Remembering Rabbi Moshe Herson
Groundbreaking head of Chabad in New Jersey dies at 90

While many people in New Jersey may not be familiar with his name, if they have ever gone to a Chabad holiday service, enjoyed a Shabbat meal at a Chabad house, or attended a public menorah lighting in the Garden State, they owe a bit of thanks to Rabbi Moshe Herson.
Rabbi Herson died last week at the age of 90, just one month after the death of his wife, Pearl.
Rabbi Herson was a devoted follower of the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, and the founder of the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, a training ground for young Chabad rabbis. He also was the movement’s head shaliach, or emissary, in New Jersey, a mantel he assumed in 1965.
Under his tutelage, Chabad in New Jersey has grown to encompass 72 Chabad centers throughout the state, as well as dozens of Hebrew schools, summer camps, mental-health programs, food-relief services, programs for people with special needs, and more.
“So much of what goes on in the world of Chabad today, where people think at a broader, bigger scale of what can be accomplished, comes from the impact of Rabbi Herson,” Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum said. Rabbi Grossbaum and his wife, Toba Leah, are Chabad emissaries in Livingston, where they run LifeTown and Friendship Circle. “He was a trailblazer who, following the rebbe’s directives, dreamed bigger and bigger and did what needed to be done.”
Rabbi Mendy Kaminker, who runs Chabad of Hackensack with his wife, Shterna, said he was “saddened” by Rabbi Herson’s death, but feels “very lucky to have known him and have had the chance to spend time with him. “I was always deeply impressed by his strong connection to the rebbe and how devoted he was to implementing the rebbe’s vision,” he said.

One of Rabbi Kaminker’s favorite stories from Rabbi Herson was when a donor told Rabbi Herson that he felt that the rabbi was taking advantage of him. “Without blinking, Rabbi Herson told the donor, ‘I’m taking advantage of you, the rebbe is taking advantage of me, and G-d is taking advantage of the rebbe,’” Rabbi Kaminker said. “Meaning, it’s not about taking advantage, we are all in service of G-d, and we have to do our best.” The donor ended up giving Rabbi Herson whatever it was he had asked for, Rabbi Kaminker added.
Rabbi Herson’s death was felt both inside and outside the Chabad community.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted on X that he was “deeply saddened” by Rabbi Herson’s death just one month after his wife had died. The governor went on to write, “Tammy and I are keeping his loved ones and the Chabad community in our prayers.” Mr. Murphy, a Catholic, also paid a shiva call to Rabbi Herson’s children earlier this week.
Rabbi Herson was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1934, to a family that had not been members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, or any other chasidic group. They were, however, strong in their Judaism. As a young teen, Rabbi Herson had no plans to become a rabbi. The youngest of four children of Asher and Hinda Herson — his father died when he was a toddler — Moshe Herson was certain he was going to be a doctor.
However, an encounter with a “globetrotting ambassador” from the Chabad movement, Rabbi Yosef Wineberg, who was visiting Brazil, changed the trajectory of Rabbi Herson’s life, according to Chabad.org. With Rabbi Wineberg’s encouragement and support, and blessings from Hinda Herson, Moshe received a student visa to study at the Chabad Central Yeshiva in Crown Heights.
The yeshiva is at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; it shares the building with Chabad-Lubavitch’s headquarters. So Rabbi Herson came to know the rebbe.
According to an article on Chabad.org, Rabbi Herson used to joke that “I came to become a doctor, but instead I became a doctor of divinity.”

Around 1970, Rabbi Herson was a teacher at a Chabad yeshiva in Newark. The school had outgrown its small home there and needed a new building. Rabbi Herson and others met with the rebbe to present some ideas for a new home. Options included renovating a multifamily house or bank building and turning it into a school. But the rebbe told Rabbi Herson to think bigger. He shouldn’t settle for just any place. So Rabbi Herson continued his search and found a 14-acre former monastery in Morristown, which since has become Chabad’s New Jersey base.
Today, the Rabbinical College campus includes a yeshiva program for college-age Chabad men, another for men who are ba’alei yeshiva, and a third that offers smicha — rabbinic ordination. It is also home to a growing elementary school with boys and girls divisions, and Camp Gan Israel in the summer months. Just last year, Rabbi Herson attended the groundbreaking for a $9 million expansion of the Rabbinical College’s campus to accommodate the growth of the Chabad community in New Jersey.
Rabbi Herson’s wife, Pearl, nee Glotzer, was by his side as he grew the Rabbinical College and Chabad in New Jersey. The couple married a day after Purim in 1962, and were married for more than 60 years.
According to Rabbi Grossbaum, Rabbi Herson’s reaction to the Lubavitcher rebbe’s request that he think bigger when it came to finding a permanent home for the rabbinical yeshiva in 1970 was emblematic of his entire approach to his shlichus in general. It is the approach that inspires Chabad leaders today.
“For Rabbi Herson to imagine accomplishing something of that scope was such a trailblazing idea,” Rabbi Grossbaum said. “I know in our personal shlichus, what he accomplished and what he has encouraged us to do, has been critical to my wife, Toba Leah, and myself in starting Friendship Circle and then LifeTown and seeing them continue to grow.
“He was 100% behind us, saying you need to grow and grow, and help more people,” he continued. “That is something that I will always carry with me, that encouragement and that ability that anything is possible and that we just need to make the effort.”
Rabbi Moshe Herson is survived by his children, Rabbi Asher Herson of Rockaway, Sara Brafman of Morristown, and Rabbi Mendy Herson of Basking Ridge, as well as by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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