Scholar in Residence

Robert Berman is a graduate of Harvard University (MPA), Baruch College (MBA), Yeshiva University (BA), Gruss Kollel and Yeshivat Hakotel. He has been published in New York Magazine, the Harvard Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Tablet, Ha’aretz, the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Week, Moment Magazine, the Times of Israel, and the Jerusalem Report. He is the founder and director of the Halachic Organ Donor Society. He is the author of What Happens if I Miss a Kaddish: The Origin, Development and Putatuve Efficacy of Mourner’s Kaddish and Min Taq Taq:  A Collection of Arabic Idioms and Expressions in the Palestinian dialect. Mr. Berman has  delivered more than 900 lectures about organ donation and brain death halacha in America, Europe and Israel. Over the weekend, Mr. Berman usually delivers 3 lectures on different angles of organ donation (you can see them below). Please contact Mr. Berman if your shul is interested in having him as a scholar in residence.

1. Friday Night: Paying for Organs is Illegal – Is it Immoral? A Fun Audience Debate.

2. Shabbat Morning: Organ Donation in Halacha and what is going on in Israel.

3. Mincha-Maariv: When is the moment of death? The Brain Death Controversy.

Over the last 19 years, the Halachic Organ Donor Society has:

• saved hundreds of lives by facilitating organ transplants that were not going to happen.
• performed a kiddush Hashem by changing people’s perception about Jews vis a vis organ donation (see CNN, WABC TV, The NY Times).
• delivered more than 900 lectures educating more than 52,000 Jews.
• recruited more than 340 Rabbis to carry organ donor cards.
• created dozens of Rabbinic video-testimonials in support of organ donation.
• made available over 700 articles on organ donation and Jewish law.
• placed over 70 editorials, articles, and letters-to-the-editor.
• had an impact half way around the world (see Australian Jewish News).