39 Notable alumni of Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
Jewish Theological Seminary of America is 3551st in the world, 1st in North America, and 931st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 39 notable alumni from Jewish Theological Seminary of America sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Jewish Theological Seminary of America won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Jacob Pressman
1919-2015 (aged 96)
journalist
rabbi
Jacob "Jack" Pressman was an American Conservative rabbi. He served as the rabbi of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, California, from 1950 to 1985. He was a co-founder of the American Jewish University in Bel Air. He penned a weekly column in The Beverly Hills Courier, from 2004 to 2015.
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2. Samuel Schafler
1929-1991 (aged 62)
historian
rabbi
Samuel Schafler was a New York-born rabbi, historian, editor and Jewish educator. He was Superintendent of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago and President of Hebrew College in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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3. Seymour Siegel
1927-1988 (aged 61)
rabbi
Seymour Siegel, often referred to as "an architect of Conservative Jewish theology," was an American Conservative rabbi, a Professor of Ethics and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), the 1983–1984 Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council," and an advisor to three American presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.
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4. Harry Halpern
1899-1981 (aged 82)
rabbi
Harry Halpern was an American Conservative Jewish educator and rabbi who for almost 49 years was the rabbi of the East Midwood Jewish Center (EMJC), in Brooklyn, New York.
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5. Jack Moline
1952-. (aged 74)
rabbi
Jack Moline is an American Conservative rabbi who retired as executive director of Interfaith Alliance in 2022, having served in the post since January 2015.
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6. Ben Zion Bokser
1907-1984 (aged 77)
rabbi
Ben-Zion Bokser was a major Conservative rabbi in the United States.
7. Philip R. Alstat
1891-1976 (aged 85)
rabbi
Philip Reis Alstat was a well-known American Conservative rabbi, teacher, chaplain, speaker and writer. Born in Kaunas (formerly, Kovno), Lithuania, he came to the United States in 1898, studying at City College of New York (A.B., 1912), Columbia University (A.M., 1915), and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), where he received semikhah, rabbinic ordination, in 1920, and the Doctor...
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8. Einat Ramon
1959-. (aged 67)
assistant professor
Einat Ramon was the first Israeli-born woman to be ordained as a rabbi. She was also the first woman and the first sabra to head a Conservative rabbinical school, specifically the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem, where she was dean from 2005 to 2009. Since 2011 she no longer identifies as a rabbi, heads the Marpeh training program for spiritual...
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9. Rose Halprin
1896-1978 (aged 82)
social worker
Rose Luria Halprin was an American Zionist leader and National President of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. In addition to her two terms as Hadassah president, she also served on the Zionist General Council, American Zionist Emergency Council, American Jewish Conference, and the Jewish Agency for Palestine. As part of the American section for the Jewish Agency, she...
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10. Steven Rubenstein
1962-2012 (aged 50)
anthropologist
Steven Lee Rubenstein was an American anthropologist. He was reader in Latin American Anthropology at the University of Liverpool, and Director of Liverpool's Research Institute of Latin American Studies.
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11. Joel Rappel
1946-. (aged 80)
historian
Judaic scholar
Yoel Rappel also known as Joel Rappel, is an Israeli historian who specializes in the study of Jewish history and the evolution of Jewish prayer.
12. Irwin Kula
1957-. (aged 69)
rabbi
Irwin Kula is an American rabbi and author, currently serving as the president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL). In 2008, he was listed as 7th in Newsweek's "50 most influential rabbis" list, and the following year he was listed in 10th position.
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13. Bradley Shavit Artson
1959-. (aged 67)
rabbi
philosopher
Bradley Shavit Artson is an American rabbi, author and speaker. He holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, California, where he is also Vice-President. He supervises the Louis and Judith Miller Introduction to Judaism Program and provides educational and religious oversight for two Camp...
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14. David Golinkin
1955-. (aged 71)
rabbi
David Golinkin is an American-born Conservative rabbi and Jewish scholar who has lived in Jerusalem since 1972. As of July 1, 2025, he is President Emeritus of the Schechter Institutes, Inc., President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, and Professor of Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
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15. Herman Berlinski
1910-2001 (aged 91)
conductor
pianist
choir director
composer
organist
Herman Berlinski was a German-born American composer, organist, pianist, musicologist and choir conductor.
16. David Novak
1941-. (aged 85)
rabbi
philosopher
university teacher
theologian
David Novak, FRSC is an American Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology,...
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17. Jacob Milgrom
1923-2010 (aged 87)
university teacher
rabbi
writer
Jacob Milgrom was a prominent American Jewish Bible scholar and Conservative rabbi. Milgrom's major contribution to biblical research was in the field of cult and worship. Although he accepted the documentary hypothesis, contrary to the classical bible critics, he traced a direct line of development from the Priestly Code (P), to the Holiness Code (H), to the cultic innovations of...
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18. Miriam Glazer-Ta'asa
1929-. (aged 97)
pedagogue
educator
politician
Miriam Glazer-Ta'asa is an Israeli former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1981 and 1988, and as Deputy Minister of Education and Culture from 1981 until 1984.
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19. Abraham Skorka
1950-. (aged 76)
chemist
writer
priest
biophysicist
rabbi
Abraham Skorka is an Argentine biophysicist, rabbi and book author. He is rector emeritus of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, the rabbi of the Jewish community Benei Tikva, professor of biblical and rabbinic literature at the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano and honorary professor of Hebrew Law at the Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires.
