Zev Eleff is Chief Academic Officer of Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, IL. He earned his PhD in the field of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. Eleff is the author or editor of six books and more than thirty scholarly articles, and his most recent publication is Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Documentary History.

Finalist for the American Jewish Studies cateogry of the 2016 National Jewish Book Awards

Meticulously researched... Who Rules the Synagogue? contributes much toward understanding how religious authority has been constructed and negotiated over the span of American religious history." --Journal of Religion

"Eleff s scholarly and concise history of the struggle for power within American synagogues during the nineteenth century is a major contribution, and it is destined to take its place alongside Davis s The Emergence of Conservative Judaism: The Historical School in Nineteenth-Century America (1963); Jick s The Americanization of the Synagogue, 1820 1870 (1976); and Sarna's American Judaism: A History (2004) in the historiography of nineteenth-century American Judaism."--Religious Studies Review

"This well-documented, well-reasoned, eminently readable account of transatlantic throughways for this dramatic transformation of Jewish religious life yields helpful context for understanding the contemporary state of American Judaism Recommended."--CHOICE

"This well-researched monograph is a fascinating and enlightening read...An absorbing read...For those with an interest in American Jewish history, Who Rules the Synagogue?: Religious Authority and the Formation of American Judaism should be part of their required reading list."--The Times of Israel