Leonard Matanky

Leonard A. Matanky Lenny Matanky
Position	Rabbi
Synagogue	Congregation K.I.N.S.
Position	President
Organisation	Rabbinical Council of America
Began	2013
Personal details
Birth name	Leonard Matanky
Born	(1958-10-26) October 26, 1958 Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	United States
Denomination	Modern Orthodox
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Spouse	Margaret Matanky
Children	7
Occupation	Rabbi
Alma mater	Hebrew Theological College (MA), Loyola University (MEd), New York University (PhD)
Semicha	Hebrew Theological College

Leonard A. Matanky (born October 26, 1958) is a prolific Modern Orthodox rabbi and Jewish leader in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Matanky is currently the immediate past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, pulpit rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S. and Dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy. He has written extensively on curriculum issues.

Biography

Matanky was born in Chicago in 1958. In 1981, He received rabbinical ordination and a Masters degree in Religious Education from Hebrew Theological College. That year, he began teaching Judaic studies at Ida Crown Jewish Academy, a coeducational Modern Orthodox high school in Chicago. Matanky subsequently earned a Masters in Educational Administration from Loyola University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences New York University in 1989. In 1994 he assumed the pulpit of Congregation K.I.N.S. in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. He was appointed Dean of ICJA in 1996. In 2013, he succeeded Rabbi Shmuel Goldin as President of the Rabbinical Council of America. He had previously served as Vice-President of the RCA under Goldin.

Rabbi Matanky has served as President of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and (as of 2014) is on the boards of the Religious Zionists of Chicago and Camp Moshava. He is also co-Chairman of the Rabbinic Action Committee of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and serves on the rabbinic advisory committees of the YU Torah MiTzion Kollel of Chicago, and World Beni Akiva.

Family

Matanky is married to Margaret Novick, with whom he has three sons and four daughters. His eldest child, Yaakov, died in a car accident in 2002. Matanky has thirteen grandchildren (as of December 2015).