Posted on December 22, 2016
The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) announced today the appointment of Dr. Stephen Hazan Arnoff as Executive Director. Reporting to USCJ CEO Rabbi Steve Wernick, Dr. Arnoff will replace Associate Director Yitz Jacobsen, who is retiring at the end of the month after 47 years.
"The Fuchsberg Center is our movement’s embassy in Israel, engaging more than 3,000 people, from teens to adults, annually," said Rabbi Wernick. "With Yitz’s retirement, it was essential to find someone with proven leadership, coaching, business and financial management experience, and Stephen more than fulfills those qualifications. We are confident he will be able to increase connectivity between Jerusalem and North America and further cement the FJC as the meeting place for Jewish pluralism in Israel.”
In this newly defined position, Dr. Arnoff will have overall responsibility for FJC, overseeing operations, financial systems and accountability, staff and programs, fundraising and development and PR and communications. Dr. Arnoff will also interface with several departments at USCJ’s headquarters in New York City to maximize resources and assure alignment and an integrated strategy.
Dr. Arnoff has served in senior leadership roles in the Jewish community for much of the past two decades, holding positions including CEO and President of JCC Association, the chief convener of the Jewish Community Centers of North America; Director of Culture, Community and Society at Shalem College, Israel's first four-year liberal arts college; and Executive Director of the 14th Street Y in New York City.
He has lectured on topics spanning religion, popular music, spirituality, and Jewish life and learning at many universities and cultural venues in North America, Europe and Israel, publishes widely in media outlets like Huffington Post, Forward and Ha'aretz, mentored many of Jerusalem's most dynamic arts and theater organizations through Jerusalem Culture Unlimited for which he serves as Board Chair, and is a senior strategic advisor to the Institute of Jewish Spirituality and Society, which leverages the great ideas of Jewish spiritual wisdom for social transformation.
Dr. Arnoff earned a doctorate in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as a Wexner Graduate Fellow and has been a Tikvah Scholar at the New York University School of Law, a Mandel Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute, and a Revson Fellow at JTS. Fluent in Hebrew and a former member of the IDF, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and four children.