Rabbi Richard F. Address, DMin
Rabbi Richard F. Address is the director of the Department of Jewish Family Concerns for the Union for Reform Judaism. The mission of this department is to work with congregations to create “caring communities” that have as their foundation a theology of sacred relationships.
A major part of Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on Sacred Aging. This project has been responsible for creating awareness and resources for congregations on the implication of the emerging longevity revolution with growing emphasis on the aging of the baby boom generation. This aging revolution has begun to impact all aspects of Jewish communal and congregational life.
Rabbi Address was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati (1972) and served congregations in California before joining the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1978. He directed the Union’s Pennsylvania Council from 1978 through 2000. In 1997 he founded the Department of Jewish Family Concerns and went full time in New York in January of 2001.
Rabbi Address received a certificate in pastoral counseling from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in 1998 and his doctor of ministry degree from HUC-JIR in 1999. He also received his honorary doctorate from HUC-JIR in 1997.
In January of 2007 he was awarded the “Sherut L’Am” award by the Kalsman Institute for Judaism and Health. He teaches classes in Jewish Family issues and Sacred Aging at the New York campus of HUC-JIR and is scheduled to teach classes on Spirituality and Aging at Hunter College-Brookdale Center.
Articles
