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Dr. Lawrence A. Hoffman was ordained as a rabbi in 1969, received his Ph.D. in 1973, and is now Professor Emeritus at the New York campus of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, where he served for almost half a century. His teaching and research interests include liturgy, ritual, and worship; spirituality and theology; evolving American religion; and synagogue transformation and leadership.

For over half a century, he has combined research, classroom teaching, and a passion for the spiritual renewal of North American Judaism. He is known internationally for his lectures to popular audiences and his spiritual approach to synagogue consultation.

Rabbi Hoffman has written or edited forty-nine books to date, including My People's Prayer Book, a ten-volume edition of the Siddur with modern commentaries (and winner of a 2007 National Jewish Book Award). The follow-up My People's Passover Haggadah appeared in February, 2008. In 2018, he completed Prayers of Awe, an eight-volume commentary on the prayers of the High Holy Days. His Rethinking Synagogues (2007) is widely used by congregations engaged in transformational change. His 100 Great Jewish Books is a popular guide to Judaism that introduces adults to the Jewish library of the centuries --- from the Bible to today. For the Wexner Foundation, where he has taught for almost thirty years, he edited More than Managing, a collection of essays on leadership, to honor Les Wexner and the 30th anniversary of the foundation. His articles, both popular and scholarly, have appeared in eight languages and four continents.

For many years, Rabbi Hoffman served as visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame. In addition, he has lectured at such places as the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the University of Southern California, and the Yale Divinity School.

In 1990, Dr. Hoffman was selected by the United States Navy as a member of a three-person design team, charged with developing a continuing education course on worship for Navy chaplains. He is a past-president of the North American Academy of Liturgy, the professional and academic organization for liturgists; in January 2004, he received that organization's annual Berakhah Award, for outstanding lifetime contributions to his field. He holds honorary degrees from Graetz College and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and is a recipient of the Abraham Geiger Medal from the Abraham Geiger College in Berlin, Germany.

In 1994, he co-founded "Synagogue 2000," a trans-denominational project to envision the ideal synagogue "as moral and spiritual center" for the 21st century. From 2004 to 2015, the organization (renamed Synagogue 3000) launched Next Dor, a call for transformed synagogues to engage the next generation. In 2009, he initiated (and still directs) the Tisch Fellowships, a program of cocurricular enrichment that commits select rabbinic and cantorial students to a vision of synagogue excellence.

He lives in the greater New York area, where, in retirement, he continues to think and to write about issues of moment; and to travel to congregations to lecture and advise. He can be followed on his blog: "Life and a Little Liturgy."

Lawrence A. Hoffman was ordained as a rabbi in 1969, received his doctorate in 1973, and is now professor emeritus at the New York campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he served for almost half a century.

Known internationally for his lectures to popular audiences and his spiritual approach to synagogue consultation, Rabbi Hoffman has written or edited 49 books to date, including "My People's Prayer Book," a 10-volume edition of the Siddur with modern commentaries which won the National Jewish Book Award in 2007.

Rabbi Hoffman served as visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame for many years and has lectured at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the University of Southern California, and the Yale Divinity School, among other institutions. He holds honorary degrees from Graetz College and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is a recipient of the Abraham Geiger Medal.

In 1994, he co-founded "Synagogue 2000," a trans-denominational project to envision the ideal synagogue "as moral and spiritual center" for the 21st century. From 2004 to 2015, the organization (renamed "Synagogue 3000") launched Next Dor, a call for transformed synagogues to engage the next generation. His highly acclaimed "Open Letters to My Students" can be followed on his blog, "Life and a Little Liturgy.