As part of the Orthodox Union Centennial Celebration we are proud to pay tribute to...

Rabbi Yosef Adler has been dedicated to educating Jewish youth ever since receiving semicha from Yeshiva University more than 20 years ago. For over twenty years, he has served as the spiritual leader of Teaneck’s Congregation Rinat Yisrael. And for the last seven years he has also served as Principal of the Torah Academy of Bergen County.

His previous positions include Associate Principal of the Hillel Yeshiva High School in Deal, NJ, Instructor of Judaic Studies and American History at the Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus, NJ and Director of the Summer Kollel Institute at Manhattan’s Lincoln Square Synagogue.

Rabbi Adler is a former President of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County and a current member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the Executive Board of the Orthodox Caucus. He and his wife, Sheryl, have four children: Dov (married to Batsheva), Zvi, Chedva and Michal.

Rabbi Moshe Bomzer is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob in Albany and is truly a leader in the Jewish community of New York’s capital region. He serves as Rav HaMachshir of the Vaad Hakashruth of the Capital District, working with the area’s Eruv, Chevra Kadisha, Mikveh and Bet Din in addition to dealing with kashruth issues. And he has authored numerous publications.

Rabbi Bomzer’s other professional roles include mashgiach for area OU certified companies, teacher at the Maimonides Day, junior high and high schools and Jewish Chaplain for St. Peter’s Hospital, the Albany Correctional Facility and the Teresian House Facility for the Aged.

A National Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Bomzer also serves on the Governor’s Kashruth Advisory Board, as Chairman of the Chaplaincy Committee for the Capital District Board of Rabbis, Co-Chair of the Jewish Student Services of the United Jewish Federation, Executive Member of the United Jewish Federation of Northeast New York, Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee for the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home and Rabbinic Co-Chair of NCSY’s Har Sinai region.

Rabbi Bomzer received his semicha from Yeshiva University and studied in the kollel of Rav Hershel Schecter. He earned a masters degree in Jewish Philosophy from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School and a master of social work degree from Barry University in Florida. Rabbi Bomzer and his wife, Rochel, have six children and one grandson.

Rabbi Dr. Reuven P. Bulka is a noted scholar, author and editor who has published over 30 books as well as countless articles in professional journals for the fields of religion, health and psychology. Since 1967, he has served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Machzikei Hadas, in Ottawa.

Rabbi Bulka is the host of both a television series – "In Good Faith" – and a radio call-in program, "Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka." Founder of Clergy for a United Canada, Rabbi Bulka also serves as Chairman of the Publications Committee for the Rabbinical Council of America as well as Chairman of the National Rabbinic Cabinet for State of Israel Bonds and Chairman of the Organ Donation Committee for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Eastern Ontario Branch.. He is President of the International Rabbinic Forum of Keren HaYesod and Chairman of the Religious and Inter-Religious Affairs Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Rabbi Bulka is a chaplain for the Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion and is a board member of the Ottowa Regional Cancer Centre Foundation. He also chairs the Religious Advisory Committee for the United Way of Ottowa-Carlton.

Married to Naomi Jakobovits, Rabbi Bulka is the father of five children: Yocheved Ruth (married to Moshe Shonek), Shmuel Refael (married to Chani Hook), Rena Dvorah (married to Yehuda Levy), Eliezer Menachem and Binyamin David. He received his semicha from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Rabbinical Seminary in New York and his Ph.D. (with a concentration in the Logotherapy of Viktor Frankl) from the University of Ottawa.

Rabbi Mark Dratch

Rabbi Mark Dratch is the spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford and a Judaic Studies instructor at Yeshiva University’s Isaac Breuer College. He has previously served in pulpits in Toronto, New York, Schenectady and Boca Raton.

Rabbi Dratch has published many articles in scholarly and popular journals on the interface between Jewish Law and contemporary society. He has also authored numerous divrei Torah for rabbinic journals. Rabbi Dratch has a special interest and expertise in the halachic issues surrounding child abuse and domestic violence and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and Abuse.

In 1993, Rabbi Dratch addressed the first international rabbinic conference on child abuse and domestic violence. His discourse on the halachic implications of family violence has been used by a number of organizations including the Rabbinical Council of America, Jewish Family and Children’s Services throughout North America and Jewish Women International. He has collaborated with the Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Toronto on a five-part training video for faith leaders. Rabbi Dratch also participated in "Broken Vows," a video dealing with family violence in faith communities, produced by the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence in Seattle, where he is a member of the Jewish Advisory Committee.

Rabbi Dratch received his B.A. from Yeshiva College of Yeshiva University. He earned his M.S. in Jewish Education from the University’s Ferkauf Graduate School and received his semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

Recording Secretary for the Rabbinical Council of America as well as for the Rabbinic Alumni of RIETS, Rabbi Dratch is also a member of the Orthodox Caucus and a board member of the American Friends of Nishmat. In addition, Rabbi Dratch serves as a "Vebbe Rebbe," answering halachic questions sent in to the Orthodox Union website.

Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt

Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt is the spiritual leader of the Queens Jewish Center in Forest Hills, where he has served since 1967. He is also an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies at Touro College, a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America’s (RCA) Quebec Region and a co-founder of Yeshiva Gedola in Montreal.

Rabbi Grunblatt served as chairman of the rabbinic delegation to the Joint Kashruth Committee of the Orthodox Union (OU) and the RCA. He is chairman of the Vaad Hakavod of the RCA and is a past president of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. Rabbi Grunblatt is also a member of the OU Board of Directors and Youth Commission as well as the Editorial Board of Jewish Action magazine.

Author of the book, Exile and Redemption – Meditations on Jewish History, Rabbi Grunblatt has also published articles in a variety of publications and has been a frequent guest on the local radio program, "Taste of Torah." Rabbi Grunblatt studied at the Musmach Yeshiva and the Mesivta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn. He completed Advanced Rabbinic Studies at Beth Midrash Elyon in Monsey, received his B.A. (cum laude) from City College and attended graduate courses at the New School for Social Research in New York and McGill University in Canada.

Rabbi Dr. Basil F. Herring

Rabbi Dr. Basil F. Herring is the spiritual leader of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, where he has served since 1986. He is Executive Chairman of the Orthodox Caucus, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). In addition, Rabbi Herring serves as an Executive Consultant and Orthodox Union (OU) liaison to Slim Fast Foods, Inc.

Rabbi Herring is the author of numerous articles and widely-used textbooks on Jewish ethics, philosophy and halacha. He is also the editor of The Rabbinate as Calling and Vocation: Models of Rabbinic Leadership, and The Prenuptial Agreement: Halakhic, Legal & Pastoral Considerations. Rabbi Herring has also served as editor and publisher of the newsletter, Rabbinics Today, as well as editor of The RCA Record newsletter.

After studying at Yeshivat Kerem Beyavneh in Israel, Rabbi Herring received his B.A. in Philosophy from Yeshiva College and his semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). He earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. Rabbi Herring and his wife have four children.

Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick

Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom of Rochester. His influence runs deep throughout the entire Rochester Jewish community. Rabbi Kilimnick serves on the boards of the Jewish Family Service, the Israel Department of the Jewish Federation, Ora Academy (Rochester's Jewish High School for girls) and Hillel Community Day School. He is the Rabbinic Chairman of the local Israel Bonds committee, Chairman of the Holocaust Commission, and the Youth Commission of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth’s Upstate New York division. Rabbi Kilimnick is also the chaplain and religious coordinator of the Jewish Home of Rochester.

Nationally, Rabbi Kilimnick has served as the Orthodox Rabbi for the B'nai Brith Youth Organization camp in Starlite, PA. He is also a member of the Rabbinic Cabinets of the UJA and the National Israel Bonds Organization and has been a vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America, where he continues to be an active member. In July 1999, Rabbi Kilimnick and his wife, Nechie, were invited to a State Dinner at the White House in honor of Prime-Minisher of Israel Ehud Barak.

Rabbi Kilimnick holds semicha from Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Toronto, Canada. Rabbi and Mrs. Kilimnick have five children: Yosef (married to Suzan Karan), Shifron (married to Lauri Steckler), Tzipora (married to Ari Hornstein), Dovid and Avi. They also have three grandchildren: Doni, Eli and Tova Ilana.

Rabbi Zevulun (Sidney) Lieberman has served for the past 40 years as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Torah in Brooklyn. Chairman of the Sephardic Rabbinical Council, Rabbi Lieberman is also the Av Beth Din of the Syrian Beth Din – where he previously served as administering Dayan – and the immediate past president of the Flatbush Board of Rabbis.

A graduate of Yeshiva College of Yeshiva University (YU), Rabbi Lieberman received both his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University’s Ferkhauf Graduate School. He earned his semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

Recipient of a Bernard Revel Memorial Award for Jewish Education, Rabbi Lieberman served as general studies principal at the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School, as headmaster at the Ramaz Upper School and as Rosh Yeshiva/Principal at the Hillel High School. Named the Maybaum Chair Professor of Sephardic Studies, Talmud and Halacha at Yeshiva University’s Azrielli Graduate School, Rabbi Lieberman is also a professor of education and has taught at YU’s Teachers Institute for Women.

A native Bostonian, Rabbi Yisroel Miller studied at Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, NJ, where he also taught at the Beis Kaila High School for Girls. In 1978, he moved to Pittsburgh as a founding member of the Pittsburgh Community Kollel.

In 1985, Rabbi Miller became the spiritual leader of Pittsburgh's Poale Zedeck Congregation and – in that same year – founded the city's Orthodox chevra kadisha. He is currently the acting chairman of the Pittsburgh Vaad Horabbonim, a member of the steering committee of the United Jewish Federation's Jewish Unity Project and a member of the board of directors of Pittsburgh's Hillel Academy. Rabbi Miller was the recipient of the Pittsburgh United Jewish Federation's 1999 Rabbinic Leadership Award.

