Draft:Mark Wildes

Mark N. Wildes (born July 27, 1967) is an American rabbi, adjunct professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University, and founder of the Manhattan Jewish Experience, an outreach organization in New York City that caters to Jewish millennials. Rabbi Wildes is the author of Beyond the Instant: Jewish Wisdom for Lasting Happiness in a Fast-Paced, Social Media World, published by Skyhorse Publishing.

Academic life
Mark Wildes is a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied international law and human rights and received a Masters degree in International Affairs. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University. He has served as a scholar-in-residence at synagogues throughout North America.

Manhattan Jewish Experience
The Manhattan Jewish Experience, also known as MJE, was founded in 1998. The nonprofit organization, which is affiliated with the Modern Orthodox Judaism movement, serves as a community for millennial men and women to practice their faith in an engaging manner. The group hosts educational classes, Sabbath meals and holiday prayer services, among other things. It has provided a venue through which 253 couples have met or married.

Rabbi Wildes and the Manhattan Jewish Experience has collaborated with Christian and Muslim leaders such as Imam Benjamin Bilal on interfaith similarities, differences, and the way members of the three faiths can better understand each other.

Career
Upon completing law school, Wildes worked for Milbank Tweed, Hadley & Mcloy (now simply known as Milbank, LLP) as well as at Wildes & Weinberg, where he focused on helping foreign clients receive visas and sometimes political asylum. He also interned for Congressman Gary Ackerman and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Prior to his work at the Manhattan Jewish Experience, he served as the assistant rabbi at Congregation Ohab Zedek and Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, both in New York City. He also served as the outreach director for the Queens Jewish Center.

In addition to his work at the Manhattan Jewish Experience, Rabbi Wildes is an adjunct lecturer in the rabbinic training program at Yeshiva University. He has also taught Judaic Studies at the Stern College for Women as well as at the Ramaz School.

He writes a regular column for the Times of Israel, a primarily English-language online newspaper. He is also the host of “The Wildescast” podcast.

The rabbi is frequently asked to bring a spiritual perspective to news events, and has appeared multiple times on PBS, CBS , and on Fox News.

Rabbi Wildes is the author of the self-help book Beyond the Instant: Jewish Wisdom for Lasting Happiness in a Fast-Paced, Social Media World, published by Skyhorse Publishing. Actress Mayim Bialik said that the “book is designed to speak to young Jews interested in a committed life that is also modern and very socially engaging,” and that Rabbi Wildes “does not deny the allure of instant everything (gratification, information, etc!) but he frames it beautifully in a way that honors Jewish tradition and text.”

He is an outspoken advocate on issues related to antisemitism  and has volunteered for the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews and the National Jewish Outreach Program.

Awards and honors
In 2016, Yeshiva University honored Rabbi Wildes and his wife Jill for their contributions “to connect unaffiliated Jews in their 20s and 30s with Judaism and the Jewish community.” They have received similar honors from the National Jewish Outreach Program. Rabbi Wildes received the Simon Solomon Educator Award for his work with young Jewish professionals.

Personal life
Wildes grew up in the Forest Hills community of Queens, NY. He is the son of Ruth Schoenwalter Wildes, a pillar of the Jewish community, and immigration attorney Leon Wildes, who gained worldwide fame in 1972 when he successfully defended John Lennon and Yoko Ono from a deportation attempt by the US government. In 2016, Leon Wildes wrote a book, John Lennon vs. The USA, which recounted the details of the Lennon case.

Mark Wildes is the younger brother of Michael Wildes, the 38th mayor of the city of Englewood, New Jersey.

Wildes' maternal grandfather, Max Schoenwalter, escaped Nazi Germany in the late 1930s to immigrate to the United States. Schoenwalter was instrumental in the creation of the Queens Jewish Center.

Rabbi Wildes is married and has four children.