In Memorium: Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz

The Center for Interreligious Understanding joins Sacred Heart University and Congregation Agudath Sholom of Stamford, CT., in mourning the death of Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz. A co-founder of Sacred Heart’s Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding in 1992, along with CIU Director Rabbi Jack Bemporad and Anthony Cernera, Ph.D., then President of Sacred Heart, he personified the best in interreligious outreach and moral and ethical Judaism.

A graduate of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Ehrenkranz joined Congregation Agudath Sholom in 1948 and served as its Rabbi until 1992, when he retired from full-time duties, retaining the title of Rabbi Emeritus.

The Rabbi served as executive director of the Center for Christian Jewish Understanding until 2007, when he retired, receiving that organization’s prestigious Nostre Aetate (Our Age) award in 2010. Throughout his lifetime, Rabbi Ehrenkranz worked tirelessly to promote world peace and human rights goals which brought him together with world and religious leaders such as Pope John Paul II and President Anwar Sadat.

He died Sunday, February 23^rd at the age of 87 in Tel Aviv, where he had been living for four years.