Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, or Reb Zalman as he preferred to be known, was one of the most influential Jewish spiritual leaders of his generation. Countless innovations in Jewish life and worship sprang from his creative mind and from his ceaseless work as a visionary pioneer in contemporary Jewish life.

His ideas and work influenced the birth of the Havurah movement, the international Jewish Renewal movement, numerous Jewish retreat centers and innovative social-change programs, the interfaith eldering wisdom movement, as well as the ordination programs for rabbis, cantors and rabbinic pastors that began as B’nai Or Religious Fellowship, later became P’nai Or Religious Fellowship, and eventually coalesced to form the current ALEPH Ordination Program/AOP.

In July 1990, Reb Zalman appointed Rabbi Marcia Prager as the Dean of Students of the B’nai Or/P’nai Or Rabbinical Ordination Program. Reb Marcia, a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College who had also earned a personal smicha from Reb Zalman, began working for B’nai Or/P’nai Or as an advisor and collaborator in running what was initially being called “Reb Zalman’s Smicha Project.”

By 2000, the Rabbinic Program had continued to strengthen, and enrollment grew with Reb Marcia now functioning as both Director and Dean. With a need to further develop the organizational structure to meet the academic and administrative demands, Reb Marcia brought together a group of Reb Zalman’s musmachim (ordained clergy) with strong rabbinic and academic credentials. At a meeting in New York City, in Spring of 2002, this group met to form the working council of core faculty.