He is the founder and dean of the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute, an online, one-year rabbinical school, and founder and spiritual leader of Sim Shalom Synagogue, an interactive Universalist cyber-synagogue that offers live weeknight and Shabbat synagogue services to an international community via computer hookup.
He attended elementary and junior high school at the Yeshiva of Hudson County and had an Orthodox bar mitzvah.
[2][4] He also co-founded Blane & DeRosa Productions and also produced children's book recordings and audiobooks for the Scholastic Corporation, Random House and other publishers.
[6] The rabbinical program for Jewish Professionals is student-driven, with Blane serving as moderator for student online chats.
[6] Blane conducts a once-weekly, 2-hour videoconferencing session which teaches "traditional davening and praying"[6] followed by student-led discussions on subjects such as Jewish law, holidays, or festivals.
[1] Rabbinical candidates are required to participate in online chats and submit "a 2,000-word research paper in a Jewish area of their choice".
In 2012, Blane ordained Dario Hunter, an openly gay man born to a Muslim father and African American mother who was fired by the synagogue where he was rabbi for opposing financial support for Israel,[9] as well as a former Catholic from Brazil.
[7] Graduates of the school are not recognized by the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly or the Reform Central Conference of American Rabbis; however, they do conduct their own weddings, funerals, and High Holy Day services.
[11] The platform offers an interactive chat feature that allows participants from around the globe to converse in real time with the rabbi(s) and each other during services.
[6] Sim Shalom has assembled Jazz High Holiday service celebrations with a live congregation at iconic New York City venues for the past five years.