Rabbi Ingber, Jewish Leader at 92NY, Is ‘All About Hope’

Since 2023, David A. Ingber has been the Director of Jewish Life and head of the Bronfman Center at 92NY, and in just two years has breathed a lot of exciting new activity into the 150-year old institution.

The Bronfman Center has never been busier: one can find countless conversations, conversion training, Hebrew classes, adult education, Friday night services, even podcasts. “I am basically the chief operating Jew,” says its main man. He is also the founding rabbi of Romemu (in Hebrew, it means “to elevate”), the largest Renewal synagogue in the country. “Romemu is a musically elevated movement,” he explained, “quite a different aesthetic. We brought that to the Y recently and people love it.”

This man has already done much elevating for the city’s Jews, with more to come. “Clearly, these have been challenging times,” he said. “I was known in most of my early career as one working for a two-state solution. Over the last five years, I have had to double down my identity as a Zionist. That said, I see myself as a bridge person, someone who can speak to people across religious and political differences. We must stop appeasement and bending over backwards to be accepted, to assimilate.”

He performs interfaith marriages, but only if he’s convinced that any children who will come along are raised Jewish. “The statistics of transmitting religion are still out,” he said. “It is less complicated, though, when the mother is Jewish. Then, it’s pretty clear the children will be.”

He is all about hope. “I want to see a world where people come before politics. What is worse than strong disagreement is apathy...even misguided, ignorant or not, I still hope that passion, with the right exposure, will change those who have temporarily left us, and have them returning,” he said. “I want to be part of that solution, and I’m blessed to have nieces and nephews: they are holding down the fort so to speak. When NYU was aflame, my niece was accosted by a Hamas supporter.”

As anyone bravely trying to get around 92NY now knows, it is in the midst of renovating. The fourth floor will have the Bronfman Center. “We have such a rich archive there,” said Ingber. “Overall, this has been a great two years for me.”

In his personal life, he is surrounded by family. He and his wife have three children, and his parents remain neighbors. “My parents are 91 and 84 and live on 89th and Madison,” he said.

“I went to an Upper East Side Jewish day school from the age of sixth grade on.” He studied at Ramaz, Yeshiva University, Beit Midrash L’Torah, Yeshivat Chaim Berlin, and Yeshivat Chovovei Torah Rabbinical School. (He also studied philosophy, psychology and religion at New York University.)

This charismatic leader was named by Newsweek as one of the top 50 most influential rabbis in the United States: as well as landing on The Forward’s list of the 50 most newsworthy and notable Jews in America.