Peter J. Rubinstein is the Emeritus Director, Jewish Community and the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life, having previously served as the Senior Vice President of Jewish Community and Managing Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at The 92nd Street Y, New York from 2014-2022. He continues as a consultant supporting Jewish Community at the 92NY.

Rabbi Rubinstein is the Rabbi Emeritus of Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation where he served as the Senior Rabbi for 23 years. Prior to his position at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Rubinstein served as the Rabbi of Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York and Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California.

He is the immediate past Chair of the Partnership of Faith in New York City, which includes the senior clergy of the city’s major congregations and was co-president of the US Board of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City and is on the Board of the New York Region of the American Jewish Committee. He is presently the Co-Director of the Be Wise Fellowship in Jewish Entrepreneurialism at the HUC-JIR in New York City having served as Director from 2014-2020. Rabbi Rubinstein is a founder of the Rabbinic Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and was the long time Rabbinic Chair of the NCRCR of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Rubinstein was ranked number three in Newsweek’s 2012 list of “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis” and number 5 in 2013. He was named one of the 28 “2014 America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by The Jewish Daily Forward.

Rabbi Rubinstein graduated from Amherst College from where he also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2017. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and received the Master of Hebrew Letters degree with honors. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1994.

He has taught at Manhattanville College, Colgate University, San Jose State, and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion both in New York and Cincinnati. His essays have been included in Restoring Faith by Forrest Church, How Can I Find God (edited by James Martin), Our Rabbis Taught and Shine by Star Jones. He co-authored an article entitled “Innovation in All Generations” which appeared in the Winter 2017 edition of The Reform Jewish Quarterly. His essay “A Search for Truth: A Touchstone of our Judgement” is included in JFK The Last Speech (2018).