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 cultural connection to Judaism, I would not have believed that my own childhood prediction would become a reality. And yet, for over twenty-five years, I have served large synagogue congregations and shepherded hundreds of families through unspeakable tragedy, unfettered joy, and complicated times in our country’s history.

This book is a reflection on where I came from and how I got to my current place as the Senior Rabbi of a Temple, B’nai Jeshurun of Short Hills, NJ. Not only have I grown and changed professionally from my early days of rabbinical school, but my philosophy on how to lead a community and how to bring people together during trying times has evolved over many years of trial and error. My hope is to inspire other clergy and people in general to find a way to help their communities thrive, even during our current climate of fractured politics and overt hostility among one another.
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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 cultural connection to Judaism, I would not have believed that my own childhood prediction would become a reality. And yet, for over twenty-five years, I have served large synagogue congregations and shepherded hundreds of families through unspeakable tragedy, unfettered joy, and complicated times in our country’s history.

This book is a reflection on where I came from and how I got to my current place as the Senior Rabbi of a Temple, B’nai Jeshurun of Short Hills, NJ. Not only have I grown and changed professionally from my early days of rabbinical school, but my philosophy on how to lead a community and how to bring people together during trying times has evolved over many years of trial and error. My hope is to inspire other clergy and people in general to find a way to help their communities thrive, even during our current climate of fractured politics and overt hostility among one another.
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To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder

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

by Matthew D. Gewirtz
To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder

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

by Matthew D. Gewirtz

Hardcover

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Overview

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 cultural connection to Judaism, I would not have believed that my own childhood prediction would become a reality. And yet, for over twenty-five years, I have served large synagogue congregations and shepherded hundreds of families through unspeakable tragedy, unfettered joy, and complicated times in our country’s history.

This book is a reflection on where I came from and how I got to my current place as the Senior Rabbi of a Temple, B’nai Jeshurun of Short Hills, NJ. Not only have I grown and changed professionally from my early days of rabbinical school, but my philosophy on how to lead a community and how to bring people together during trying times has evolved over many years of trial and error. My hope is to inspire other clergy and people in general to find a way to help their communities thrive, even during our current climate of fractured politics and overt hostility among one another.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781642935424
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Publication date: 11/01/2022
Pages: 240
Sales rank: 400,611
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Matthew D. Gewirtz has served as the Senior Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, the largest synagogue in New Jersey, for sixteen years. He serves as the President of the Coalition of Religious Leaders for the State of New Jersey.

A regular contributor to a number of publications, he is also the author of The Gift of Grief: Finding Peace, Transformation, and Renewed Life after Great Sorrow.

He appears as a religious commentator on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and CNN’s State of the Union. For several years, he served as a tri-anchor of PBS’s A Matter of Faith with a Bishop, an Imam and a Rabbi.

He is married to Lauren Rutkin, the director of a philanthropic family foundation. They are the proud parents of Jake, Talia, and Sadie. They reside in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 They're All Gone 1

Chapter 2 Evolving Through Paradox 19

Chapter 3 For the Sake of Heaven 41

Chapter 4 A Day that Changed a Generation 61

Chapter 5 Living with Fear-Not in It 75

Chapter 6 A Path of Growth 83

Chapter 7 Stepping Out on My Own 99

Chapter 8 Can We Agree on Anything Anymore? 117

Chapter 9 Pulling at the Strings of Our Souls 133

Chapter 10 At the Drop of a Dime: Covid 19 and Social Unrest 151

Chapter 11 What is Truth? 169

Conclusion: A Path to the Radical Center 185

Acknowledgments 195

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