Name Kerry Olitzky | ||
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Books New Membership & Financi, Twelve Jewish steps to r, Jewish Ritual: A Brief Intro, The American Synagog, Introducing My Faith and My C | ||
Interview with rabbi kerry olitzky
Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky is the Executive Director of Big Tent Judaism (formerly known as the Jewish Outreach Institute), a United States independent organization dedicated to bringing Judaism to interfaith families and the unaffiliated.
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Career
Formerly, he served as vice president of the Wexner Heritage Foundation, an adult Jewish education and leadership program in North America. Previously, he was national Dean of Adult Jewish Learning and Living of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where he served on the faculty and administration for 15 years following his tenure at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Rabbi Olitzky is a leader in the development of innovative Jewish education, particularly for adults, he has shaped training programs for clergy of all faiths, especially in the area of pastoral care and counseling in the Jewish community. He has done pioneering work in the area of Jewish Twelve Step spirituality, as well as Jewish Gerontology. Rabbi Olitzky also serves as a fellow and consultant to Synagogue 3000 and is a partner with the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health at HUC-JIR.
Commentaries
Together with professor Leonard S. Kravitz, Olitzky has authored a series of Tanakh commentaries. Their commentaries draw on classical Jewish works such as the Mishnah, Talmud, Targums, the midrash literature, classical Jewish bible commentators such as Gersonides, Rashi and Abraham ibn Ezra, modern-day rabbis, and higher textual criticism, but are not academic books using source criticism to deconstruct the Tanakh. The authors claim that they do not follow either the path of classical Reform scholars or more secular projects such as the Anchor Bible series. These books are published by the Union for Reform Judaism. Commentaries in this series now include Jonah, Lamentations, Ruth, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs.
Works
Olitzky is a contributing editor for Shma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility and is also the author of many books and articles in a variety of fields.
Among his most recent publications are:
Shorter articles include:
His new translations of the Book of Ruth and the Book of Jonah were co-authored with Leonard Kravitz (URJ Press). His most recent publication is a joint project with JOI's Associate Executive Director, Paul Golin, entitled 20 Things for Grandparents of Interfaith Grandchildren to Do (And Not Do) to Nurture Jewish Identity in Their Grandchildren.