Rabbi Emeritus A. David Packman was the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel of Oklahoma City for twenty-eight years serving our congregation from 1976 - 2004. He is currently an adjunct faculty member of the School of Religion of Oklahoma City University, where he also serves as University Jewish Chaplain.

He is a leader of interfaith coalitions that support Freedom of Choice as well as an Oklahoma City Human Rights Ordinance and he serves on the Board of the Central Oklahoma Human Rights Alliance. Rabbi Packman has been active in interfaith work for many years. He is the reorganizer of Oklahoma’s most inclusive Thanksgiving Service, which embraces Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Bahai’s, Muslims, Hindus, Unitarians and people of all races.

Rabbi Packman is a founder and former treasurer of the non-profit Oklahoma Association for Health Ethics and currently serves on the Institutional Review Board of Integris Medical Center. Previously, he served as a member of the State of Oklahoma Bio-Ethics Committee, which drew up the legislation for the new law on Living Wills and Durable Power of Attorney in Health Matters.

He is on the Advisory Board of Jesus House. Formerly he served on the Boards of the Oklahoma City Urban League, the Oklahoma Civil Liberties Union, the Community Council of Central Oklahoma, the Downtown Rotary Club, Keep Oklahoma City Beautiful, the Oklahoma County Mental Health Association, the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, REST, the Northcare Community Mental Health Center, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Rabbi Packman is a Board member of the Jewish Federation of Oklahoma City. He served as past president of Planned Parenthood of Oklahoma City, the Southwest association of Reform Rabbis, the Men’s Dinner Club, and past Vice-president of the National Conference of Christians and Jews of Oklahoma City.

He has served as the Mayor’s representative to the City of Oklahoma City Neighborhood Initiative Commission, the Oklahoma State Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, the Health Research Committee of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), the State of Oklahoma Bio-Ethics Committee, the Murrah Federal Building Memorial Task Force, and the Work Force Development for Poverty Reduction Project.

He has lectured at Cameron University, University of Central Oklahoma, St. Gregory’s College, Phillips University, Oklahoma Christian College, South Central Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Baptist University, the University of Oklahoma, and Henderson State University (Arkansas.)

As a native of Philadelphia, he received his undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Middle Eastern Studies. He graduated in 1959 with honors and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. He entered Hebrew Union College, the Reform Jewish Seminary in Cincinnati, in 1959. In 1961 he received a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters Degree. In 1964 he was ordained and received a Master of Arts degree with honors.

In 1964, Rabbi Packman entered the U.S. Air Force as a Chaplain, serving in Germany, France and Italy and also provided rabbinical services to various German and French civilian Jewish communities. He also served as the prison Chaplain for the U.S. Air Force in Europe.

After completing his tour of military duty in 1967, Rabbi Packman was accepted at the Ohio State University School of Social Work and was awarded the Master of Social Work degree in June of 1969. He was the recipient of the Jerome I. Folkman Scholarship in Human Relations, which enabled him to attend the National Training Laboratory in Group Dynamics. In 1986, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa, by Oklahoma City University. In 1987 he was given the Brotherhood Award by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1989 he received a Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa, from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. In 1995 Rabbi was awarded The Human Rights Award from the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission.

Rabbi Packman and his wife, Nina, have three adult children Keren, Kenen and Jana and are grandparents to Margot, Lucy and Alexandra.