Rabbi Steve Gutow

Rabbi Steve Gutow is a visiting scholar at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He received rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2003. As president and CEO of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs (JCPA) from 2005 until 2015, he initiated a campaign to address poverty in the United States that implemented several efforts leading to an increased national commitment to reduce poverty, such as the “food stamp challenge” and Fighting Poverty with Faith. Under Gutow’s leadership, the JCPA undertook in 2013 an “Immigration Nation” campaign to demonstrate Jewish community support for comprehensive immigration reform and a campaign to end gun violence, inspired by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Also under his auspices, the JCPA initiated a civility in the public square campaign that serves as a model for faith communities around the world. Equally important, as a part of the JCPA, Gutow served as a leader of the principal environmental advocacy organization in the Jewish community, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL). In 2015, Gutow was appointed to the President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and was accepted as a New York member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition, he serves as chair of the board of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, which is a partnership of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches and the JCPA. Gutow was recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s most influential rabbis in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top Jewish leaders by The Forward.

Essays

Can Multi-faith Relations Be a Harbinger of a New Way That Faith Leaders See Their Own Religious Tradition?

January 6, 2020

When faith leaders in a community join together and determine that each of their traditions requires righting a particular injustice, relationships are formed that transcend the resolution of a particular issue.

Rabbi Steve Gutow

Essays

Can Multi-faith Relations Be a Harbinger of a New Way That Faith Leaders See Their Own Religious Tradition?

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