After serving two years as a Chaplain (Captain) in the U.S. Army, Rabbi Prystowsky came to Congregation Or Ami in Lafayette Hill in 1963 where he served as the spiritual leader for 38 years until his retirement in 2001. He is now Rabbi Emeritus and has a limited practice as a marital and family therapist for both congregants and non-congregants. Rabbi Prystowsky’s undergraduate degree is from Hunter College in New York; his rabbinical ordination is from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York; where he also received his Doctor of Divinity degree (honorus causa). His Ph.D. is from Dropsie College in Philadelphia, and his certification as a family therapist is from the Department of Family Psychiatry of the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia. Dr. Prystowsky has published articles in a number of periodicals and has lectured on both psychology and religion before many groups. He was an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at Chestnut Hill College. He served as a family therapist at both the Horsham Clinic and Eugenia Hospital. He was chosen a few years ago by the Central Conference of American Rabbis to be the “Hotline Rabbi” – to counsel by phone rabbis and spouses of the CCAR, both nationally and internationally. He served pro bono in that capacity until his retirement. Rabbi Prystowsky is a charter member of the American Family Therapy Academy, a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley Association of Reform Rabbis and is currently on the Board of the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis. Rabbi Prystowsky and his wife Cochava travel extensively and have been to almost 40 countries. They have been to Israel over 25 times. Rabbi Prystowsky and Cochava, an artist, have two children and four grandchildren.
