To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder

A memoir of becoming, To Build a Brave Space takes the reader on one rabbi’s journey of self-discovery and intellectual evolution—from a free-spirited liberal teenager to the leader of a large suburban congregation, through several national and global crises and countless personal experiences.

When I was a boy, I told my mother I wanted to become a rabbi on a motorcycle. This was a joke in our family for many years. As a young man, despite my love of Israel and a strong spiritual and cultura...