Byron Sherwin


Rabbi Byron Lee Sherwin was a Jewish scholar and author with expertise in theology, inter-religious dialogue, mysticism and Jewish ethics.

Background and career

A rabbi in the Conservative Judaism movement, he trained at the Jewish Theological Seminary with Abraham Joshua Heschel. A graduate of Columbia University, he earned a Ph.D. in the History of Culture from the University of Chicago. Sherwin served as a senior administrator at the Spertus Institute and as Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism. He also directed the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Center for the Study of Eastern European Jewry. Sherwin was reportedly "The first rabbi in 400 years to lecture at the Catholic seminary in Bialystok, and the first Jew ever to lecture on Judaism at the University of Warsaw." He was the author of dozens of books and articles in Jewish studies.
"In 1995, he was awarded the "Officer's Order of Merit" by President Lech Wałęsa of The Republic of Poland and in 1996 received an honorary Doctor of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary." He also received the 1992 "Man of Reconciliation Award" from the Polish Council of Christians and Jews. He died at the age of 69 in 2015.

Selected works