“The glory of my life has been working with kids”

- Rabbi B. Charles Herring of Temple Kol Ami in Scottsdale.

Temple Kol Ami came to life in October of 1988. Founded by 52 original families, the congregation began humbly in rented space at a Lutheran church. Rabbi Herring became its spiritual leader, and Michael Rosenthal served as its administrator. At first, all activities were held at the church, but growth required the congregation to move half of its religious school to a nearby preschool facility. Bar and Bat Mitzvah parents acquired space for their ceremonies at local hotels and resorts.

According to Rabbi Herring, “We just had to figure out how to do things. For example, we didn’t have the money to buy a religious school curriculum, so we created our own. Barbara (Rabbi Herring’s wife) served as the Director of Education of the Religious and Hebrew Schools.” He went on to say, “We didn’t have the money for prayer books for the High Holy Days, so we wrote our own. We had no space for bar and bat mitzvah receptions. We had to build an ark to schlep every Saturday from hotel to hotel for B’nei Mitzvah ceremonies. We had to find a Torah. We had to set up and tear down our pulpit every single week, because we were meeting in the fellowship hall of the church,” he remembers. However, the members banded together to accomplish their goals.

By the early 1990’s, it was clear that the congregation had outgrown its first home, and a capital campaign was initiated to gather funds to purchase land and build a synagogue and school in the North Phoenix/Scottsdale area. A

Herring's rabbinic career began after an adolescent discovery of faith. After growing up in a secular home, Herring became interested in Judaism in his teens. His involvement with children began shortly thereafter, when he became a camp counselor.
"I was so overwhelmed by Judaism that I wanted to share it," he says. "And the easiest way to share it with the greatest number of people is through the rabbinate."

Herring attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and served pulpits in Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Tokyo (during his time in the Air Force) before arriving in Phoenix at Temple Beth Israel in 1968.

Kol Ami saw itself as a community family from the start. With a stated goal to never grow too big, Kol Ami chooses to maintain a “family feel” where each child has their own Bar or Bat Mitzvah weekend, where members know and enjoy each other, and continuing the Temple as a place of learning, worship and social gathering. Tikkun O’lam (social activism), is a platform plank of Kol Ami, and its social action projects join youth, seniors and all those in between in the work of building better worlds as a reflection of our Jewish faith.
Barbara Rothman, a founding member whose husband Mel is a former Kol Ami president, says it was the Herrings’ attention to and love for their children that influenced their decision to attend Kol Ami.

“We just loved the way he was with the kids,” she recalls. “He gave very bright, thoughtful sermons that we liked, and he was wonderful with our children.”

As Herring looks back on his career, it is his interaction with and service to children that he is most proud of. He says the two most important awards he's received are the Samuel Cook Award, a lifetime service award in youth work from the Central Conference of American Rabbis; and his designation as a life member of the National Federation of Temple Youth.

He is also honored by the temple board of directors' decision to rename the religious school in honor of him and his wife: "It was probably the nicest thing that anybody ever did in this congregation. Some people have sanctuaries named after them, some people have social halls, but the religious school is the center of my joy, and my wife's as well, because this has been a co-partnership. She's been with me in this venture since the beginning. She's really taken the educational processes and made them as superb as they are. She's fabulous." Rabbi Herring’s daughter, Wendy, is the Kol Ami Temple Youth (KATY) Advisor.

As Kol Ami has continued to serve the Reform Jewish community, it constructed more classrooms, an athletic field, additional office space, a charming social hall, and a beautiful memorial garden. Our home is set in a beautiful, park-like five acres, with an older Rabbi Herring and an older Michael Rosenthal as Administrator, Temple Kol Ami has achieved a vibrant maturity with an eye still toward tomorrow.

Kol Ami has welcomed Rabbi Jeremy Schneider as its new Rabbi. Rabbi Herring will be working with Rabbi Schneider during his transition to Kol Ami, and will remain actively involved as Kol Ami’s Rabbi Emeritus.

Rabbi Schneider, age 35, has been serving for more than five years as Associate Rabbi at Temple Shalom in Dallas Texas. In that role, he created wonderful social action and educational programs that were incredibly successful. Rabbi Schneider is a 2006 graduate of Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles with a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters and a Master of Arts in Jewish Education, and has extensive experience at summer camps, leading youth groups, and supervising bar and bat mitzvah training. Rabbi Schneider is married to Rachel and they have two young children,

I couldn’t be more thrilled to be coming to Kol Ami,” says Schneider. “My wife and I fell in love with the spirit of Kol Ami’s membership, their purpose and their mission.” Kol Ami is dedicated to Tikkun O’lam, the repairing of the world, and spearheads programs that feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and provide opportunity to children in Arizona who are less fortunate. “Because it is a congregation dedicated to the ideals of the reform movement, and is so creative in the ways it teaches and inspires Jewish children, we quickly felt at home. ” Rabbi Schneider will be working closely with the Early Childhood Center preschool program as well as the Temple’s Religious and Hebrew Schools.