East Meadow Jewish Center rabbi earns doctorate

Rabbi Ronald Androphy is no stranger to hard work and dedication. As a rabbi for 33 years, he made the decision to go back to The Jewish Theological Seminary Graduate School part time, earning a Doctor of Hebrew Literature this year on May 19.

Rabbi Androphy is a resident of East Meadow, a community with a Jewish Center that he believes is a very warm and welcoming congregation.

This welcoming congregation is one he has been a part of for 28 years as a rabbi. While still keeping his full-time duties as a rabbi at the East Meadow Jewish Center, Androphy took on the task of going back to the school he graduated from first in 1978 because of his love for studying and learning about Judaism, a religion in which he thinks on-going education is an important value.

Upon finishing his 15 years as a part-time graduate student at JTS, Rabbi Androphy is most proud of his 285-page dissertation, “Paronomasia in the Former Prophets: A Taxonomic Catalogue, Description, and Analysis,” a study of plays on words in the Hebrew text of the Biblical books of Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, and I & II Kings.

“The day I handed in the final copy of my dissertation, I felt the thrill of completion and fulfillment, and the satisfaction that, in my own small way, I had made a contribution to the understanding of the Bible.”

Now that he has earned his doctorate, Rabbi Androphy will remain a rabbi at the East Meadow Jewish Center, as well as continuing his other interests like cycling and jogging around the East Meadow community.

Rabbi Androphy has more than his recent graduation to be proud of. He is also a dedicated husband to his wife, Nancy, and a father to their four children. His youngest daughter is also a recent graduate, finishing her education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this year as well.

Rabbi Androphy has been a past president of the East Meadow Clergy Association, Rabbinical Assembly of Nassau and Suffolk, and the Long Island Board of Rabbis. He will be returning once again to The Jewish Theological Seminary, this time as an adjunct professor.