The ReichenbachFamily Archive
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He returned the family’s record to public history.

Rabbi Daniel Dolph Reichenbach

Living

This professional headshot shows Rabbi Daniel Dolph Reichenbach against a brick wall. Daniel supplied the photograph and approved its publication. It records his adult likeness, but the date and photographer have not been recorded.RB-PHO-0313

Paul J.’s son carries Dolf’s name into a life shaped by Israel, Jewish education, the rabbinate and the work of returning family memory to public history.

He built this archive so the letter, the shops, and the names would have a place to stay.AboutLetterFamily

Daniel is the son of Paul J. Reichenbach and Judith Newman. His middle name, Dolph, carries forward the name of his grandfather Adolf “Dolf” Reichenbach, linking a life begun in the United States to the branch of the family that escaped Germany.

Israel became part of Daniel’s own formation through study, travel, Jewish education and service in the Israel Defense Forces. A photograph from 2013 or 2014 records him during a training exercise; another preserves a quieter act of service as he blesses a Birthright participant during an informal bar mitzvah at the Southern Excavations egalitarian prayer area beside the Western Wall.

Daniel studied for the rabbinate at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. He was photographed at the New York campus in 2022 and was ordained there on 5 May 2024. His public work has included convening and speaking within Reform Jewish life, including introducing Rabbi Ami Hirsch as a keynote speaker at Recharging Reform Judaism.

The archive is also part of that work. Daniel has gathered the family’s photographs, documents and testimony; returned with relatives to the places where earlier generations lived and died; and built this public record with his father. A 2025 photograph of Daniel and Paul together in Berlin holds the story in one frame: the son of a refugee’s son and the next generation standing again in Germany, not to close the history but to carry it forward.

Family and household

People connected to this life

Sources

Sources

  • Seven personal and family photographs supplied and identified by Rabbi Daniel Dolph Reichenbach, 9 August 2026 (RB-PHO-0313–0319)
  • Family account supplied by Rabbi Daniel Dolph Reichenbach, August 2026
  • Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Class of 2024 ordination announcement
  • Reichenbach Family Archive accession record, 9 August 2026
Reichenbach Family Archive — Daniel’s consent-cleared portrait Hebrew Union College — New York ordination, Class of 2024

What remains uncertain

Several photographs preserve a known setting without an exact date or identified photographer. The IDF image is dated from Daniel’s memory to 2013 or 2014; those limits remain part of the object record.

All peopleFamily treeRelated documents

c. 2000 · 2013 or 2014

A childhood portrait, then a life in Israel

The photographs do not flatten a life into a single vocation. They begin with a child learning how to hold his ground and continue with the discipline of military service.

Daniel remembers the wrestling portrait as dating to c. 2000. The field photograph was taken during an Israel Defense Forces training exercise in either 2013 or 2014; the object record keeps the year open rather than choosing between them.

This childhood studio portrait shows Daniel Reichenbach in wrestling headgear and stance. Daniel remembers making it at about ten years old, probably in 2000, and approved its publication as an adult. The memory fixes an approximate age, but the studio, photographer and exact date remain unknown.RB-PHO-0314
This personal photograph shows Daniel Reichenbach in uniform during an Israel Defense Forces training exercise. Daniel dates the scene to 2013 or 2014 and approved its publication. It records the exercise, but the exact date, place and photographer remain unknown.RB-PHO-0315

Israel · HUC-JIR · Reform Judaism

Learning, blessing and speaking

The thread through these images is encounter: meeting a young person at a threshold, preparing for the rabbinate, and helping convene a wider Reform Jewish conversation.

In Jerusalem, Daniel blesses a Birthright participant during an informal bar mitzvah at the Southern Excavations egalitarian prayer area. At HUC-JIR New York in 2022, he stands before the ark two years before ordination. At Recharging Reform Judaism, he introduces Rabbi Ami Hirsch as a keynote speaker.

HUC-JIR’s Class of 2024 ordination announcement
This personal photograph shows Daniel placing his hands on a participant’s head during an informal bar mitzvah at the Southern Excavations prayer area. Daniel supplied the image and approved publication of his likeness; the participant’s face is not visible. The scene records the blessing, but the participant’s name, date and photographer remain unknown.RB-PHO-0316
This personal photograph shows Daniel Reichenbach at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2022. He kept the image from the period before his rabbinical ordination and approved its publication. The year and setting are known, but the exact date and photographer are not.RB-PHO-0317
This event photograph shows Daniel Reichenbach introducing Rabbi Ami Hirsch as a keynote speaker at a Recharging Reform Judaism gathering. Daniel supplied the context and approved publication of his likeness. The image records his speaking role, but the year and photographer remain unknown.RB-PHO-0318
This family photograph shows Daniel and his father Paul J. Reichenbach beside the Spree during their 2025 visit to Germany. Someone traveling with them kept a quiet moment from the return. The city and year are known, but the exact date and photographer are not.RB-PHO-0319

Berlin · 2025

The story carried together

Daniel and his father, Paul J. Reichenbach, returned to Germany together.

The family history on this site reaches backward through names, stones, shops and scattered papers. This photograph faces the other direction. Paul and Daniel stand beside the Spree in Berlin in 2025: two generations living with the inheritance of Dolf’s escape, and choosing to make that inheritance visible.

The archive they have built does not belong to one moment of return. It is the continuing work of preserving what survived, naming what was lost and keeping the record open for the generation that follows.