Biography of Rabbi Daniel Brenner
Rabbi Daniel Brenner
Daniel S. Brenner was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, studied in Jerusalem at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, and earned both an M.A. and rabbinic title from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
After rabbinical school, Brenner continued his studies with the Modern Orthodox theologian Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and went on to serve on the faculty of CLAL- The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership from 1998 – 2003. At CLAL he authored works on medical ethics with Joseph Fins MD (Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College) and Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard (Embracing Life and Facing Death, A Jewish Guide to Palliative Care, 2002. Preface by Senator Joe Lieberman) on spirituality with the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and on a variety of Jewish topics for periodicals including The Forward, Spirituality & Health, Beliefnet, and The Jewish Week. Brenner also served as co-director of CLAL’s program for rabbinical and graduate students.
In 2003, Brenner became the first Rabbi to direct a center of learning at Auburn Theological Seminary, a historic Presbyterian seminary on Manhttan’s Upper West side. At Auburn, Brenner spearheaded the creation of the nation’s first doctoral level program for clergy who work in the context of religious diversity, developed a program for religious leaders with Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Science and Religion, and created a religious diversity curricula for Face to Face/Faith to Faith, Auburn’s international youth leadership program. Brenner’s essay about the challenges of educating Presbyterians about the Jewish community’s relationship to Israel garnered him a Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.
In 2007, Brenner became the vice president, education of the Birthright Israel Foundation and the founding executive director of Birthright Israel NEXT, an organization dedicated to engaging young adults in Jewish community life. Under his guidance, Birthright Israel NEXT grew to become a national organization with programs that reached over 50,000 young Jewish adults each year. As part of this effort, Brenner launched Next Shabbat, a grassroots program that sponsored over 20,000 home-hospitality events, brought on HBO Def Poetry Jam artist Vanessa Hidary to direct The Birthright Monologues and worked with Nextbook and Toby Press to develop the anthology “What We Brought Back.” In 2009, he was named by Newsweek Magazine as one of America’s fifty most influential rabbis.
In 2011, Brenner left Birthright Israel to join the Jewish educational organization Moving Traditions. During the past decade, Brenner has trained over three hundred men for a national mentorship program for teen boys, entitled Shevet, has led professional development seminars for youth group, day school, and summer camp professionals, and designed a pioneering B’nai Mitzvah education program for families.
In addition to being a Rabbi, Brenner is a published playwright and essayist and his commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Jerusalem Post, KtB, Huffington Post, Iconia and NPR’s Infinite Mind. In 2012, he had the pleasure of serving as the official Rabbi for the Wall Street Journal’s Passover wine tasting, an event that may have indirectly led to his launching the dance craze Klezmer Aerobics.
Wikipedia entry: Daniel Brenner
A NOTE ON MY RABBINIC AND CHAPLAINCY WORK
For the last twenty years, I have been an active member and volunteer at Congregation B’nai Keshet in Montclair, NJ. I currently serve as the Rabbi for the New York based project Because Jewish, leading holiday events and Friday Night Jams and occasionally serve as a scholar-in-residence at other congregations, officiate at baby naming ceremonies, weddings or funerals, or serve in other rabbinic capacities. I have served as a community rabbi of String of Pearls Congregation, Princeton, NJ (2000-2007) and Mishkan Ha’Am, Westchester, NY (1998-2000) ; I’ve served as a high holiday rabbi for both Congregation T’chiya (Detroit) and Kehillath Shalom (Cold Spring Harbor, NY) and served as the student rabbi for Congregation B’nai Abraham, Bordentown, NJ (1995-97); during rabbinical school I was a volunteer prison chaplain at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Eagles Point, PA (1997); I worked as a nursing home chaplain at Philadelphia Geriatric Center, Philadelphia, PA (1996); and trained in the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (1995.)