Publication Celebrates the Life of Rabbi Moshe Herson

As the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Herson OBM is marked, a beautifully designed magazine brings his life and legacy into focus.

Rabbi Herson was a pioneering shliach whose quiet determination and sense of responsibility helped transform a small yeshiva in Newark into today’s Rabbinical College of America campus in Morristown, and establish over 100 shliach families throughout the State of New Jersey.

Titled Reb Moshe: Shliach. Mashpia. Dean., the 32-page publication chronicles Rabbi Herson’s remarkable journey from Rio de Janeiro to becoming a pioneering force in Chabad education and outreach.

Born and raised in Brazil, he arrived in America as a quiet, homesick bochur, intending to stay briefly before returning to pursue a medical career. Instead, the Rebbe’s encouragement, shaped him into a mashpia, menahel, and builder of institutions, turning what began as a short stay into a lifelong mission.

The magazine offers a close, personal look at Rabbi Herson’s with the Rebbe and documents the growth of Chabad in New Jersey from a single yeshiva into 77 branches. It also chronicles the establishment of the Morristown campus, which the Rebbe described as “a pilot program for all Shluchim throughout the world.” Featuring personal stories, photographs, and correspondence, the teshura illuminates Rabbi Herson’s approach to chinuch, his role in founding initiatives such as Tiferes Bachurim, and his lasting impact on generations of students and lay leaders.

The teshura was produced under the editorial leadership of Rabbi Mendy Herson, Rabbi Moshe’s son and successor as Dean of the Rabbinical College of America and Head Shliach of New Jersey. In the foreword, Rabbi Mendy shares simple but powerful memories of walking to shul with his father on Shabbos mornings, listening as he thought aloud about people, challenges, and responsibility.
“That’s how the mission was transmitted,” he writes. “Not through formal instructions or explicit job descriptions, but through proximity.”

The stories collected in this magazine, drawn from letters and firsthand recollections, show how deeply involved the Rebbe was in Rabbi Herson’s life—in both major turning points and the smallest details.

The magazine was created by bochurim Mendel Treitel and Yisroel Shemtov.

A PDF of the teshura is available for download here.