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Apr 26, 2022, 7:45 PM

Rabbi Leder: Please Resign and Advocate for a Woman Rabbi

I hadn’t yet started my first cup of coffee when I saw the Times of Israel headline, “Outcry after Women’s Day Magazine appoints a ‘rabbi in residence’ and Chooses a Man.” I blinked and reread the headline, but it...

Apr 20, 2022, 6:58 PM

A ‘Big Jewish Idea’ is hiding in the Pesach seder

Painting by the Polish artist, Arthur Szyk, 1948 (Yeshiva University Museam / Center for Jewish History_

It's a scalable model of Jewish intergenerational community that celebrates interaction and dialogue between young and old

Mar 14, 2022, 3:48 PM

The Purim Story: Perhaps not True but Definitely Real

Contemporary Jewish scholars question the authenticity of the events in the Book of Esther. They claim that Esther was not of Persian royal lineage and was prohibited from marrying a Persian monarch. They also state that it is unlikely...

Oct 14, 2021, 8:29 PM

Serving God Doesn’t Mean Neglecting Others

On most Fridays, I study the weekly parasha with my 97-year-old rabbi and 103-year-old friend. I bet there has never been a chevruta consisting of a 97-year-old, a 103-year-old, and a 63-year-old. One of the more humorous moments in...

Mar 24, 2021, 10:05 AM

Miryam, Aharon, and Moshe: A Case Study in Transcending Sibling Rivalries

When we're suffering through a pandemic, we typically celebrate Pesach with our closest biological family members: parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and brothers and sisters. We read our assigned parts in the Haggadah, and we often play our...

Mar 14, 2021, 8:42 PM

What I Learned about Relationships from a Zoom Shiva

My father-in-law, Judge Norman Krivosha (z’l), recently passed away. My family, and the Jewish and civic communities of which he was a part, lost a loving family man, a brilliant jurist, a proud and public Jew and supporter of...

Dec 6, 2020, 6:42 PM

How to design world-class Jewish learning experiences for no cost

COVID-19 is inflicting unlimited pain across the globe. But it is also teaching us some valuable insights that we can apply in our lives once it's safe to gather in person. One lesson is that any synagogue or Jewish...

Nov 9, 2020, 6:34 PM

Peering into A Post-Pandemic Jewish Community

The worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely yet to come. The pain of the present can be paralyzing. The demands of professional and volunteer leaders of synagogues and Jewish institutions are already massive. It requires tremendous energy to...

Sep 23, 2020, 9:23 PM

Do Repentance, Prayer, and Tzedakah Really Avert the Evil Decree?

"Repentance, prayer, and righteousness avert the evil decree." I've struggled for years with this powerful piece of prayer from the u'netaneh tokef that we recite on Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur. The musical compositions written for it match and amplify the...

Sep 4, 2020, 9:01 AM

A Spiritual Vaccine for 5781: Act, Engage, Trust, Hope

A pandemic that has wrecked untold suffering and rapid, unprecedented loss of life, broken political systems, suspicion of the other, social isolation, and despair: that summarizes the mood of many since March. We've had to shut ourselves in and...

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About Me

Rabbi Hayim Herring, Ph.D., is a national thought leader, organizational consultant and author on the American Jewish community with a specialty in synagogue life. He is President & CEO of the Herring Consulting Network.