Seth Limmer

Rabbi Seth M. Limmer, is the Director of Public Affairs for PERIL, the Polarization & Extremism Research and Innovation Lab, an applied research lab at American University that creates public health informed interventions to hate and violent extremism. During his rabbinate he served as chair of the Justice, Peace & Civil Liberties of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; vice-chair of the URJ’s Commission on Social Action; adjunct professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; and Vice President of Leadership of the CCAR. On behalf of his lead role in organizing the Reform Movement’s participation in the NAACP’s 2015 America’s Journey for Justice, Rabbi Limmer accepted the Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award, the highest honor of the URJ. In May 2025, Rabbi Limmer was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity degree, honors causa, in honor of his esteemed twenty-five years of rabbinical service. Rabbi Limmer is the founder of RePair Consulting, helping Not-for-Profits and Philanthropists advance efforts for justice and peace, and has served as Senior Rabbi of Chicago Sinai Congregation and Congregation B’nai Yisrael of Armonk, NY. Author of many articles, 2016 saw the publication of his first full-length book, Medieval Midrash: The House for Inspired Innovation, co-authored with Bernard Mehlman. Rabbi Limmer also served as co-editor of Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority, published by CCAR Press in 2018. Recently, Rabbi Limmer has contributed chapters to the CCAR Social Justice Commentary, The Sacred Exchange, The Sacred Table, as well as the forthcoming CCAR Haftarah Commentary. Rabbi Limmer was a founder of the Just Relations column that ran for two years in the Chicago Sun-Times, and has seen many essays printed in the Chicago Tribune, Times of Israel, U.S. News and World Report, and more. Since 2021, Rabbi Limmer co-authors a regular column in the Chicago Tribune on matters of Social Justice with Rev. Ciera BatesChamberlain, Father Michael Pfleger, and Rev. Otis Moss III. In 2021, Rabbi Limmer was appointed to serve on the Illinois State Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes, and was a founding member of the Faith Leader Social Justice Advisory Committee to the Mayor of Chicago. In 2024 he was appointed to the Washington State Task Force on Extremism and Mass Violence. He also serves as board member of A More Just Chicago.