Joseph Ehrenkranz

Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz was a leading North American Orthodox rabbi. He received his ordination at Yeshiva University in 1949, and made Aliyah to Israel in 2011.

Ehrenkranz was the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Connecticut where, from 1948 until 1992, he served as the Congregation's spiritual leader and built it into a large, influential and dynamic Orthodox community.

From 1992 until his retirement in July 2007 he was the Executive Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, of which he was one of the co-founders. He was replaced by Rabbi Eugene Korn. He is known for the prominent role which he has played in Jewish-Catholic dialogue.

He was the Synagogue Council of America's representative to the United Nations.

On October 14, 2010, he was presented with CCJU's prestigious Nostra Aetate Award for "his outstanding contributions to a world at peace."

He was a cousin by marriage and close advisor to former Senator Joe Lieberman, and his work was praised by Pope John Paul II. Among his grandchildren, is actor Ricky Ullman.

Rabbi Ehrenkranz was born in Newark, NJ on May 7, 1926, and died in Tel Aviv on February 23, 2014.*

Publications

• Interfaith Dialogue: The Theory and the Practice (with Rabbi Eugene Korn)
• 'Religion, Woman and Family' http://www.qatar-conferences.org/new-dialogue/english/religionwoman.pdf

References

• http://www.congregationagudathsholom.org/rabbiehrenkranz.htm
• "Congregation Agudath Sholom, Orthodox," The American Synagogue (Greenwood Publishing Group)
• Obituary in Stamford Advocate on February 25, 2014