BIO

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky is the Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, a synagogue located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and one of the most vibrant centers of Orthodox Jewish life today. He served there since August 1994 and recently made Aliya to Modiin, Israel. Previously, Rabbi Pruzansky was for nine years the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chaim in Kew Gardens Hills, New York. While in New York, he served a two-year term as President of the Vaad Harabonim (Rabbinical Board) of Queens.

Rabbi Pruzansky graduated from Columbia University in 1978 with a B.A. in history, and received a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in 1981. He practiced law for 13 years as a general practitioner and litigator in New York City until assuming the pulpit in Bnai Yeshurun. He is a member of the New York and Federal Bars, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Rabbi Pruzansky studied in yeshivot in Israel and the United States, and was ordained at Yeshiva Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway, New York under the guidance of Rabbi Yisrael Chait, shlit”a.

A past President of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, he is currently a Senior Rabbinic Fellow and Israel Representative at the Coalition for Jewish Values.  He was on the Board of the Beth Din of America, as well as a dayyan on the Beth Din itself. He is a longtime member of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, a former Vice-President of the Rabbinical Council of America and served as the American co-spokesman for the International Rabbinic Coalition for Israel. Rabbi Pruzansky served on the Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Reclamation Project, and received their Rabbinic Leadership Award at their 1995 Jerusalem Day banquet. He presently is on the Board of Directors of the Religious Zionists of America and the One Israel Fund, and received the latter’s Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook Rabbinic Leadership Award at their 1997 Unity Dinner. He has also been honored by the Orthodox Union, the Bet El Yeshiva Center located in Bet El, Israel, Ezras Torah, the Destiny Foundation, the Yeshivat Hesder in Sderot and several other Jewish and community organizations. He has served for more than a decade on Teaneck’s Civilian Complaint Review Board. He writes extensively on topics of Jewish interest, has lectured in more than 25 countries and his articles have been read in more than 130 countries. Rabbi Pruzansky is the author of “A Prophet for Today: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Yehoshua” (Gefen Publishing House, 2006), “Judges for our Time: Contemporary Lessons of the Book of Shoftim (Gefen Publishing House, 2009), “Tzadka Mimeni: The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility,” Volumes 1 and 2″ (Gefen Publishing House, 2014 and 2018), all available in fine stores, at Israelbooks.com and Amazon.com.

Rabbi Pruzansky’s latest book, “Repentance for Life” (Kodesh Press, 2021) was awarded the prestigious Weinberg Prize as one of the best books of 2021 and is available from Kodesh Press and all fine stores.