(JERUSALEM – December 7, 2020) The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies is delighted to announce that Rabbi Mike Uram has been appointed as the Chief Vision and Education Officer of Pardes North America.
In this senior leadership role, Rabbi Uram will lead Pardes’s expanding work in North America, leveraging the power of thousands of Pardes alumni, their friends, families and communities to transform Jewish life throughout North America.
In January 2020 Pardes announced that it secured $3 million to be invested entirely in North American programming. Pardes has already significantly broadened its online content for North American audiences and has convened multiple conferences for Jewish educators and professionals. Under Rabbi Uram’s leadership, Pardes will be developing numerous new programs and forms of engagement that will offer North Americans more learning opportunities characterized by Pardes’s depth and diversity as well as new ways for alumni to connect, and exciting professional development experiences.
Rabbi Uram has served as the Executive Director and Campus Rabbi at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel for over 16 years. He is the author of the best-selling book entitled, Next Generation Judaism: How College Students and Hillel Can Help Reinvent Jewish Organizations, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2016. He is a sought-after speaker and consultant on the changing nature of the American Jewish community, Jewish innovation, cutting-edge engagement and how legacy organizations can reinvent themselves in the age of millennials.
Mike Uram has worked with dozens of Jewish organizations including Jewish Federations of North America, The Wexner Foundation, United Synagogue, The Rabbinical Assembly, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hillel International and many local federations, synagogues and JCCs. For three years, Mike served as lead faculty and Jewish coach for the Schusterman Fellowship, a prestigious leadership development program for the most promising talent in the Jewish professional sector. Mike is part of a small working group that is developing a new educational framework for Birthright Israel.
Rabbi Uram is a Pardes alumnus. He holds a BA in History and Religious Studies from Washington University and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife Leora and their three children.
Rabbi Leon A. Morris, President of Pardes said, “Given his previous leadership success and his expertise in the changing nature of the American Jewish community, Mike is uniquely suited to design and oversee the launch of this new educational venture for Pardes in North America, applying what he has done so brilliantly at the University of Pennsylvania to all of North America. He has already become a wonderfully cherished havruta who is taking our initial plans for transformative Jewish learning among our alumni and their friends to new levels. This is an incredibly exciting moment for Pardes.”
