Articles by Rabbi Peter Grumbacher

Rabbi Peter H. Grumbacher was born in New York City, graduated from Hunter College and in 1972 was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion with a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters. Upon his ordination, Rabbi Grumbacher came to Wilmington, Delaware as Assistant Rabbi and Director of Education at Congregation Beth Emeth. In 1982, Rabbi Grumbacher was named Senior Rabbi. He retired in 2009 and has traveled around the country speaking on the subject Sharing the Silence: The Child of a Survivor Tells His Father's Story. He has also served as interim rabbi for two congregations in Virginia. The rabbi received a certificate in Pastorial Counseling from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York City in 1979. In 1991 he received a Masters of Social Work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work of Yeshiva University. He has served on many boards in our community. He was the chairperson of the State Human Relations Commission, chaired the Delaware Interfaith Coalition of Aging, and was Senior co-Chair of the NCCJ (National Conference of Christians and Jews, now the National Conference for Community and Justice). Rabbi Grumbacher serves on the National Commission for Rabbinic and Congregational Relations and was past-president of the Mid-Atlantic Region-Central Conference of American Rabbis. He served on the Executive Committee of the CCAR. In 1989 Rabbi Grumbacher received the Community Builder award of the NCCJ and in the late 1990’s was the recipient of the annual award of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the Gerald E. Kandler Award of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware. Rabbi Grumbacher is married to the former Suzanne Wilner, and they have three children, David (and wife, Deborah), Alexander, and Elana; and are the grandparents of five.