1946. Ettenberg served as registrar and oversaw the development of the Teachers Institute and Seminary College of JTS. Along with Rabbi Moshe Davis, a dean at JTS, she was responsible for establishing the Ramah camping movement as a program of JTS. She was also instrumental in founding JTS's supplementary high school (Prozdor) program, its Melton Research Center, and, later, its William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, and she played a key role in the development of List College's joint program with Columbia University. Sylvia Ettenberg died on June 21, 2012
Rabbi Michael B. Greenbaum was the Vice Chancellor and Chief operating officer of The Jewish Theological Seminary. He is also an assistant professor of Educational Administration, teaching courses in nonprofit management, leadership theory and practice, and the history of the Conservative Movement.
Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at the Hadar institute, which he founded in 2006 with Rabbis Elie Kaunfer and Ethan Tucker.
North Suburban Synagogue Beth El is a large Conservative Jewish synagogue. It is located on a 6-1/2 acre campus overlooking Lake Michigan at 1175 Sheridan Road in Highland Park, Illinois. Beth El was founded in 1946 following a series of parlor meetings in Glencoe, Illinois, initiated by Benjamin and Gertrude Harris. The synagogue was incorporated as an Illinois not-for-profit corporation in 1947 with Arnold P. Natenberg as its first president.