New York, NY

From 1973 to 1982, Rabbi Lennard Thal served first as Assistant Dean and then Associate Dean at the L.A. campus of HUC. In 1982, he assumed the position of Regional Director of the UAHC (now URJ) for its Pacific Southwest Council, based in Los Angeles.

In 1996, Rabbi Thal moved to New York to become Vice President of the UAHC, subsequently assuming the role of Senior Vice President in which capacity he served as the Union’s Director of Regions and then Director of Development. He retired from the URJ in June, 2008. Rabbi Thal came out of retirement for a while  to serve as Interim Director of Rabbinical Placement located in the offices of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Rabbi Thal grew up in Bellingham, Washington and then matriculated at Princeton University from which he received an A.B. in Religion in 1964. He received his J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1967. He then enrolled at the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College prior to transferring to the New York campus from which he was ordained in 1973.

Rabbi Thal has received numerous awards for his work including the Hebrew Union College’s Sherut La’am award.  Also, since 1993, he has served as Visiting Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of Singapore.