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Arnold M. Eisen (born 1951) is an American Judaic scholar who wasChancellor of theJewish Theological Seminary inNew York. He stepped down at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year.[1] Prior to this appointment, he served as the Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion and chair of the Department of Religious Studies atStanford University. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 1986, he taught atTel Aviv University andColumbia University.[2]
In 2006, Eisen was appointed as the seventh chancellor of TheJewish Theological Seminary, replacingIsmar Schorsch. Eisen is the second non-rabbi, afterCyrus Adler, to hold this post. He is also the first person with asocial science background to serve as chancellor; previous chancellors had backgrounds inJewishhistory orTalmud. He took office as chancellor-elect on July 1, 2007, the day after Schorsch stepped down, and assumed the position full-time on July 1, 2008.
Since his appointment in 2007, he has increased JTS's impact on the communities it serves by transforming the education of religious leadership for Conservative Judaism; articulating a new vision for JTS; guiding the formulation of a strategic plan to implement that vision; and developing innovative programs in synagogue arts and practices, adult education, pastoral care, Jewish thought, inter-religious dialogue, and the arts. His initiatives include new curricula for, and synergy among, all of JTS's five schools; the Institute for Jewish Learning at JTS (and its flagship program Context); the interfaith Center for Pastoral Education at JTS; and the Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought. By 2011, his Mitzvah Initiative will involve some 75 congregations in a process of reflection upon "commandment, commandedness, and the Commander."[3]
Eisen served in the Department of Religious Studies atStanford University, the Department of Jewish Philosophy atTel Aviv University, and the Department of Religion atColumbia University. Eisen earned a PhD in the History of Jewish Thought from Hebrew University, a BPhil in the Sociology of Religion atOxford University, and a BA in Religious Thought from theUniversity of Pennsylvania. He was a student of ProfessorSamuel Tobias Lachs.[4] He previously served as senior lecturer at theTel Aviv University and assistant professor atColumbia University.
He believes thatAmerican Jews feel connected to Jewish ritual but maintain autonomy to decide what to practice and thus many do not attendsynagogue regularly.[citation needed]
Eisen is a recognized expert in religious change and the modern transformation ofJewish religious belief and practice. He is also one of the world's foremost experts in the sociology of American Judaism. For the past twenty years, he has worked closely with synagogue and federation leadership around the country to analyze and address the issues of Jewish identity, the revitalization of Jewish tradition, and the redefinition of the American Jewish community.[citation needed]
Eisen sits on the board of directors of the Tanenbaum Center, the Covenant Foundation, and the Taube Foundation, and chairs the steering committee of the Academic Consortium. He is married to Adriane Leveen, a professor of theHebrew Bible (Tanakh) at theReform Judaism movement'sHebrew Union College. They have two children together .[4]
His recent publications include a personal essay,Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America (1997), which addresses the renewal of Jewish community and commitment in America through a series of five essays built around the Five Books of Moses; a historical work about the origins of contemporary dilemmas concerning these issues, entitledRethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community (1998); andThe Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America (2000), co-authored with sociologistSteven M. Cohen (2000), which examines the meanings of Judaism and Jewish belonging to contemporary American Jews.
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