“The American Jewish University” founded 1947 in Los Angeles.
…current locale is Bel–Air, Los Angeles.
…incorporates the “University of Judaism” and the “Brandeis–Bardin Institute.”
Spiritual founder: Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, (1881–1983) dynamic founder and prime mover of the Reconstructionist Movement…Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (1968)…
Kaplan had significant, if not pivotal, tenures with the Young Israel synagogue movement (Orthodox), then with the Conservative JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary) and, as well, with the Conservative–Reconstructionist Society for the Advancement of Judaism.
Works include “Judaism as a Civilization”…“The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Thought”…“The New Haggadah.” While Kaplan’s thrust asserting Judaism primarily as a religious civilization found resonance, then and now, his particular (evolving) grappling with core theological concepts led to stormy ruptures with many of his early affiliations… Notwithstanding, he leaves enduring worldwide legacy…spanning the entire Jewish “nation civilization religion cultural entity ethnic group tribe”…the RRC (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College), Wyncote, PA, graduated its 300th rabbi in 2007…presidents of RRC: I. Eisenstein, A. Green, D. Teutsch, D. Ehrenkrantz.