Setiap tahun, Michael Lynton (CEO Sony Picture Entertainment), Gary Ginsberg (News Corp), dan Jay Sanderson (CEO JTN Production), membuat daftar 50 Rabi paling berpengartuh di Amerika Serikat. Untuk tahun 2008, mereka mendapat nama-nama yang cukup mengagetkan, antara lain masuknya Rabi Sharon Kleinbaum dalam urutan ke 17, padahal Rabi Sharon dikenal luas sebagai Rabi Senior Pemimpin Sinagoga Terbesar Dunia khusus untuk kaum Yahudi homoseksual, biseksual, dan heteroseksual lainnya.
Berada di puncak, urutan nomor satu, adalah Rabi Marvin Hier, pendiri LSM Zionis Simon Wiesenthal Center (LA), di mana di bulan Mei 2008 ini menganugerahkan The Jewish Varlor Medal, Medali Pelindung Yahudi Dunia, kepada Abdurrahman Wahid, seorang Ghoyim yang memang dikenal sebagai pelayan kaum Zionis. Inilah daftarnya:
1. Marvin Hier (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #1) Pendiri Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles.
2. Eric Yoffie (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #12) President of the Union for Reform Judaism
3. Robert Wexler (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #7) President of the American Jewish University.
4. Yehuda Krinsky (Lubavitch)
(2007 Ranking #2) Pemimpin Tertinggi The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, cabang dari Hasidism.
5. David Saperstein (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #16) Director of the Religious Action Center and the co-chair of the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty.
6. Uri D. Herscher (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #3) Pendiri dan CEO of the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
7. Irwin Kula (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #8) Co-president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and bestselling author.
8. David Ellenson (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #6) President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education.
9. Shmuley Boteach (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #9) Penulis buku "The Broken Male and How to Fix Him."
10. Mark Charendoff (Orthodox)
NEW! President of the Jewish Funders Network, an international organization of family foundations, public philanthropies and individual funders.
11. Yehuda Berg (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #4) Salah satu tokoh tertinggi Kabbalah Dunia.
12. David Wolpe (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #18) Tops the list of pulpit rabbis in America.
13. J. Rolando (Roly)Matalon (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #17) The spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City.
14. Harold Kushner (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #5) Penulis ternama, pulpit rabbi, and speaker.
15. Peter J. Rubinstein (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #11) Spiritual leader of New York’s Central Synagogue.
16. Zalman Teitelbaum (Hasidim)
(2007 Ranking #15) Leader of the Satmar Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
17. Sharon Kleinbaum (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #19) Rabi Senior Pemimpin Sinagoga Terbesar Dunia khusus untuk kaum Yahudi homoseksual, biseksual, dan heteroseksual lainnya.
18. Jeffrey Wohlberg (Conservative)
NEW! Rabbi at Washington, D.C.’s Adas Israel Congregation.
19. Harold M. Schulweis (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #13) Rabbi of Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA.
20. Dan Ehrenkrantz (Reconstructionist)
(2007 Ranking #20) President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
21. Joseph Telushkin (Conservative/Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #21) Penulis Ternama dan Ahli Pidato.
22. Haskel Lookstein (Orthodox)
NEW! Head of New York’s Ramaz School and Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun.
23. Art Green (Renewal)
NEW! Dean of Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School.
24. M. Bruce Lustig (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #10) Leader of Washington Hebrew Congregation, the largest congregation in Washington, D.C.
25. Abraham Cooper (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #29) Associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
26. David Stern (Reform)
NEW! Stern’s congregation, Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, is the largest in the Southwest.
27. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (Renewal)
(2007 Ranking #22) Founded the Jewish renewal movement in America.
28. Arthur Schneier (Orthodox)
NEW! Founder and president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.
29. David M. Posner (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #23) Spiritual leader of New York’s Temple Emanuel.
30. Sharon Brous (Conservative)
NEW! Founder of IKAR, a Los Angeles-based community focused sharply on social justice.
31. Bradley Shavit Artson (Conservative)
NEW! Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University.
32. Kerry M. Olitzky (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #27) One of the leading rabbinical advocates for outreach to interfaith and unaffiliated families in America.
33. Saul J. Berman (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #14) Scholar, author and proponent of Modern Orthodox Judaism.
34. Marc Gellman (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #31) Author and cohost of “The God Squad” television program.
35. Elliot Dorff (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #30) Leader of the top lawmaking body in Conservative Judaism.
36. Avi Weiss (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #25) Senior rabbi at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx.
37. Michael Greenbaum (Conservative)
NEW! Vice chancellor and COO of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
38. Nachum Braverman (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #36) Prominent leader in Aish Hatorah, a Jerusalem-based educational and heritage organization.
39. Bradley Hirschfield (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #37) Co-president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL).
40. Hayim Herring (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #38) Executive director of STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal).
41. Naomi Levy (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #40) Popular author and a leading woman in the Conservative movement.
42. Harold Loss (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #47) Loss has more than 12, 000 members in his congregation at Temple Israel in Detroit.
43. Norman Lamm (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #44) Chancellor of Yeshiva University.
44. Ephraim Buchwald (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #24) Founder of the National Jewish Outreach Program.
45. Toba Spitzer (Reconstructionist)
(2007 Ranking #44) Became the first openly lesbian rabbi to head a national rabbinic association in March 2007.
46. Nosson Scherman (Orthodox)
(2007 Ranking #45) General editor for ActScroll/Mesorah Publications.
47. Stephen Pearce (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #46) Leader of San Francisco’s largest congregation with 2, 700 families.
48. Michael Paley (Conservative)
(2007 Ranking #49) Scholar in residence and director of the Jewish Resource Center of the UJA-Federation of New York.
49. Steven Leder (Reform)
NEW! Senior rabbi at Los Angeles’s Wilshire Boulevard Temple.
50. Michael Lerner (Reform)
(2007 Ranking #28) Editor of Tikkun and a leading progressive political activist.
(rizki/NEW)
