Steven Pruzansky

Steven Pruzansky (born in the Bronx, N.Y. April 28, 1958) is an American Orthodox rabbi, an author and controversial leader in the Orthodox Jewish community. He has been a spokesman for the International Rabbinic Coalition for Israel. He is the author of several books on religious topics. He is a former vice president and Executive Committee member of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Pruzansky grew up in Monsey, N.Y. He received his B.A. Degree from Columbia University in 1978 and in 1981 he received his Juris Doctor degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University.

Following graduation from law school, Pruzansky worked as an attorney and litigator for 13 years. He then began his career as a religious leader after being ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway, New York. In 1993 he became rabbi of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, New Jersey, one of the largest Orthodox congregations in the United States with several thousand members.

For seven years, Pruzansky led the RCA's conversion court or beit din for Bergen County, where his congregation is located. However, after Rabbi Barry Freundel of the RCA was arrested on charges of voyeurism for spying on women at a mikva and was accused of abusing potential converts, the RCA appointed a committee that will include women to review the conversion process and safeguards. Pruzansky resigned from the Bergen County beit din in protest. He said he blamed the action on the left wing of the Orthodox movement for creating "quasi-rabbinical functions for women."

Pruzansky is author of several books, including "The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility Volume 1: Breisheet and Shemot," "Prophet for Today: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Yehoshua," and "Judges for Our Time: Contemporary Lessons from the Book of Shoftim." He also has written a blog.

Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who had been a longtime member of Pruzansky's congregation, left in protest against political statements Pruzansky had made about Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, including calling him the "Rabin Judenrat." Foxman complained that the rabbi ""spews hate and vitriol toward the elected leaders of Israel."

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