Jack Moline

Jack Moline (born August 10, 1952) is an American Conservative rabbi who retired as executive director of Interfaith Alliance in 2022, having served in the post since January 2015.

He is a former director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, and prior to that appointment, served as rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia since 1987 and Director of Public Policy for the Rabbinical Assembly since 2009.

His appointment with Interfaith Alliance followed involvement with the organization over a period of many years, including service as chair of the board.

In 2008, he was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the top pulpit rabbis in America (#3 in a list of 25), and in 2010 and 2011 as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He has served in numerous leadership positions for Jewish, interfaith, and community organizations, and has advised key religious and political leaders of the United States on issues of religion and values. In 1995, he helped write President Bill Clinton's famous "Shalom, Haver" eulogy for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

He graduated from Northwestern University (School of Communications), in 1974. and serves on the board of advisors to Legacy International.

Moline is frequently involved in special religious services and events, including a May 2010 trip to Israel with Rahm Emanuel. Moline co-officiated at the Bar Mitzvah ceremony for Emanuel's son and nephew, along with Rabbi Kenneth Chasen from Los Angeles. The ceremony took place at the site known as the "Masorti Kotel," the area at the southern end of the Western Wall where worshipers are allowed to pray without being separated into separate sections for men and women.

Interfaith affairs Moline has been active in numerous interfaith groups, including ongoing dialogues with African American ministers and social justice causes at home and abroad.

In 2007, Moline attended a Christian Zionist Conference hosted by the Reverend John Hagee's organization, a decision that aroused some controversy within the Jewish community. Moline took pride in his participation, noting that "We're [those in the Jewish community] no longer in a position of being too selective in choosing our friends," and citing "the threat posed by Iran and Israel's growing isolation." Moline was also one of the religious leaders to speak out against Rep. Peter T. King's 2011 congressional hearings on "the radicalization of American Muslims." In 2009 he spoke on the topic of "Preventing Future Holocausts" during a tour of the United States Holocaust Museum by a group of rabbis and imams from ten European nations.

Moline is on the steering committee of "Shoulder to Shoulder: Standing with American Muslims; Upholding American Values," which describes itself as "a campaign of national faith-based organizations and religious denominations to promote tolerance and put an end to anti-Muslim bigotry." In a March 2010 statement, the group wrote that

As American religious leaders, we share a deep sense of obligation to call upon our fellow citizens to treat each other with compassion and honesty, and to foster an ethical commitment to bedrock American values such as pluralism and religious freedom, mutuality and respect—values also at the core of our religious traditions.

Moline participated in the opening prayer service for the United States Congress in 2009 and 2011, representing the Jewish community at the request of Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi and Speaker-elect John Boehner, respectively. In March 2011 he spoke at a special meeting of the "Black and Jewish Members of Congress Breakfast."

Political activist In 2009, after years of trying to persuade the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly that the movement needed a stronger presence in the nation's capital, the group made the decision to appoint a Director of Public Policy, turning to Moline to serve in that position as a volunteer.

In 2010, Moline spoke to his friend Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, about the Obama administration's perceived lack of friendliness toward Israel. As a result of that conversation, Moline initiated two "intimate White House meetings" between the White House and "a carefully selected slate of 15 rabbis from across the country representing the Orthodox, Reform and Conservative streams." have become the official historical record of this initiative.

In December 2010, Moline was one of the religious leaders who urged the Senate to pass the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), stating that "We have a special responsibility to these young people who wish no longer to be resident strangers but to take their place among us." In 2011, when the newly installed Republican leadership in the House of Representatives considered a number of bills to restrict abortion, Moline worked with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to ensure religious voices were heard. Moline said that, "Abortion, while rarely desirable, is sometimes necessary. ... Jewish tradition believes that proper medical care is an essential aspect of human society, and that it should not be limited to people with exceptional resources." "The display of a creche is a religious symbol," he said, "and is as out of place as a menorah. The issue has to do with what is consistent with the Constitution, and a creche in the East Room isn't." —stressing, along with all other rabbis involved in the effort, that he was working as a private citizen, not in any official capacity representing others. Before the 2013 inauguration, Obama and Biden invited Moline to offer a blessing for them and their families at a private worship service.

In 2014, Moline delivered the prayer at the inauguration of Governor Terry McAuliffe.

Speaker and writer Moline is the author of two books, "Growing Up Jewish," a book of humor, and "Jewish Leadership and Heroism," a source book published by United Synagogue Youth. and is a frequent contributor to interfaith blogs such as "On Faith." He has advised and written for many public figures, including President Bill Clinton, for whom he composed much of his memorable eulogy for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Moline is a popular speaker, featured at sessions at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, United Jewish Communities, the Democratic National Convention, on radio and television broadcasts and in synagogues and Jewish Community Centers across the United States and Canada. His book, "Growing up Jewish," was written at the urging of a cousin who was a literary agent who appreciated his sense of humor, and thought the book would be a good follow-up to an earlier work, "Growing up Catholic." Moline, who grew up with a love for humor, said that he always took great pleasure from the knowledge that The Three Stooges were Jewish. In April 2010, JTS awarded him the "Gerson D. Cohen Rabbinic Leadership Award." He was named the third most important pulpit rabbi in America (out of a list of 25) by Newsweek in 2008,

In 2012, his wife and children honored him with the establishment of the Sixty Fund, which he runs and which recognizes individuals and groups based on "courage, compassion, generosity and wisdom."