Saul Berman

Who is Saul Berman?

Saul J. Berman is an American scholar and Modern Orthodox rabbi.

Berman was ordained at Yeshiva University, from which he also received his B.A. and his M.H.L. He completed a degree in law, a J.D., at New York University, and an M.A. in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied with David Daube. He spent two years studying mishpat ivri in Israel at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv University.

Berman was the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel from 1963 to 1969, of Young Israel of Brookline from 1969 to 1971. In 1971, following his departure from Young Israel of Brookline Berman was appointed Chairman of the Department if Judaic Studies of Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. Under his leadership over the next thirteen years, it grew into the largest undergraduate Department of Jewish Studies in the United States. In 1984, he accepted the position as senior rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, New York where he served until 1990. During those years, he spearheaded an expansion of the adult education program, the creation of an extensive social action program based on halachic commitments, the growth of the Synagogue's Women's Tefillah Group, and the creation of new outreach programs to the unaffiliated.