Marc D. Angel is rabbiemeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City, "which he has been serving since 1969." Born into Seattle's Sephardic community, his ancestors are Sephardim from Turkey and Rhodes and he grew up in a Ladino-speaking home. He received his B.A., M.S., Ph.D., Th.D. honoris causa, and semikhah from Yeshiva University; he also has an M.A. in English literature from the City College of New York. He has received the Bernard Revel Award in Religion and Religious Education. He was president of the Rabbinical Council of America, and a member of the editorial board of its journal, Tradition. In 2007, he established the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. He directs the Institute, and edits its journal, Conversations, which appears three times per year and is a voice of Open Orthodoxy. In 2007, he and Rabbi Avi Weiss co-founded the International Rabbinic Fellowship, the Open Orthodox rabbinic group, "to counter what they see as a rightward shift in the Orthodox community" and reduce centralization of rabbinate authority, though they remained RCA members. A prolific author, he has written several controversial books and articles that have taken issue with and challenged traditional Orthodox views and the Rabbinate.
Works
A Sephardic Haggadah: Translation and Commentary
The Jews of Rhodes, The History of a Sephardic Community
La America: The Sephardic Experience in the United States
The Rhythms of Jewish Living: A Sephardic Approach
The Orphaned Adult: Confronting the Death of a Parent
"Reclaiming Orthodox Judaism," a collection of essays, published as issue 12 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
Angel for Shabbat, volumes 1 and 2, published by the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
In a 2009 interview he stated that he and his wife Gilda Angel "have three children and six grandchildren."
Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
In October 2007, Angel founded the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals is a New York-based nonprofit committed to advancing a culturally diverse and intellectually rational Jewish Orthodoxy. The Institute disseminates its particular vision through the publication of articles, and books as well as the hosting and promotion of lectures. Hayyim Angel is National Scholar of the institute, which was founded by his father.
