September 19, 2019 — Detroit
Rabbi Asher Lopatin has been named Executive Director of JCRC/AJC: A Partnership for Community Relations and Jewish Advocacy.
“I am thrilled to be joining the global team of AJC in our regional office in Detroit,” said Lopatin. “For me this is a dream job: to connect the Jewish community with partners who will advocate for supporting Israel and Jews all over the world. With so many partners to work with in the regional area, Metro Detroit presents amazing opportunities for AJC and for national and even international impact.”
The JCRC/AJC: A Partnership for Community Relations and Jewish Advocacy was established in 2016, when the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit (JCRC) and American Jewish Committee (AJC) formed new local joint venture uniting metro Detroit’s two premiere community relations and Jewish advocacy organizations.
“Rabbi Lopatin’s depth of knowledge concerning Judaism, Israel and interfaith relations is unparalleled,” said JCRC/AJC Board President Alicia B. Chandler. “His commitment to bridge-building and advocacy will be of great importance as we continue to establish collaborative relationships and represent the metropolitan Detroit Jewish community, Israel and Jews throughout the world to the general community.”
Rabbi Lopatin is the founding director of the Detroit Center for Civil Discourse, a nonprofit designed to bring diverse people together in enriching dialogue. He was the founding rabbi of Kehillat Etz Chayim, a modern Orthodox synagogue in metropolitan Detroit.
Prior to moving to Detroit, Lopatin served as president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York and the senior rabbi of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. While in Chicago, Lopatin and his wife, Rachel, helped found the pluralistic Chicago Jewish Day School, and he co-chaired the Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.
A Rhodes Scholar and Truman Fellow with an M. Phil in Medieval Arabic Thought from Oxford University, Rabbi Lopatin also has done doctoral work at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, in Islamic fundamentalist attitudes towards Jews and Israel.
He received ordination from Rav Ahron Soloveichik and Yeshivas Brisk in Chicago, and from Yeshiva University as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. In 2011, Rabbi Lopatin became a permanent member of The Council on Foreign Relations.
