ABOUT HERJC

RABBI ANDREW WARMFLASH
516-599-2634

Rabbi Andrew Warmflash is a warm, compassionate spiritual guide who offers wise counsel and real comfort at difficult times. He is widely regarded as an outstanding speaker and teacher whose sermons and classes are inspiring, engaging and relevant.

Rabbi Warmflash assumed the pulpit of the Hewlett East Rockaway Jewish Centre in 2007. Prior to coming to our synagogue, he served as the Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of Fort Lee, NJ and as the Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts, the largest Conservative Synagogue in New England. He began his career as the founding rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick, NJ.

A New Jersey native, Rabbi Warmflash holds a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and received his Rabbinic Ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1980, which awarded him its Doctor of Divinity degree in 2007.

Rabbi Warmflash serves on the Board of Trustees of the Schechter Institute Rabbinical School in Jerusalem and MERCAZ. He is a past co-chair of The Rabbinical Assembly Social Action Committee, was a member of the New Jersey State Commission on Racism, Racial Violence and Religious Violence, the New Jersey Interfaith Commission of NCCJ and co-chaired the Inter-Religious Leadership Group on Central American Immigration.

Rabbi Warmflash and his wife Beth Heit are the proud parents of Aryeh and his wife Yael, Ora and Talia and are thrilled to be Ilana’s grandparents.

Rabbi Emeritus
RABBI STANLEY PLATEK

Rabbi Stanley Platek fills the honorary role of Rabbi Emeritus of Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre, having served our congregation for 31 years.  To commemorate his many years of devotion to our congregation and our congregants, our main sanctuary was named in his honor in June of 2007.  His ongoing presence in the congregation is a reminder of the continuity of our community and the warm ties that bind us together.

Rabbi Platek graduated from Brooklyn College, cum laude, with Honors in Philosophy. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, receiving the degrees of Master of Hebrew Literature, DHL and DD. He is also a graduate of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University with the degree of MSW and holds the CSW from New York State. After graduation from the Seminary, Rabbi Platek joined the Seminary faculty with the rank of Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics. He served on the faculty for 16 years. He was a staff member at Camp Ramah for 18 years and a leader, with his wife, of many USY Teen Tours. Active in a diverse range of Jewish and communal activities, he sat on the Rabbinical Assembly Law Committee for many years, as well as the Youth Commission of the United Synagogue, the Rabbinic Cabinet of UJA, the Child Welfare Board of Nassau County, the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Board of Directors of the Five Towns Senior Citizen Center.