Arnold Eisen

Arnold M. Eisen, Ph.D. (born 1951) is Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 1986, he taught at Tel Aviv University and Columbia University.
==Jewish Theological Seminary==
In 2006, Eisen was appointed as the seventh Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, replacing Rabbi Dr. Ismar Schorsch. Eisen is the second non-rabbi, after Cyrus Adler, to hold this post. He is also the first person with a social science background to serve as Chancellor; previous chancellors had backgrounds in Jewish history or Talmud. He took office as Chancellor-elect on July 1, 2007, the day after Schorsch stepped down, and assumed the position full-time on July 1, 2008.
==Scholarship and training==
Eisen is a Jewish Studies scholar in the sociology of religion and Modern Jewish Thought. He received his doctorate in the History of Jewish Thought from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has also earned a B.A. in Religious Thought from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Phil. in the Sociology of Religion at Oxford University. He was a student of Professor Samuel Tobias Lachs.
 Obituary.
 He previously served as Senior Lecturer at the Tel Aviv University and Assistant Professor at Columbia University.
==Religious change==
He believes that American Jews feel connected to Jewish ritual but maintain autonomy to decide what to practice and thus many do not attend synagogue on a regular basis.
Eisen is a recognized expert in religious change and the modern transformation of Jewish religious belief and practice. He is also one of the world's foremost experts in the sociology of American Judaism. For the past twenty years, he has worked closely with synagogue and federation leadership around the country to analyze and address the issues of Jewish identity, the revitalization of Jewish tradition, and the redefinition of the American Jewish community.
==Personal==
Eisen is married to Dr. Adriane Leveen, a professor of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) at the Reform Judaism movement's Hebrew Union College, and has two children, Shulie, a recent graduate of Brandeis University, and Nathaniel, a student at Stanford.
==Works==
His recent publications include a personal essay, Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America (1997), which addresses the renewal of Jewish community and commitment in America through a series of five essays built around the Five Books of Moses; a historical work about the origins of contemporary dilemmas concerning these issues, entitled Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community (1998); and The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America (2000), co-authored with sociologist Steven M. Cohen (2000), which examines the meanings of Judaism and Jewish belonging to contemporary American Jews.
*Galut: Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1986
*Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community, University of Chicago Press (Chicago), 1998. (Koret Jewish Book Award, 1999)
*The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America
"Arnold M. Eisen." Marquis Who's Who TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2008.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
Fee. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
Document Number: K2020026923
*The Chosen People in America: A Study in Jewish Religious Ideology, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1983.
*(Author of commentary) Michael Strassfield, The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary, Harper & Row (New York City), 1985.
*Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America, Indiana University Press (Bloomington), 1997.
*(With Steven M. Cohen) The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America, Indiana University Press, 2000
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
Fee. Retrieved 2008-12-07. Entry updated: 12/12/2006.
Document Number: H1000135943
==Awards==
*National Jewish Book Award, 1987, for Galut
*National Jewish Book Award, Koret Foundation, 1998, for Rethinking Modern Judaism
*Koret Prize, 1999, for outstanding contributions to the Jewish community
==Sources==
*The Jewish Theological Seminary - Arnold Eisen Official JTSA biography
*A Biography of Arnold Eisen
*Sources say JTS Set to Select Eisen As Chancellor -- Forward
*Arnie Eisen: Teaching Religion Raises Devlish Questions
*Arnold M. Eisen Named New Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (press release)
*Conservatives tap dynamic scholar, not rabbi, to head theological school
* Choice, May, 1984, p. 1319.
* Choice, February, 1987, pp. 896–897.
* Christian Century, January 25, 1984, pp. 88–89; January 5, 2000, Hayin Goren Perelmutter, review of Rethinking Modern Judaism, p. 37.
* Commentary, March, 1999, pp. 67–69.
* Judaism, summer, 1990, David Biale, review of Galut, pp. 376–379.
* Library Journal, November 1, 1986, p. 103; June 15, 1998, p. 84.
* Los Angeles Times Book Review, January 8, 1984, p. 8.
* New Leader, November, 2000, William B. Helmreich, review of The Jew Within, p. 33.
* Reference & Research Book News, August, 1998, p. 12.
* Religious Studies Review, October, 1987, p. 357.
==References==
Category:1951 births
Category:Living people
Category:Jewish historians
Category:Judaic studies in academia
Category:American Jews
Category:Conservative Judaism
Category:Jewish Theological Seminary of America people
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:Tel Aviv University faculty
Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni
Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford