Rabbi Jeremy Kridel (they/them) joined Machar as rabbi in July 2017, and added the role of Director of Machar’s Jewish Cultural School in 2021. They are committed to Secular Humanistic Judaism and to helping people of every age find a place to express both their Judaism and their humanism. Jeremy is also firmly committed to ensuring full inclusion of interfaith and intercultural families in Jewish life: they welcome families of all kinds to Machar, and gladly officiates at weddings and baby namings for interfaith families because it’s simply the right thing to do.
Jeremy is passionate about ensuring social, economic, and political inclusion in Humanistic Jewish life of people with differing ranges of ability and need. They are enthusiastic about education at all ages, and are particularly committed to working for the full inclusion of autistic and other neurodiverse individuals in Jewish and Humanistic life.
Jeremy studied for the rabbinate at the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, the rabbinical and leadership training school for Secular Humanistic Judaism. They hold Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in religion from Florida State University, where they focused on Jewish studies and biblical interpretation, and earned a Juris Doctor degree at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana.
Jeremy has worked as an adult Jewish educator; has taught biblical Hebrew at the university level; and has taught seventh graders on the Holocaust, the history of the modern state of Israel, and comparative Judaism. Before working within the Secular Humanistic Jewish movement, they worked as a lawyer in Indiana and taught law at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis. Jeremy has also held positions in information technology and quality systems management in private businesses and non-profit organizations.
In service of the broader Humanistic Jewish movement, Jeremy serves on the governing boards of the Society for Humanistic Judaism and the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, and has served as president of the Association of Humanistic Rabbis. They were also the editor for the Society for Humanistic Judaism’s quarterly magazine, Humanistic Judaism.
Closer to home, Jeremy has chaired the Howard County (MD) Board of Rabbis.
Other than the sorts of things one imagines rabbis do with their spare time, Jeremy plays guitar and bass guitar. He enjoys playing Jewish music, blues, Irish and old-time American fiddle tunes, as well as the occasional rock or pop song. They also pretend that they can competently play classical guitar. Jeremy’s family — wife Raya and son Shaye — kindly indulge these interests, as well as Jeremy’s (often obscure) puns.
Jeremy and family are excited to have joined the Machar community. They live in the D.C. area near Columbia, Maryland, where Raya works in marketing and publication design and Shaye goes to school.
Machar members are pleased to have the Kridels as a part of our community.
“Chayei Sara: Calling Politicians to the City Gate This Election Day,” T’ruah (2023)
“Machar: Enhanced Engagement Through a New Partnership,” Washington Jewish Week (2023)
“COVID Nearly Killed Me,” Washington Jewish Week (2023)
“6 Things to Know About the Month of Cheshvan,” Washington Jewish Week (2021)
“Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied,” T’ruah (2020)
“Inclusion and the Soul of a Synagogue,” Jewish Currents (2018)
“Technicalities, Flames, and Democracy,” T’ruah (2018)