FHC Speakers

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is the Emanu-El Scholar, in-residence at the Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, where he devotes his full energies to teaching and writing. He also serves as Visiting Professor of Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological University in Berkeley. Prior to this, he was Rabbi-in-Residence at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City where he taught spirituality and mysticism and mentored rabbinic students. He presently continues as an adjunct member of the faculty. Before that, he served for 28 years as the rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Rabbi Kushner is widely regarded as one of the most creative religious writers in America and is highly sought after as a lecturer and teacher. Through his lectures, articles and 15 books (translated into six languages), he has helped shape the present agenda for per-sonal and institutional spiritual renewal.

He originated the concept of synagogue havurot, family fellowship groups, led his former congregants to publish their own prayerbook, V'tahaer Libenu (Purify Our Hears), which was the first gender-neutral liturgy ever written, and has conducted over 75 kalla week-ends for personal religious growth. He was the first Rabbinic Chairman of Reform Judaism's Commission on Religious Living and has been a commentator on N.P.R.'s All Things Considered.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Cincinnati and was ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College in 1969. He and his wife, Karen, have three adult children.

More Information About Rabbi Kushner

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, one of the most widely read authors on Jewish spiritual life, is the Emanu-El Scholar at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El and visiting professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union. He is the bestselling author of such books for adults as Filling Words with Light: Hasidic and Mystical Reflections on Jewish Prayer; Honey from the Rock: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism; The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet; and The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition (all Jewish Lights), among many others. His children’s books include Because Nothing Looks Like God (with Karen Kushner) and In God’s Hands (with Gary Schmidt) (both Jewish Lights), among many others.