Ephraim Buchwald

Rabbi, Beginners' program

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald is one of the leaders in the movement of Jewish return in the world today. He has pioneered and developed many of the most dramatic and effective outreach programs, impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world.

Ordained at Yeshiva University, where he was a student of Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rabbi Buchwald served from 1973 for 15 years as the Director of Education at Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York, which became one of the largest and most successful centers for adult Jewish education programs in America. He also established and coordinated Lincoln Square's celebrated outreach program. Since 1975, Rabbi Buchwald has led the synagogue's now renowned "Beginners Service," a special Shabbat service for people with little or no synagogue experience.

In July of 1987, Rabbi Buchwald founded the National Jewish Outreach Program. NJOP sponsors the acclaimed SHABBAT ACROSS AMERICA/CANADA and READ HEBREW AMERICA/CANADA campaigns, establishes Beginners Services and offers the TURN FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SHABBAT, PASSOVER ACROSS AMERICA and SUKKOT ACROSS AMERICA programs, as well as free "Crash Courses" in
Hebrew Reading, Basic Judaism and Jewish History. These programs are now offered at more than 3,845* locations across North America, and in 39* countries worldwide. Through these much admired programs and the innovative Jewish consciousness raising advertising campaigns, NJOP has successfully reached more than 1,162,000* Jews in North America alone, and engaged them in Jewish life. Rabbi Buchwald was the Founding President and is now the Honorary President of the Association of Jewish Outreach Programs (AJOP) (previously known as the Association for Jewish Outreach  Professionals), which was established in 1988. Both NJOP and AJOP were funded by significant grants from the AVI CHAI Foundation, a Jewish philanthropy established by Sanford Bernstein, a well-known successful investor who had himself become a Baal Teshuva (a returnee to Orthodox observance) and who sought to further the cause of education and outreach to alienated and assimilated Jews worldwide.

In November 1997, Rabbi Buchwald was named to the Forward 50, a list of America's 50 most influential Jews, and in April 2007 and 2008 was included in Newsweek's list of the top 50 Rabbis in America. In May 2001, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Yeshiva University in recognition of his pioneering outreach work.

Rabbi Buchwald is renowned for making complex Jewish topics easier to grasp through his exceptional pedagogic skills and quick sense of humor. He lectures across the country, and overseas, and leads experiential programs in cities throughout the world.

Rabbi Buchwald and his wife Aidel, reside in New York City, and are the proud parents of four children  and four grandchildren.

figures as of 8/10

[O](212) 874-6100 x 250
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