Rabbi Charles Sherman, retiring this month
Rabbi Charles Sherman, leader of Tulsa’s Reform Jewish congregation, will retire this month after spending well over half his life at Temple Israel.
His congregants, I’m sure, will miss his thoughtful reflections on their ancient faith, and the many other things he did exceedingly well for that congregation.
I’ll be among those who will miss him.
I could always count on Rabbi Sherman to bail me out when I was working on deadline and needed a story about a Jewish holiday, or the Jewish viewpoint on a controversial subject.
He always took the time to sit down with me and share from his wealth of knowledge and experience. He always had something interesting and informative to say, and he always said it well. A reporter’s dream.
And I knew where he stood. He doesn’t like the name of this blog, and without condemnation or judgment, he said so.
In recent years, he has called me Brother Bill, in part, I think, because we share a last name and both have a son Daniel Sherman. I even had an uncle, Charles Sherman. But more than that, I like to think, it was an expression that we share a common spiritual ancestry, albeit one that took divergent paths 2,000 years ago, and that we have a mutual respect and friendship for one another.
I made a few feeble attempts to call him brother Charles, by the way, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.
I was happy to see that Phillips Theological Seminary, where he teaches, has granted him an honorary doctorate degree. Mazel tov!
Follow Bill Sherman on Twitter.
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