Saul J. Berman

Rabbi Saul J. Berman was born and raised in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. He was ordained at Yeshiva University, completed a degree in law, a J.D., at NYU Law School, and an M.A. in Political Science at UC Berkeley. He did advanced studies in Jewish Law at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University Law Schools.

He was Rabbi in Berkeley CA (1963-1969), Brookline, MA (1969-1971) and at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan (1984-1990.) He was an early leader in the Soviet Jewry movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In March 1965 he participated in voter registration efforts in Selma, Alabama where he was twice arrested.

Since 1971 he has served on the faculty at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University, where, as Professor of Jewish Studies, he teaches Jewish Law related to medical ethics, contemporary social and political issues, the status of women, and Liturgy.

Since 1990, he serves also as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Law School, as the Nathan and Rose Rotter Fellow in Talmudic Law, teaching seminars in Jewish Law and Biblical Jurisprudence. From 1997 until 2007 he also served as Director of Edah, an advocacy organization for Modern Orthodox Judaism, and in 2009-2010 he was Berkowitz Fellow at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at NYU Law School.