About The Central Conference of American Rabbis
The CCAR was founded in 1889. Its members are the body of rabbis who consider themselves and are considered to be the organized rabbinate of Reform Judaism.
The CCAR enriches and strengthens the Jewish community by empowering Reform Rabbis to provide religious, spiritual and organizational leadership as it:
- Fosters excellence in Reform Rabbis
- Enhances Reform Rabbis’ professional and personal lives
- Amplifies the voice of the Reform Rabbinate in the Reform Movement, the Jewish community and the world in which we live.
Its members consist of Reform Rabbis ordained at the HUC-JIR Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, as well as Reform Rabbis ordained at liberal seminaries in Europe, and some rabbis who joined the Reform movement sometime subsequent to ordination. Most of the latter were ordained either at the Conservative Jewish Theological Seminary or the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
CCAR Press is considered to be the largest publisher of Jewish liturgy, certainly from the Reform perspective.
The CCAR also publishes a quarterly rabbinic journal: CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly.
CCAR Mission Statement
The CCAR is led by:
CCAR Elected Officers:
Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus,
President
Jonathan Stein,
Vice President
William Kuhn,
Financial Secretary
Richard Block,
Treasurer
Debra Robbins,
Recording Secretary
Shira Stern,
Membership Secretary
CCAR Rabbinic Staff:
Steven A. Fox,
Executive Vice President
Howard F. Sommer,
Director of Placement
Deborah Prinz,
Director of Program and Member Services
Hara Person,
Director of CCAR Press
Contact Information
Central Conference of American Rabbis
355 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017
(212) 972-3636
E-mail: info@ccarnet.org
Please address questions about Judaism and Jewish living to the URJ "Ask the Rabbi" service.
