Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser
rabbi@tenjfl.org
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1988. He was graduated from the Seminary’s undergraduate Joint Program with Columbia University with Bachelor’s degrees in Liturgy (JTS) and Religious Studies (Columbia), and holds both an M.A. and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Seminary. He has served as the Daniel Jeremy Silver Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies and is a certified Mesader Gittin (Scribe and Adjudicator of Religious Divorce).
Rabbi Prouser is editor of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism, leading its international editorial board. He has served on the Joint Bet Din of the Conservative Movement and on the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which adopted his responsa on “The Obligation to Preserve Life and the Question of Post-Mortem Organ Donation,” “Compulsory Immunization in Jewish Day Schools,” addressed to the USCJ Department of Education, and “Ana Ger Ana,” establishing the eligibility of converts to Judaism to serve on Rabbinic Courts. He has also served as President of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Queens Region, and as the Rabbinical Assembly’s liaison to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He served on the International Youth Commission of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, as well as its International Commission on Jewish Education. He was a member of the Bet Din that supervised the conversion of the Abayudaya community of Uganda.
Rabbi Prouser was the first rabbi to receive national professional certification as a Bereavement Facilitator from the American Academy of Bereavement, under the auspices of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet.
Rabbi Prouser is the author of Initial Instructions: A Translation Celebrating the Book of Genesis in Lipogram (Ben Yehuda Press), as well as Noble Soul: The Life and Legend of the Vilna Ger Tzedek, Count Walenty Potocki (Gorgias Press), and was a contributing writer for the Etz Hayim Study Companion (JPS). He co-authored Koach Ha-Berakhah: A Guide to Birkat Ha-Chammah, the Blessing of the Sun , published by the Rabbinical Assembly. He also edited the Festschrift Ra’u Or: Essays in Honor of Dr. Ora Horn Prouser. He has published articles on biblical interpretation, Jewish Law, and the Conservative Movement, which have appeared in Conservative Judaism, Kolot, Gvanim, Zeramim, United Synagogue Review, Women’s League Outlook, Times of Israel and the Political Theology Network. He is a regular editorial contributor to the New Jersey Jewish Standard and writes a weekly column, “Say Little, Do Much,” for New Orleans’ Crescent City Jewish News.
Rabbi Prouser has taken an active role in the Boy Scouts of America and its allied National Eagle Scout Association, coordinating religious services and working with an inter-faith chaplaincy team at a series of National Jamborees, as well as at the 2015 World Scout Jamboree in Kirara-Hama, Yamaguchi, Japan. Rabbi Prouser has served the Boy Scouts of American as National Jewish Chaplain, and has edited a Sabbath Eve prayerbook, Siddur Tzofeh V’Yodeya, for use at scouting events.
Rabbi Prouser has taught Talmud and Rabbinics to Solomon Schechter Day School students, as well as Bible, Responsa Literature, and Jewish Medical Ethics to rabbinical and cantorial students at the Academy for Jewish Religion.
Rabbi Prouser is married to Professor Ora Horn Prouser. They are the parents of three grown children, and have proudly welcomed two grandchildren.
Rabbi Joseph Prouser joined our community in 2012.
Read more about Rabbi Prouser in the Jewish Standard.
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