His latest book, Mensch-Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi - Wisdom for Untethered Times, was published by HCI books in 2019. He also is a contributing author to the new collection, Holding Fast: Jews Respond to American Gun Violence.
He is the author previously of thelordismyshepherd.com: Seeking God in Cyberspace and contributor to the children’s book, I Have Some Questions About God, and the collections Text Messages: A Torah Commentary for Teens, and Peace in Our Cities: Rabbis Against Gun Violence.
Rabbi Hammerman was a winner of the Simon Rockower award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism, for his 2008 columns on the Bernard Madoff case, which appeared first on his blog and then were discussed widely in the media. In 2018, he received an award from the Religion News Association, honorable mention, for excellence in commentary, for articles written for the Washington Post, New York Jewish Week, and JTA.
His articles have appeared widely (see many of them on his blog, at http://joshuahammerman.com/), and his column, “On One Foot,” has appeared regularly in The New York Jewish Week since 1995. He also is a regular blogger for the Times of Israel and writes frequently for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) and the Religion News Service (RNS).
Among his many published personal essays are several written for the New York Times Magazine and Washington Post. He has been featured as About.com's Conservative representative in its "Ask the Rabbi" series and as "The Jewish Ethicist," fielding questions on the New York Jewish Week's website.
During his time at Temple Beth El, Rabbi Hammerman has been president of the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut and the Stamford Board of Rabbis, a chaplain for the Stamford Police, and a member of the pastoral advisory committee of Stamford Health Systems. He also has served on the Rabbinic Leadership Council, a select group of rabbis chosen by Chancellor Arnold Eisen of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and he has been a member of the faculty of CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. In addition, he has been heavily involved in many Jewish think tanks, including JESNA’s Jewish Education 3.0 project, STAR-Tech and Synaplex.
Rabbi Hammerman was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1983 after receiving a master’s degree in journalism from N.Y.U. and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Brown University, where he twice won the university’s prestigious Bishop McVickar Prize in Religious Studies. He came to Temple Beth El as its assistant rabbi in 1987. In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from JTS for his years of service to the Jewish people.
rabbi@tbe.org
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