About Shammai
For nearly three decades, people travelled from all over Northern New Jersey (and some even from New York) to attend his Shabbat and holiday services. His virtual services, begun during the coronavirus lockdown, not only have attracted participants from the tri-state area, but also from Florida, California, and Texas, as well as from Canada, Mexico and, at times, even Israel. These services continue even now because those participants don’t want them to end. Shammai is also among Northern New Jersey’s most popular adult Jewish education instructors. People relate to Shammai because Shammai relates to them. One reason is the ruach (spirit) he facilitates during services and the openness he shows during the classes he conducts. He is down-to- earth, accessible, and believes other people know more about certain subjects than he does. He’s happy to share his knowledge in a way that makes things understandable. He also is not afraid to admit it when he doesn’t know the answer to a question—but he does research it and gets back to the questioner with an answer. Shammai wears several hats—literally and figuratively. First and foremost, he is a rabbi. A former executive editor of the New York Jewish Week, he writes an award-winning column for Bergen County’s The Jewish Standard newspaper, and has been doing so since the early 1990s (so far, he has won six American Jewish Press Association awards). His articles also appear in the MetroWest Jewish News, the Long Island Jewish World, the Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, and on the Times of Israel Blogs. Shammai also has a bi-weekly podcast, “Keep the Faith with Shammai Engelmayer,” which is available on most podcast providers. Both his columns and his podcasts deal with contemporary issues through the prism of Jewish law and tradition. For several years, he was also the editor of Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought (it was published by the American Jewish Congress). A product of the yeshivah world, Shammai was ordained in 1967, but chose to pursue a career in journalism before assuming the pulpit, winning several prestigious journalism awards in the general media world (including the Washington Journalism Center’s Thomas L. Stokes Award for National Reporting, and the National Association for Justice’s Media Humanitarian Award). Shammai is the author of eight books, most on secular topics written while he worked as a journalist, and is at work on several more. His first book, Martha: The Mouth That Roared, was optioned by Sir Ridley Scott’s Scott Free production company for a miniseries (it’s about Martha Mitchell and Watergate). His two latest books, one tentatively titled Judaism for the Disinterested and the other tentatively titled Finding Moses: Rethinking who wrote the Bible’s first books. There is no publishing date set, as yet, for either book. An e- novel, Fate, is available on Amazon.
THE DAY SHAMMAI WENT GLOBAL! Over two decades ago, Shammai met Dr. Frederik Paulsen, chairman and CEO of an international pharmaceutical company headquartered at the time in Copenhagen. The two men had significant philosophical discussions over the next couple of years. Then, one day, Dr. Paulsen, who is not Jewish, called Shammai and asked him to help craft a philosophy for the company that would reflect the Paulsen family's own values. The result was “The Ferring Philosophy,” which was unveiled in January 2004. Today, “The Ferring Philosophy” appears on entry walls in Ferring facilities worldwide, is the first thing employees see when they turn on their computers each day, and is among the first items handed and explained to new hires. In December 2014, Ferring opened its headquarters for its U.S. affiliate, Ferring USA, amid great pomp and festivity, and a very impressive guest list of Nobel Prize winners, distinguished internationally recognized scientists, government officials, and others. Shammai delivered the keynote address at the ceremonies. His address, seen in the linked film, is bracketed by comments by several Ferring officials about his effort. We are proud to present Shammai on this prestigious international stage. Click on the photo above to view the video. In March 2024, Ferring USA celebrated reaching $1 billion in sales, and credited Shammai’s “Ferring Philosophy” for some of that success. As a result,he was invited to give the opening remarks at that celebration.
ABOUT SHAMMAI
For nearly three decades, people travelled from all over Northern New Jersey (and some even from New York) to attend his Shabbat and holiday services. His virtual services, begun during the coronavirus lockdown, not only have attracted participants from the tri-state area, but also from Florida, California, and Texas, as well as from Canada, Mexico and, at times, even Israel. These services continue even now because those participants don’t want them to end. Shammai is also among Northern New Jersey’s most popular adult Jewish education instructors. People relate to Shammai because Shammai relates to them. One reason is the ruach (spirit) he facilitates during services and the openness he shows during the classes he conducts. He is down-to-earth, accessible, and believes other people know more about certain subjects than he does. He’s happy to share his knowledge in a way that makes things understandable. He also is not afraid to admit it when he doesn’t know the answer to a question—but he does research it and gets back to the questioner with an answer.