Herschel Hartz is a graduate of Yeshiva University's RIETS rabbinic program as well as a degree in Modern Jewish History from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. Originally from outside of Washington DC, Herschel went to Brandeis University and became interested in Jewish growth there. During his time at Yeshiva University, he started running Jewish events in nearby Inwood, which according to the UJA at the time, had one of the fastest growing Jewish populations in New York City. Chabad of Inwood is the only organization totally devoted to growing the Jewish community in Inwood, Manhattan. For the past five years, along with his wife Raiza Malka and his daughter Yisraela Chava, Rabbi Herschel, as he is affectionately known, has seen and experienced a lot in the Jewish world and has met and talked with many Jews from all types of backgrounds and situations.