(JTA) — Rabbi Zachary Heller, past president of the World Council of Masorti Synagogues and a congregational rabbi for nearly 30 years, has died.
Heller died Monday after a long battle with cancer. He was 71.
He served as senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, a Conservative congregation in Bayonne, N.J., for 29 years, and was considered "a rabbi’s rabbi," according to a death notice in The New York Times.
Heller worked as the associate director of the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies for 12 years from 1997.
As president of the World Council of Masorti Synagogues from 1989 to 1994, he lectured and taught in 22 countries and mentored rabbis in many communities. The Masorti movement in Israel is affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
Heller also was the author of four books.