Rabbi Miller has served on the Pittsburgh Holocaust Memorial Committee, the Community Relations Committee of United Jewish Federation and was an officer of Pittsburgh's Jewish Family and Children's Service. He spoke at the inaugurations of Pittsburgh's current mayor and Pennsylvania's current governor, served as scholar-in-residence at the Conference of Rabbis of the Provinces of Great Britain and has lectured in many communities in this country and abroad.

Rabbi Miller is the author of four books: Guardian of Eden, What's Wrong with Being Human?, What's Wrong with Being Happy? And A Gift for Yom Tov. Rabbi Miller and his wife, Debbie Rubinstein– daughter of the late Rabbi Leib Rubinstein of Glasgow – are the proud parents of eleven children.

Since 1996, Rabbi Adam Mintz has served as the Senior Rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan after spending four years as Associate Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun – also in New York City. During that period, he was also a Talmud teacher at the Ramaz Upper School.

Rabbi Mintz received his semicha and advanced Yadin Yadin semicha at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Rabbinical Seminary (RIETS) of Yeshiva University. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva College in New York and his M.A. in medieval Jewish history from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University. Rabbi Mintz is currently a doctoral candidate in early modern Jewish history at New York University, where he is researching the life and works of Rabbi David Oppenheim, the early eighteenth century chief rabbi of Prague.

Rabbi Mintz has published extensively in scholarly journals in the areas of Jewish law and Jewish history. He is married to Sharon Liberman, who is Assistant Curator of Jewish Art at the library of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. They have three children: Noam, Ariel and Shoshana.

Since assuming the pulpit in 1962, the Vienna born Rabbi Arthur Schneier has built Park East Synagogue, one of the oldest modern Orthodox congregations in New York City, into a major Torah institution and social center and at the same time earned international recognition for his leadership on behalf of human rights and religious freedom.

A holocaust survivor, Rabbi Schneier has been one of the pioneers in the struggle on behalf of Soviet Jewry and the revival of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. President Bush and Clinton appointed him Chairman of the US Commission for the preservation of synagogues and cemeteries with Ukraine and other Eastern European Countries. President Reagan appointed him as US Alternate Representative to the United Nations. As part of President Clinton’s delegation to China, he met President Jiang Zemin and top Chinese Government officials to open a dialogue on religious freedom. He was instrumental in the restoration of the Shanghai Ohel Rachel Synagogue that was used as a warehouse for almost five decades and during the Presidential Summit in China Rabbi Schneier presented the Shanghai expatriate congregation with a Torah scroll donated by Park East Synagogue.

In 1965, Rabbi Schneier founded the inter-religious Appeal of Conscience Foundation that works on behalf of religious freedom and human rights. The "rabbi-diplomat" has met with top political and religious leaders all over the world to promote peace and tolerance. He has had ongoing contacts with prime ministers of Israel on vital issues affecting the state of Israel. Rabbi Schneier was involved in conflict resolution in the Balkans that brought together political and religious leaders in an effort to halt the bloodshed in Sarajevo and Kosovo and to bring about healing and conciliation. He was an international observer to the Russian Parliamentary and Presidential elections in 1993, 1995 and 1999. More recently he galvanized the American religious community in support of the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey.

In 1978, he founded the Park East Day School and the Minskoff Cultural Center. The Day School, now bearing his name, has over 300 students from early childhood through 8^th grade who receive an excellent general and Jewish education.

Rabbi Schneier served as President of the Religious Zionists of America and is Honorary Chairman of the World Jewish Congress - American Section, which he served as chairman for five years. A member of the Board of Directors of the Joint Distribution Committee, HIAS, Union of the Jewish Orthodox Organizations, and the United Israel Appeal, he is also in the leadership of the conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Rabbi Schneier is also a member of Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Distinguished alumnus of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Arthur Schneier holds many honorary degrees from US and European Universities. In 1996 Yeshiva University honored him by establishing the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Chair in International Relations.

Rabbi Schneier is married to Elisabeth Nordmann Schneier has a son, Rabbi Marc Schneier, a daughter, Karen Dresbach, and five grandchildren.

For the past decade, Rabbi Harvey Well has served as spiritual leader of Congregation Or Torah in Skokie. And, since 1978, he has also been Superintendent of Schools for the Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago. In addition, Rabbi Well is a professor of education at the Jewish University of America – also in Skokie.

Rabbi Well received his B.H.L. (Bachelor of Hebrew Literature) from Hebrew Theological College in Skokie. He earned his B.A. – with honors – at Chicago’s Roosevelt University and both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Administration and his General Administrative Certificate and Superintendent’s Certificate from Loyola University in Chicago.

A noted rabbi educator, Rabbi Well has taught in both elementary and high school settings and continues to teach courses to high school seniors and adults. In his distinguished career, he has served as program director for Camp Moshava, principal of the Akiba Jewish Day School, acting principal of the Ida Crown Jewish Academy and coordinator of Israel Experience programs. He has also served as spiritual leader of Congregation Agudath Achim of South Shore and has authored numerous publications in the areas of Jewish Education and Jewish thought.

Rabbi Well and his wife, Vivien, have four children.

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