Boston Jewish Spirit

Rabbi Howard A. Berman

Rabbi Howard A. Berman is Founding Rabbi of BJS. He is also Rabbi Emeritus of Chicago Sinai Congregation, Chicago's historic center of liberal Reform Judaism, having served as Senior Rabbi since 1982.

He was born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he received his early religious and general education. After attaining his undergraduate degree in European History from the Universities of Cincinnati and London, England, he studied for the Rabbinate at the Leo Baeck College in London, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, where he received the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters and was ordained in 1974. He has also pursued graduate studies in American Religious History at the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Chicago Theological Seminary, and studied Architectural History at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. In 1999 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

As a student, Rabbi Berman served Reform Congregations in London and Brussels, as well as in Baltimore; Petoskey, Michigan; and Rapid City, South Dakota. He also served as a Youth Group Advisor for the World Union of Progressive Judaism in Amsterdam, and as Assistant Dean of Admissions for the Hebrew Union College. After his ordination, Rabbi Berman was appointed Assistant Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, New York City, where he served for five years. While in New York, he founded “The Levites,” an interfaith clergy fellowship of assistant rabbis, priests and ministers. From 1979-1981, he was Associate Rabbi of Temple Beth Israel, West Hartford, Connecticut.

Rabbi Berman has been active in various religious and civic organizations both locally and nationally. In 1986, he was appointed by the late Mayor Harold Washington to the Chicago Peace Conversion Commission, charged with drafting and enforcing the city’s Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance. From 1989-1996, he served on the faculty of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, and has also served on the Social Action Committee of the Chicago Board of Rabbis; the AIDS Pastoral Committee of the Council of Religious Leaders in Chicago; and the Leadership Council of the Howard Brown Memorial AIDS Clinic. From 1992-1996, Rabbi Berman represented the Chicago Jewish community on the Metropolitan Task Force of the Council for the World Parliament of Religions, and served on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Chicago from 1994-1996. In addition, he has been an annual contributor to the World Book Encyclopedia Year Book as editor of its articles on Judaism.

With his decision to move to Boston in 1997, he became Rabbi Emeritus of Chicago Sinai Congregation.Currently, he is active in a variety of civic and interfaith organizations both in Boston and in Provincetown, Mass., where he maintains a second home, and is a frequent guest preacher and lecturer in churches and synagogues in both communities. He was the Founding Co-Chair of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in 1997, and has regularly officiated at the annual Gay Pride Service at the New England Holocaust Memorial. As part of the partnership between BJS and Emmanuel Church, Rabbi Berman serves as "Rabbi in Residence" of the parish, preaching monthly at Sunday Morning Worship.

Rabbi Berman also serves as Executive Director of the Society for Classical Reform Judaism, a national organization dedicated to promoting the historic liberal principles and distinctive worship traditions of the American Reform Movement.

Rabbi Berman's avocational interests include the study of American history, architectural history and the collecting of contemporary art and rare books. He is an active patron and collector of the Provincetown art tradition. He lectures widely on New England history, particularly the Mayflower Pilgrims, and is also a collector of British historical memorabilia, relating to Diana, Princess of Wales. In August 1998, he was a keynote speaker at an International Academic Symposium at the University of London commemorating the first anniversary of Princess Diana's death.

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