Lawrence Kushner is the Emanu-El Scholar at Congregation Emanu-El. He has served as Rabbi-in-Residence at Hebrew Union College in New York City where he taught spirituality and mentored rabbinic students; he continues as an adjunct member of the faculty on the Los Angeles campus where he teaches a two-week intensive course on Kabbalah. For 28 years, he served as the rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

He originated the concept of synagogue havurot, family fellowship groups, led his former congregants to publish their own prayerbook, V’tahaer Libenu (Purify Our Hearts), which was the first gender-neutral liturgy ever written, and has conducted over 75 weekends 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 was ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College in 1969. He and his wife, Karen, have three adult children. His books include:


KABBALAH: A Love Story, (Doubleday/Morgan Road, October, 2006).

FIVE CITIES OF REFUGE: Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (with David Mamet), (Schocken, 2003)

JEWISH SPIRITUALITY: A Brief Introduction for Christians (Jewish Lights, 2001)

INVISIBLE LINES OF CONNECTION: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary (Jewish Lights, 1996)

GOD WAS IN THIS PLACE AND I, i DID NOT KNOW (Jewish Lights, 1991)

HONEY FROM the ROCK: Visions of Jewish Mystical Renewal (Jewish Lights, 1997, 1990)

For more information, please see the Rabbi Kushner Website