Director of Jewish Content and Community Ritual
Peter J. Rubinstein brings decades of experience as a congregational rabbi and as a leader in the Jewish and interfaith communities to his role as 92Y’s director of Jewish Community and the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life. In this capacity, he oversees Jewish content and programming within the Bronfman Center, collaborates with staff throughout the institution on innovative programs related to Jewish themes and forges new collaborations with faith leaders both within and beyond the Jewish community.
Rabbi Rubinstein is also the Rabbi Emeritus of Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation where he served as the Senior Rabbi for 23 years. Prior to his position at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Rubinstein served as the Rabbi of Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York and Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California.
He co-chairs the Partnership of Faith in New York City, which includes the senior clergy of the city’s major congregations and was co-president of the US Board of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. He is also immediate past chair of the Board of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City and is on the Board of the New York Region of the American Jewish Committee and Co-Chair of its Rabbinic Round Table. He is presently the director of the Be Wise Fellowship in Jewish Entrepreneurialism at the HUC-JIR in New York City.
Rabbi Rubinstein is also a founder and chair of the Rabbinic Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and a member of the organization’s North American Advisory Board. and he frequently lectures on the evolution of synagogues and the role of a Rabbi now and in the future. He was ranked number three in Newsweek’s 2012 list of “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis” and number 5 in 2013. He was named one of the 28 “2014 America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by The Jewish Daily Forward.
Rabbi Rubinstein graduated from Amherst College and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Amherst College in 2017. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, where he also received a Master of Hebrew Letters degree with honors. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1994.
He has taught at Manhattanville College, Colgate University, San Jose State and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion both in New York and Cincinnati. His essays have been included in Restoring Faith by Forrest Church, How Can I Find God (edited by James Martin), Our Rabbis Taught and Shine by Star Jones. He co-authored an article entitled “Innovation in All Generation” which appeared in the Winter 2017 edition of the The Reform Jewish Quarterly.