Rabbi Steve Gutow

Rabbi Steve Gutow served as a visiting scholar at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service from 2016 until 2023, organizing interfaith groups in several communities, including San Antonio and Indianapolis.  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 reduce poverty in the United States that implemented several efforts leading to an increased national commitment to lessen 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, as well as 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 environmental advocacy organization, 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. He was accepted and continues to serve as a New York member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In addition, he served 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 just returned in May of 2025 from a multi-faith mission of rabbis, Christian clergy, and Muslim leaders to Andalusia, an area of Spain in which 1500 years ago, Muslims, Jews and Christians  were able to work together to better Spanish society.

Gutow has been recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s 100 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. In  2016, Gutow gave the Commencement Address at Gratz College and was awarded by Gratz an Honorary Decree as a Doctor of Communal Affairs.