our mission & work

The daily abuse of religion threatens world peace.  At Tanenbaum - a secular, non-sectarian organization -  we work to reduce and prevent the violence perpetrated in the name of religion by supporting religious peacemakers who struggle in areas of armed conflict and by overcoming religious intolerance in workplaces and schools.

education: Children don't begin life filled with fear, hatred and negative stereotypes,
but attitudes form early. We train educators to prepare students to thrive in a multicultural, multi-religious society by providing training and cutting-edge multicultural curricula.

workplace: Religion in the workplace can be tricky. That's why we work with corporations and institutions to create religiously inclusive policies and practices. We train service providers in healthcare and other settings to work with religiously diverse communities.

conflict resolution: Sick of headlines about religion fueling wars? We identify, train and promote religious peacemakers from far and near -- so that they are even more effective in areas of armed conflict.

special programs: Religion has been -- and still is -- used to justify bigotry and hate. Tanenbaum is known for its conferences and publications exploring the religious roots of prejudice.

about our namesake

The late Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum was a well-known human rights and social justice activist who built bridges with other faith communities to make things happen. Newsweek dubbed him as "the American Jewish community's foremost apostle to the gentiles." New York Magazine called him "the foremost Jewish ecumenical leader in the world today." In a poll of newspaper editors, ranking the ten most respected and influential religious leaders in America, Rabbi Tanenbaum came in fourth.

He was best known for his presence on the final day of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 for the announcement of Nostra Aetate, which decreed that Catholics could not blame the Jews for the death of Jesus. The passage of Nostra Aetate was a major contribution in healing
rifts between Catholics and Jews. In his lifetime, Rabbi Tanenbaum was dubbed "the human rights rabbi" for his work on behalf of Vietnamese "boat people" and Cambodian refugees. He also helped organize humanitarian relief for victims of the Nigerian-Biafran conflict.

The son of Orthodox Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, Rabbi Tanenbaum grew up in Baltimore. Although his parents struggled to make ends meet, Rabbi Tanenbaum excelled in school and graduated high school at a tender age of 14 with a scholarship to attend Yeshiva University in New York City. He enrolled at Yeshiva at the age of 15 and pursued both medical and rabbinical studies.

At 19-years old, Rabbi Tanenbaum graduated from Yeshiva, but decided against being a rabbi. Medicine was his calling, he decided. But after only one day of classes, Rabbi Tanenbaum realized that medicine was not for him.

He found work at a weekly newsletter. By chance, he ran into a former classmate at Yeshiva, who planned to attend the Jewish Theological Seminary. On a whim, Tanenbaum decided to go along. Both were accepted and attended. At the seminary, he explored his interests and understandings of Judaism in the liberal, spirited atmosphere.

After ordination, Rabbi Tanenbaum knew he wanted to serve the Jewish community. He spent time as a writer and editor, before joining the Synagogue Council of America in 1952 as director. Here he worked to make the Synagogue Council into the voice of Judaism in the United States. He made contacts with Christian leaders, including televangelists and Greek Orthodox primates. His influence widened as he became involved in Washington politics, including serving as the vice president of the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1960. Tanenbaum believed that Jews needed to take an active role in US politics in order to prevent marginalization and anti-Semitism.

His work with Christian-Jewish relations continued when Pope John XXIII called for a revitalization of the Catholic church in the form of the Ecumenical Council in 1961. At the time, Rabbi Tanenbaum worked at the American Jewish Committee as director of Interreligious Affairs. He supervised an initiative that addressed the negative portrayal of Judaism in Catholic textbooks and in the liturgy and included concrete steps to alleviate these tensions.

Rabbi Tanenbaum continued his work for the American Jewish Committee and became International Affairs Director, where he became more involved in human rights and humanitarian work. Along with serving on the board of many institutions, Tanenbaum received fifteen honorary degrees as well as many other honors.

Besides his activism and scholarly work, Tanenbaum was well known for his weekly radio broadcasts, which addressed current events with succinct commentary. He also wrote editorials and pieces on issues of Jewish responsibility and interreligious dialogue. He married Dr. Georgette Bennett in 1982.

In 1992, the lifelong interfaith pioneer met an untimely end. He died of heart failure at the age of 66, only months before the birth of his son Joshua-Marc Tanenbaum.

While grieving the loss of her remarkable husband, Dr. Bennett realized that his work must go on. In 1993, she started the Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Foundation, known today as the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding.

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Click here to read Rabbi Tanenbaum's Wikipedia entry