Many Jews tell me they are unbelievers because religion causes war and enmity between religious groups and peoples. I say, bad religion causes war and enmity, but good religion does the opposite – it promotes unity, love and kindness.

For me, my Jewish faith in God isn’t based in the super-nationalist, misogynist, homophobic, intolerant, reward-and-punishment God of ancient Biblical tradition, but rather in the mystic’s God, the creative and life-affirming God of quiet “inwardness” that affirms the unity of humankind and the infinite worth and dignity of every woman, man, and child. And my ethics grow from the ethics of the ancient biblical prophets.

Jewish religious and ethical tradition does many things, and two of the most important are that it feeds the mind and inspires the soul. I write in my recently published book “From the West to the East – A Memoir of a Liberal American Rabbi” about Jewish faith and ethics in this way and about the core Jewish values that have enabled me to address the greatest challenges facing Americans, Israelis, the Jewish people, and humankind in the modern era. I tell many consequential stories in my life and how my values and faith have buttressed me as I have sought to make sense of them all. I tell of 3 prominent mentor guides whose voices live within me and my conscience and are often in conflict with one another.

I’m beginning my book tour this coming  Friday evening on Shabbat in Seattle, WA, and next Tuesday evening in NYC. If you live in either of those places, I’d love to see you. Here is my schedule in the next several months:

-Friday Shabbat, November 15, 6 PM – Temple De Hirsch Sinai, Seattle, WA

-Tuesday, November 19, 6:30 PM – Stephen S. Wise Free Synagogue, NY

-Friday Shabbat, December 6, 6 PM – Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco

-Friday Shabbat, January 3, 6:15 PM – Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles

-Sunday, February 23, 10:15 AM – Washington Hebrew Congregation, Washington, DC

I hope you will consider acquiring a copy of my Memoir and learn more about how my Jewish faith and ethics have buttressed and helped me to clarify my Jewish moral compass in what I’ve done as a rabbinic leader over many decades of service to the Jewish people.

If you already acquired a copy, thank you. If you found it meaningful, please consider writing a brief review and posting it on Amazon. If you’d like to reach out, I’d love the chance to speak in person or virtually with your community about my Memoir and the ideas and activism that have filled my life and been so meaningful.

West of West Books – https://westofwestcenter.com/product/from-the-west-to-the-east/

Amazon Books – https://tinyurl.com/2s43mj4p