Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan is currently the rabbi of the Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile, Alabama. Before that, he was the rabbi of the United Congregation of Israelites in Kingston, Jamaica, and, beginning in 2001, led Temple B'nai Israel in Albany, Georgia. He received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem, and holds a PhD in American Jewish History from Tel Aviv University. Rabbi Kaplan has been and continues to be active in various programs, think tanks, and conferences to understand the history and theology of Reform Judaism and to discuss ways to make Reform Judaism a vibrant religious form of spirituality for the twenty-first century. He is the author of The New Reform Judaism (Jewish Publication Society), as well as Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal (Columbia University Press), The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism (Cambridge University Press), American Reform Judaism: An Introduction (Rutgers University Press), Platforms and Prayer Books (Rowman and Littlefield), and Contemporary Debates in American Reform Judaism (Routledge). He is the editor of A Life of Meaning: Embracing the Sacred Path of Reform Judaism, forthcoming from the CCAR Press. In his spare time, Rabbi Kaplan enjoys scuba diving with whale sharks, hiking up to Blue Mountain Peak, and biking (at a leisurely pace) in Kerala.

 

Read "Embracing Reform Judaism: Behind the Scenes of A Life of Meaning" by Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan on RavBlog.