Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer is the rabbi of Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Georgia, founded in 1733, the third oldest Jewish congregation in America. He began his tenure at Congregation Mickve Israel in 1990. Rabbi Belzer previously served Temple Shearith Israel in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Temple; Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, New Jersey and was the founding rabbi of the Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon, New Jersey. Raised in Westchester County, New York, he is a graduate of IonaCollege in New Rochelle, New York, where he majored in history. He was ordained rabbi and received B.H.L., M.A.H.L. and D.D. (hon.) degrees from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York.
A founder of the Mastery Foundation, with the late Abbot Basil Pennington and Episcopal Bishop Otis Charles, Rabbi Belzer has served as the foundation's vice-president.
Since his early teens Rabbi Belzer has been involved in the study of the Jews of China. A founder and East Coast director of the Sino-Judaic Institute, he has traveled extensively in China. In 1984 he conducted the first Jewish worship service in Kai-Feng, China, since 1860. Rabbi Belzer has lectured widely on the subject of Jews in China, and comparative studies of other exotic Jewish communities.
Rabbi Belzer now serves on the board of the Equal Opportunity Authority of Savannah. He was a founding commissioner and former member of the Mayor's Human Relations Commission of the City of Savannah and is a past President of the Coastal Museum Association. Rabbi Belzer served as a member of the advisory Board of American Hospice Care, and as a member of the board of the Memorial University Health Trust.
Rabbi Belzer has been married to Arlene (the owner of Coastal Editorial Services) for over 40 years. They Belzers are the parents of Nathan Clay Belzer, the principal in Belzer, PC, a Savannah law firm specializing in intellectual property and technology transfer. Nathan Clay and his wife Professor Allison Kelly Scardino Belzer, Ph.D., are the parents of Rabbi and Mrs. Belzers two granddaughters: Cecilia Barrow Belzer, born in 1999 and Lillian Robinson Belzer, born in 2002.
In January 2005 Rabbi Belzer met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in Rome and in September 2008 met with Pope Benedict XVI. A senior member of the Savannah clergy, Rabbi Belzer has been active in the Savannah Association of Historic Houses of Worship.
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