Rabbi Herman Schaalman, Interfaith Leader, Dies at 100


Rabbi Herman Schaalman died Tuesday at the age of 100. 

He was the rabbi at Emanuel Congregation, a synagogue in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, from 1956 to 1988. Schaalman was a Holocaust survivor and a leader in bringing people of various faiths together. And late in life, the rabbi had an epiphany: He decided he no longer believed in God.

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“It is with profound sadness that we share with you that our beloved Rabbi Emeritus Herman Schaalman, z”l died this afternoon at home,” a post on the synagogue’s website reads.

In May 2015, Phil Ponce spoke with Schaalman on Chicago Tonight. Watch the original video above. We’ll revisit that interview on Thursday.

A funeral service for Schaalman will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Emanuel Congregation

Video below: Schaalman talks about religion and his experiences in Nazi Germany in “Thirty Good Minutes,” produced by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The program aired on WTTW in 2011.


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