Rabbi Morris M. Hershman (1917–1998) served as rabbi for the Joliet Jewish Congregation. Arriving in Joliet, Illinois from Texas in 1943, he became a fixture in the community. He was president of the Joliet Rotary Club, chairman of the local United Way and an honorary lifetime member of the Greater Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Silver Cross Hospital board of directors for 32 years and chairman of the board for the last 18 years of his life. Both St. Francis University and Lewis University conferred honorary degrees upon him. He delivered invocations at both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and during the first inauguration of former Gov. James Thompson.