Rabbi Vernon Kurtz was the longtime Rabbi of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, Illinois. Rabbi Kurtz is a past president of MERCAZ Olami USA (the World Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement), The Rabbinical Assembly (the international association of Conservative Rabbis), The Chicago Board of Rabbis, and the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. He served as chair of the United Jewish Appeal Rabbinic Cabinet and is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the Rabbinic Award from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, the Rabbi Simon Greenberg Rabbinic Achievement Award from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Julius Rosenwald Memorial Award of Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. He has authored teshuvot for the Law Committee and has published articles in a range of periodicals and books. In addition to teaching at Spertus, he is a monthly Torah commentator for the Chicago Jewish News and a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem.