In 2008, Renni became the Associate Dean and Director of the Rabbinical Program of the New York Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the seminary for the training of rabbis, cantors and educators for the Reform Jewish movement in North America. As Associate Dean, Renni serves as the director of student life, overseeing all community and co-curricular activities on campus; as Director of the Rabbinical Program, she coordinates all aspects of the rabbinical program including rabbinical admissions and rabbinical placement. She was ordained a rabbi from the New York Campus of HUC-JIR in 1988 and now enjoys this opportunity to return to her alma mater and share the insights she has gleaned from twenty years in the active rabbinate.

After graduating with a major in Communication Arts, Renni fulfilled her desire to spend time in Israel and volunteered on one of the first kibbutzim established by the Reform movement. She returned to the States to serve as a Legislative Intern at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC. A year later, she returned to Israel working in public relations and for the Reform movement’s youth programs. Ultimately, Renni decided to follow a professional path that she had considered since her youth -- the rabbinate -- as a career that would combine her love of Judaism, youth work, education and service to others. She returned to the New York campus of HUC-JIR where she earned a Masters of Arts in Hebrew Letters and rabbinical ordination.

Renni’s first position was as Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El in Houston, TX. While she enjoyed life in Houston, her boyfriend turned fiancé was a die-hard New Yorker. Renni returned to New York when she and Richard Wender were married. For the next four years, Renni served as the Director of Programs for Reaching the Unaffiliated of the Union for Reform Judaism. Despite the rewards and challenges of that work Renni yearned to return to the congregational rabbinate; in 1994, she assumed the position of Associate Rabbi of Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY and was named Senior Associate Rabbi in 2008.

At the time of our 35th reunion, Renni continues to enjoy her work at HUC-JIR, most especially the class she now teaches to the new class of rabbinical students introducing them to the work of the rabbinate. She and her husband are also enjoying being empty nesters, with one college graduate (doing a year of community service in Israel) a junior and freshman.

At the time of our 40th reunion, Renni has returned to her professional true love, the congregational rabbinate, as rabbi of Vassar Temple, a 170 year old Reform synagogue.  She is enjoying being the spiritual leader of this very sweet, engaged congregation and embarking upon this "third chapter" of her life. She and her husband are relocating to Poughkeepsie, but will also maintain a residence around NYC as he is still a practicing attorney there.