Rabbi Benjamin Sharff

RABBI BENJAMIN SHARFF

Rabbi Sharff comes to Baltimore from temple Emanu-EL in Tuscon, Arizona with a lifetime background in the Rabbinate. The son of a Reform Rabbi, he has lived in Virginia Beach, Va., and Baton Rouge, La., before the family settled in Houston, Texas, where he grew up.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, Rabbi Sharff received his Rabbinic Ordination and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 2004, and he joined temple Emanu-El in 2005.

At temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Sharff coordinated and taught adult and youth education programs and communal outreach programs; engaged in interfaith activities and discussions; and participated in the larger Tucson Jewish community, spearheading the drive to increase temple Emanu-El’s presence in northwest Tucson. He was also the editor of The Comic Book Siddur, a unique publication for Jewish youth. Additionally, Rabbi Sharff conducted both traditional and creative worship services and ministered to the congregants’ spiritual, personal and religious needs.

Rabbi Sharff is married to Dr. Joy Sharff, a pediatrician. The couple has two children, Emily Hannah and Noah Daniels. Both Rabbi Sharff and his wife are accomplished musicians; he plays rhythm guitar, and she plays the clarinet, and both were members of the temple Emanu-El’s Avanim Rock Band.

Baltimore Jewish Times Opinion: Unions And Jews by Rabbi Benjamin Sharff