Marc D. Angel

Marc D. Angel (born July 1945) is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York City.

Born into Seattle's Sephardic community, his ancestors are Sephardim from Turkey and Rhodes and he grew up in a Ladino-speaking home.

He received his B.A., M.S., Ph.D., Th.D. honoris causa, and Semikhah (rabbinical ordination) from Yeshiva University; he also has an M.A. in English literature from the City College of New York. He is a recipient of the Bernard Revel Award in Religion and Religious Education. He was president of the Rabbinical Council of America,(RCA) and a member of the editorial board of its journal, Tradition.

In 2007, he established the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. He directs the Institute, and edits its journal, Conversations, which appears three times per year and is a celebrated voice of Open Orthodoxy. In 2007, he and Rabbi Avi Weiss co-founded the International Rabbinic Fellowship the Open Orthodox rabbinic group, to "to counter what they see as a rightward shift in the Orthodox community" and reduce centralization of rabbinate authority, though they remained RCA members.

A prolific author, he has written several controversial books and articles that have taken issue with and challenged traditional Orthodox views and the Rabbinate.

• A Sephardic Haggadah: Translation and Commentary (Hoboken, New Jersey, 1988)
• The Jews of Rhodes, The History of a Sephardic Community (New York, 1978)
• La America: The Sephardic Experience in the United States (Philadelphia, 1982)
• The Rhythms of Jewish Living: A Sephardic Approach (New York, 1986)
• The Orphaned Adult: Confronting the Death of a Parent (1987)
• Voices in Exile: A Study in Sephardic Intellectual History (1991)
• The Essential Pele Yoetz: an Encyclopedia of Ethical Jewish Living (1991)
• Loving Truth and Peace: The Grand Religious Worldview of Rabbi Benzion Uziel (1999)
• Remnant of Israel: A Portrait of America's First Jewish Congregation (2004)
• Losing the Rat Race, Winning at Life (2005)
• Choosing to be Jewish: The Orthodox Road to Conversion (2005)
• Rabbi Hayim David HaLevi: Gentle Scholar and Courageous Thinker (2006)
• The Search Committee: A Novel (2008)
• "Conversion to Judaism: Halakha, Hashkafa, and Historic Challenge", Hakirah, vol. 8 (Brooklyn, 2008)
• Maimonides, Spinoza and Us: Toward an Intellectually Vibrant Judaism (2009)
• Maimonides: Essential Teachings on Jewish Faith and Ethics (2012)
• "Reclaiming Orthodox Judaism," a collection of essays, published as issue 12 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
• Angel for Shabbat, volumes 1 and 2, published by the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals (2010 and 2013)

• 1988: National Jewish Book Award in the Jewish Thought category for The Orphaned Adult: Confronting the Death of a Parent