6-3-22 | Welcome to Shabbat!

Welcome to Shabbat!, live broadcast from Temple Emanu-El Worship Services and Programs.

This Shabbat, Friday, June 3, we welcomed Temple Member Tyrrell Ben-Avi to our pulpit to address our community and share words of Torah.

A native New Yorker, Tyrrell Lev Ben-Avi grew up in Westchester County and calls Harlem home. At age 13, he became the youngest person to serve on a board of directors in New York state history and continued making historic strides throughout college. As a proud Howard University alumnus, Tyrrell traveled extensively on the school’s behalf to Israel, Jordan, Africa, Europe, and South America. He was a sought-after clinician on Black/Jewish relations and has been a guest at major institutions including Syracuse University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, George Washington University and Hebrew University, to name a few. During his undergraduate years, Tyrrell was honored to call civil rights leaders Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, the late Julian Bond, and the late General Colin Powell his mentors.

Tyrrell is a life member of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Inc., first black voting member to World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), a Hasbara Jerusalem Fellow, and former White House intern during the Clinton Administration. He administered the 49-county Children’s Health Insurance Plan in Pennsylvania, co-managed the First Right Housing Program for the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, is a former NYC mayoral candidate, and was the first and only African-Indigenous American chaplain at New York University. At present, Tyrrell is Principal of Environmental Architectural Corporation, a public benefit organization, and anticipates the release of two books he authored this summer, The Impeachment of Saul and Purposed for Victory.