RABBI GARY M. BRETTON-GRANATOOR

Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor is the Vice President - Philanthropy at the World Union for Progressive Judaism which serves, nurtures and supports over 1,700 Reform/Progressive/Liberal Jewish congregations around the world. He is a recognized expert in Interfaith relations, well-known lecturer, author of numerous articles and editor of two books.

All are welcome to the Shabbat morning service at NPLS at 11 am on Saturday 13 December when Gary will give a D'var Torah and after the service offer a shiur about the World Union and NPLS' relationship to it.

Gary served as the Director of the Education Division at the Anti-Defamation League and as the Director of Interfaith Affairs. He served as Senior Rabbi at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in NYC for eight years.

He was the Director of Interreligious Affairs at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now URJ), and the Associate Director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. During his tenure there he also served as the Associate Director of the Commission on Jewish Education and the Director of Adult Education.

A graduate of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he was on the faculty of the Religion and History Departments of Sarah Lawrence College and was a Lecturer at the New York University School of Continuing Education and a member of the faculty of the HUC-JIR School of Education as Lecturer in Intertestamental Literature and Jewish Ethics. Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor served congregations in Mahopac, New York; San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Louis, Missouri; and Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor is the editor and principal writer of SHALOM / SALAAM: A RESOURCE FOR JEWISH / MUSLIM DIALOGUE. His most recent book is called A JEWISH VIEW OF CULTS.

He is a past chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Interreligious Affairs Committee; on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Synagogues; served as the Program Chair of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations; served on the Executive Board of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and on the Alumni Board of the Sarah Lawrence College. He was the founding Chair of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, and was a member of the Board of Homes for the Homeless in New York City.