Rabbi David Teutsch

Rabbi David Teutsch, Ph.D., served as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College from 1993-2002. He was the founding director of the Center for Jewish Ethics and is a widely known author and organizational consultant. He edited the three-volume Guide to Jewish Practice series from the Reconstructionist press, and was the editor in chief of the groundbreaking Kol Haneshamah prayer book series. He has also published widely on organizational ethics and leadership issues.

Teutsch is a past president of the Academic Coalition for Jewish Bioethics and of the Society of Jewish Ethics. He has served as a member of the Professional Advisory Council of the United Jewish Communities Renaissance Pillar and as a board member of the National Havurah Committee and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He previously served as rabbi at Ramat Shalom in Spring Valley, NY; director of program administration for the National Jewish Resource Center (now CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership); and director of special projects and vice president of the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation.

A graduate of Harvard University, Teutsch received his Master of Hebrew Letters and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and earned his Ph.D. at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where his work focused on organizational ethics. Teutsch regularly contributes articles and reviews to various Jewish publications. From 1982 to 1986, he served as the executive director of the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot (which later became the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and is now part of Reconstructing Judaism).