Rabbi Larry Hoffman is Barbara and Stephen Friedman Professor of Liturgy, Worship, and Ritual and Director of the Synagogue 2000 Initiative for synagogue spirituality, HUC-JIR/New York. His research, writing and classes fall into three categories: 1) the history of Jewish liturgy; 2) ritual studies (the application of the human sciences and philosophical thought to the act of human ritual); 3) contemporary worship and modern Jewish spirituality.