The OU will honor Rabbi Grunblatt as well as 11 other outstanding rabbis and their congregations who have made unique contributions to Orthodox Jewish life in America. Rabbi Grunblatt will also be the keynote speaker at the dinner.

"Rabbi Grunblatt is an impressive community and spiritual leader who has made an enormous contribution to Jewish life," said Mandell I. Ganchrow, M.D., President of the OU.

Rabbi Grunblatt is 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.

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.

"We cannot overemphasize the importance of rabbis, synagogues and communal institutions working in concert to insure a thriving Orthodoxy," said Rabbi Raphael B. Butler, Executive Vice President of the OU. "The Orthodox Union acknowledges the synagogue as the focus of Jewish communal life. Each community is built around a vibrant synagogue led by a dynamic rabbi. It is that leadership that we are proud to honor."

The honorees include: Rabbi Yosef Adler (Congregation Rinat Yisroel, Teaneck) Rabbi Moshe Bomzer (Congregation Beth Abraham Jacob, Albany); Rabbi Reuven Bulka (Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa); Rabbi Mark Dratch (Agudath Sholom, Stamford); Rabbi Dr. Basil F. Herring (Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach); Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick (Beth Sholom, Rochester); Rabbi Zvulun (Sidney) Lieberman (Beth Torah Congregation, Brooklyn); Rabbi Yisroel Miller (Poale Zedeck Congregation, Pittsburgh); Rabbi Adam Mintz (Lincoln Square Synagogue, New York); Rabbi Arthur Schneier (Park East Synagogue, New York); and Rabbi Harvey Well (Or Torah Congregation, Skokie).

For dinner reservations, please contact Steven Karp at (212) 613-8134.