Rabbi Noam Marans

Rabbi Noam E. Marans is AJC's director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, overseeing national interfaith outreach, dialogue and advocacy, and the interethnic efforts of the Belfer Center for American Pluralism. In his multifaith work, Rabbi Marans develops and strengthens relationships with a wide variety of religious and ethnic groups to enhance mutual understanding, freedom of religious expression and support for the State of Israel and Middle East peace.

Rabbi Marans led AJC’s constructive engagement with the directors of the controversial Oberammergau Passion Play, which resulted in significant changes that mitigated the production’s historic anti-Jewish elements. He spearheaded several trips to view the play in Bavaria, Germany, the last of which in the company of Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He joined AJC in 2001 as associate director of Contemporary Jewish Life. During his first ten years at AJC, Rabbi Marans created a series of seminars to introduce leading Israeli educators and political and military figures to American Jewish life. Before his move to AJC, for sixteen years he served as the rabbi of Temple Israel in Ridgewood, New Jersey. During his time there, he established interfaith Holocaust education and awareness programs and led diverse multifaith coalitions to address the challenges of hunger, homelessness, racism, and substance abuse. His tenure at Temple Israel was also marked by a dramatic increase in membership, cultivation of Jewish literacy among adults, and the dedication of an expanded state-of-the-art facility.

A past president of the Bergen County Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Marans was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary and received his B.A. in political science from Columbia University. He is a founding co-director of the Kehillah Partnership, an organization that has been recognized by the Covenant Foundation and the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies’ Slingshot for its successes in remaking Jewish community through innovation and resource-sharing. Rabbi Marans has been awarded numerous honors, including the Martin Luther King Civic Leadership Award. His writings have been published widely, appearing in the New York Times, JTA, Forward, and Jerusalem Post, among others.

Selected Publications:

Intolerance: A Test for America – Miami Herald
Jews Should Recognize When Christians Change – Jewish Journal
Oberammergau’s Impact on Christian-Jewish Relations – Jerusalem Post
Letter to the Editor, re: Oberammergau Passion Play – New York Times
Kristallnacht in Munich, Then and Now – Jewish Telegraphic Agency