Ben Herman

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Jan 18, 2022, 4:38 PM

What I Learned from Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker

January 18, 2022 I have not had the privilege of meeting Rabbi Cytron-Walker. However, I saw him being interviewed as well as speaking at the healing service last night. Here are seven things as a colleague that I have learned...

Sep 24, 2021, 11:19 PM

Encountering Death

As the musical Hamilton teaches us, “You have no control who lives who dies who tells your story.” Death is one of the most difficult topics. Yet it is one we are reminded of every Yizkor. As former Miamian...

Sep 23, 2021, 10:51 PM

Reinventing Ourselves

Learning Never Ends. This was the line that Adon Morgan, my middle school Judaics teacher, wrote in my yearbook. It is so true. The minute we stop learning we become terminal. The rabbinate is one of the few fields...

Sep 13, 2021, 10:27 AM

The Power of I Don’t Know

At a meditation retreat with the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell taught me a profound teaching based on a Zen koan. It is to meditate on the following saying: “Where am I going? Don’t know.” On Rosh...

Sep 12, 2021, 7:36 PM

Search and Rescue

In Tucson I had a congregant who was a pilot and was going to take me out on a Wednesday flight. He called me Tuesday evening to cancel because it was too windy. Impulsively, I thought, “What a great...

Sep 12, 2021, 4:02 PM

Where Were We and Where Are We Now

Think back to where we were last Erev Rosh Hashanah. I was in an empty Sanctuary with Chelsea Rego in the back and Eddie from Extreme Productions doing video. It was overwhelming-Eddie had 200 videos to put in order....

Jun 26, 2021, 12:33 AM

Response to Surfside

There are some things for which there are no words. On Thursday I did two funerals where I spoke about why we thank God at times of tragedy-because when we feel vulnerable, that the world has slipped out from...

Jun 26, 2021, 12:32 AM

South Florida Mission to Israel

Healing, resilience, hopeful. Those are the three words I'd use to describe the South Florida Rabbis Solidarity Mission to Israel. Thanks are due to Jacob Solomon, who got Miami rabbis a scholarship to attend, and who enabled us to...

Jun 5, 2021, 12:25 AM

The Enemy of my Enemy is My Friend

As a student of History, I was always fascinated by the United States' alliance with "Uncle Joe" Stalin against Hitler. Talk about strange bedfellows: a man who murdered twenty million of his own people, sent millions more to the...

Apr 16, 2021, 11:27 PM

Masorti Shabbat: Building an Israel Where all Jews are Fully Welcomed[1]

The beginning of Parshat Tazria/Metzora begins with an inequality: when a woman gives birth to a son she is טמאה a word I think no translation does justice to (generally “impure” or “unclean”) with him for 7 days until...

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About Me

Rabbi Ben Herman is the Senior Rabbi at Mosaic Law Congregation in Sacramento, California. He has previously created initiatives and helped implement programs such as Drive In Shabbat, a Drive Through Sukkah, a student-led musical service called Friday Night Live, Shabbat on the Beach, and the United Synagogue Schechter Award-winning Hiking and Halacha. Rabbi Herman also serves on the Rabbinical Assembly's Conversion Commission as well as its Derech Eretz and Social Action Committees. He is a Mahloket Matters Fellow with PARDES and has previously been part of JOIN for Justice's Community Organizing Fellowship as well as the Institute for Jewish Spirituality's Clergy Leadership Program. Rabbi Herman's focus is growing the membership through outreach and relational Judaism, including creating Havurot, implementing engaging programming and enhancing the Educational and Young Family programs at Mosaic Law. Rabbi Herman earned a Bachelors Degree in History, Hebrew and Jewish Studies with Comprehensive Honors in 2005 and received Rabbinic Ordination with a Masters Degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2011. Rabbi Herman married Karina in June 2014, and the two of them are very excited to be living in Sacramento and in California, Karina's home state. They welcomed daughters Ariela Shira in February 2016 and Leora Rose in December 2018.