Rabbi George Stern

For much of his career, George Stern served as rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Upper Nyack, N.Y., where he established strong social justice and interfaith programs; taught Jewish-studies courses at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, N.Y.; served as president of the Nyack Interfaith Clergy Association; spearheaded the establishment of a Pastoral Care Department and Clinical Pastoral Education program at Nyack Hospital; organized interfaith support of Black churches during a spate of church burnings in 1995-96; assisted in clergy training around issues of domestic violence; and represented the faith community on the Multicultural Task Force of the Nyack Public Schools. A Philadelphian by birth, George returned in 2002 and became the executive director of Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM), followed by part-time stints as coordinator of a support program for older adults in Center City and director of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network, a progressive social-justice organization. George was ordained in 1974 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Currently, George is on the Tikkun Olam Coordinating Team of Germantown Jewish Centre and the Steering Committee of Indivisible NW Philly, dedicated to ensuring the election of progressive candidates in Pennsylvania and nationally.

Essays

protest with Black Lives Matter sign raised

Now I Finally Get It: What George Floyd Has Taught Me

July 8, 2020

“Black Lives Matter” is an insistent cry that it’s way past time for America to acknowledge the sin of racism and to stop acting as if Black lives don’t matter.

Rabbi George Stern

Essays

Now I Finally Get It: What George Floyd Has Taught Me

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