Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner, the chaplain of the Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living in Somerset, was elected to serve a two-year term as president of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC). He assumed the position on January 15.
The NAJC Is the international professional association of Jewish chaplains, whose members serve in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, homes for the elderly, military services, prisons, law enforcement organizations, mental health settings and other institutions. The NAJC was founded in 1990 and today there are 550 members.
Rabbi Kinzbrunner was appointed campus chaplain of the Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living in August of 2010. He received smicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchonon Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University in October 2007 and earned a master’s degree in Jewish philosophy from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University in 2003. He became a board certified chaplain through the NAJC in December 2016. Rabbi Kinzbrunner also currently serves as president of the Rabbinic Association in the Heart of New Jersey, an affiliate of the Jewish Federation.
Rabbi Kinzbrunner, his wife Shira (a structural engineer with GACE Consulting Engineers), and their two sons live in Highland Park.
As president of the NAJC, Rabbi Kinzbrunner intends to advance two priority initiatives—to create deeper bonds between the NAJC and the Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies (NJHSA), the international umbrella organization for more than 140 non-profit Jewish human services agencies, and to further the partnerships NAJC has with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), the ACPE (formerly the Association of Clinical and Pastoral Education), the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC) and the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care/Association Canadienne de Soins Spirituels (“CASC/ACSS).” By cementing these ties, the NAJC will solidify a coalition for common standards among and advocacy by spiritual care providers.
By Harry Glazer
