Scholar in Residence
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan I. Rosenblatt
Rabbi Jonathan I. Rosenblatt is the Senior Rabbi of the Riverdale Jewish Center, a diverse and dynamic Zionist Orthodox synagogue community of some 700 families.
A native of Baltimore, Rabbi Rosenblatt holds a BA and an MA from the Johns Hopkins University in Comparative Literature and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the field of Modem British Literature.
Rabbi Rosenblatt studied in Israel at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and was ordained at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in 1982. Before coming to Riverdale, he served communities in Seagate (in Brooklyn) and Teaneck, New Jersey.
Rabbi Rosenblatt has been active in a wide range of community and charitable causes with a special interest in the needs of children. He is an alumnus of the UJA-Federation National Young Leadership Cabinet—he was the first Orthodox Rabbi to serve on it—and has served on New York UJA-Federation committees on Strategic Planning, Synagogue-Federation relations, Unity and Diversity, and the Commission on the Jewish People. He currently serves on the UJA-Federation’s Board of Directors. In 2007, Rabbi Rosenblatt was awarded the Maria and Joel Finkle Prize as ‘Rabbi of the Year’ by the New York Board of Rabbis.
He has a special interest in the training and mentoring of young Rabbis and is an instructor in the RIETS Rabbinic training program as well as in programs in Israel that train Rabbis for the Diaspora. Under his leadership the Riverdale Jewish Center, through its Internship program, has become a major “finishing school” for talented young Rabbis.
Rabbi Rosenblatt is the Senior Rabbi of the Zicklin Residential Hospice, the first Jewish residential hospice in the New York area. He is deeply involved with inter-disciplinary end-of-life care and with pastoral training in this emerging field both locally and in Israel.
Rabbi Rosenblatt has lectured widely in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Israel and served as a vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America.
He is an avid squash player. His lifelong interest in zoos in combination with his academic work in the study of modern culture has made him a popular lecturer, internationally, on the history and culture of the modern zoo. He and his wife, Tzipporah Twersky Rosenblatt, a trusts and estates attorney, have four children.
A world renowned and most entertaining lecturer, highly learned scholar in Torah as well as a wide range of other diversified fields and extremely experienced and beloved communal Rabbi of one of America’s most active and organized orthodox communities placing him actively in the frontline of current global Jewish affairs, Rabbi Rosenblatt is a sought out scholar throughout the Jewish world and we are most excited to have him enrich our cruise with his participation.