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20. Marshall Meyer
1930-1993 (aged 63)
rabbi
Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer was an American Conservative rabbi who became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina from 1958 to 1984, during the period of the "Dirty War" in the 1970s. He was elected by president Raúl Alfonsín to be one of the members of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. After...
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21. Arnold Resnicoff
1946-. (aged 80)
rabbi
military officer
Arnold E. Resnicoff is an American Conservative rabbi who served as a military officer and military chaplain. He served in Vietnam and Europe before attending rabbinical school. He then served in the United States Navy Chaplain Corps for almost 25 years, ultimately attaining the rank of captain. He promoted the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and delivered the closing...
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22. Arthur Hertzberg
1921-2006 (aged 85)
writer
rabbi
Arthur Hertzberg was a Conservative rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist.
23. Louis Finkelstein
1895-1991 (aged 96)
Rabbinic literature scholar
rabbi
Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism.
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24. Arthur Green
1941-. (aged 85)
rabbi
Arthur Green is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston. He describes himself as an American Jew who was educated entirely by the generation of immigrant Jewish intellectuals cast up on American shores by World War II.
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25. Joseph Hertz
1872-1946 (aged 74)
rabbi
writer
translator
Joseph Herman Hertz CH was a British Rabbi and biblical scholar. He held the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and the Holocaust.
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26. Gordon Tucker
1951-. (aged 75)
rabbi
Gordon Tucker is a prominent rabbi, with a reputation as both a political and a theological liberal in Conservative Judaism. He is the former senior rabbi of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York. Since September 2020, he has served as the Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
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27. Albert L. Lewis
1917-2008 (aged 91)
writer
rabbi
Rabbi Albert L. Lewis was a leading American Conservative rabbi, scholar, and author; President of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international organization of Conservative rabbis; and Vice-President of The World Council of Synagogues. In 2009, the award-winning author, Mitch Albom, wrote about Lewis, his childhood rabbi, as the main character in the non-fiction book, Have a Little Faith. The book,...
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28. Daniel Gordis
1959-. (aged 67)
writer
rabbi
Daniel Gordis is an American-born Israeli author. He is Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem, where he previously was Senior Vice President and Chair of the Core Curriculum.
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29. Abraham Foxman
1940-. (aged 86)
lawyer
author
Abraham Henry Foxman is an American lawyer and activist. He served as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from 1987 to 2015, and is currently the organization's national director emeritus. From 2016 to 2021 he served as vice chair of the board of trustees at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City in order to lead...
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30. David Wolpe
1958-. (aged 68)
rabbi
David J. Wolpe is an American rabbi. He was Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School and is now the Max Webb Rabbi Emeritus of Sinai Temple. He previously taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and UCLA. Wolpe was named the most influential Rabbi in America by...
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31. Michael Schudrich
1955-. (aged 71)
historian
rabbi
Michael Joseph Schudrich is an American-Polish rabbi and the current Chief Rabbi of Poland. He is the oldest of four children of Rabbi David Schudrich and Doris Goldfarb Schudrich.
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32. Shalom H. Schwartz
1936-. (aged 90)
university teacher
lecturer
psychologist
Shalom H. Schwartz is a social psychologist, cross-cultural researcher and creator of the Theory of Basic Human Values (universal values as latent motivations and goals). He also developed value scales to measure both individual and national/cultural values that have been translated into 50+ languages and applied in over 90 societies.
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33. Norman Podhoretz
1930-2025 (aged 95)
pundit
opinion journalist
journalist
Norman Harold Podhoretz was an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator. He described his views as "paleo-neoconservative", but only "because [he'd] been one for so long". He was a writer for Commentary magazine, and served as the publication's editor-in-chief from 1960 to 1995.
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34. Mordecai Kaplan
1881-1983 (aged 102)
translator
diarist
university teacher
rabbi
essayist
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan was an American Conservative rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian-philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism with his son-in-law, Rabbi Ira Eisenstein. He has been described as a "towering figure" in the recent history of Judaism for his influential work in adapting it to modern society, contending that Judaism should be a...
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35. Chaim Potok
1929-2002 (aged 73)
playwright
Bible translator
writer
translator
children's writer
Chaim Potok, was an American author, novelist, playwright, editor and rabbi. Among the more than a dozen books he authored, his first novel The Chosen (1967) was listed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3.4 million copies, and was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title.
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36. Henrietta Szold
1860-1945 (aged 85)
teacher
writer
Henrietta Szold was an American-born Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.
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37. Bella Abzug
1920-1998 (aged 78)
social activist
lawyer
politician
Bella Abzug, nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus. She was a leading figure in what came to be known as ecofeminism.
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38. David Weiss Halivni
1927-2022 (aged 95)
talmudist
educator
rabbi
theologian
David Weiss Halivni was a European-born American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish sciences, and professor of Talmud. He served as Reish Metivta of the Institute of Traditional Judaism, the Union for Traditional Judaism's rabbinical school.
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39. Ilan Stavans
1961-. (aged 65)
university teacher
lexicographer
writer
comics writer
linguist
Ilan Stavans is a Mexican-born Jewish-American writer and academic. He writes and speaks on American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. He is the author of Quixote (2015) and a contributor to the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010). He was the host of the syndicated PBS show Conversations with Ilan Stavans, which ran from 2001 to 2006.
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