The Human Touch

Rabbi Harold Kushner counsels a wider audience.

Ben Harris

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Natick, Mass.

A

t 72, Rabbi Harold Kushner, the
best-selling author of When Bad
Things Happen to Good People,
leads a life that most of his rabbinic col-
leagues can only dream of.
Having left the full-time rabbinate more
than two decades ago, his days are largely
spent writing and lecturing — or as he
put it recently, doing the rabbi stuff he
enjoys and leaving the rest to others.
"I feel very blessed;' Kushner said
recently in the rabbi's study of Temple
Israel, the Conservative synagogue outside
Boston, where he arrived as a young rabbi
in 1966.
It was the day before he traveled to New
York to receive the Jewish Book Council's
Lifetime Achievement Award, a dormant
prize revived with him in mind.
But the author of more than a half-
dozen books, several of them best-sell-
ers, is not without regrets — a topic
he addresses in his most recent book,
Overcoming Life's Disappointments, pub-
lished in 2006.
Asked about his own misfortunes,
Kushner cited his son's early death and
having the woman he wanted to marry
choose someone else. He also recalled los-
ing out on the pulpit of a larger congrega-
tion.
Kushner told a story about a Protestant
minister who spent his career waiting
for his colleagues to die or be caught in a
scandal so he could take over their church.
The minister, who worked in a working-
class community, had grown to resent his
congregants whom he saw as emblematic
of his own failure to move up in the world.
"That was an eye-opening story for me
because I saw a certain amount of myself
in that:' Kushner said. "Maybe without the
jealousy, without wishing ill to my col-
leagues, because I was happy where I was.
"But there was a sense that I didn't
really appreciate the people here. I've come
to appreciate them more, to be much more
sensitive to the things that hurt them:"
Sensitivity to the hardships of others
is a hallmark of Kushner's writing, which
first gained acclaim after the publica-
tion of his second and best-known book,

When Bad Things Happen to Good People,
majority of them non-Jewish, he main-
a meditation on human suffering inspired
tains that his writing has helped restore
by his son's death at 14 from a rare genetic faith, return people to prayer and permit
illness.
them to heal.
He has gone on to author more than a
"I don't know if I'm correct theo-
half-dozen other books, several of them
logically. I don't know the reality of God;'
best-sellers, and was an editor of the
Kushner said. "What I do know is my book
Conservative movement's 2001 Etz Hayim
makes people feel better. It gives them
Torah commentary. In 1999,
back the ability to go to
he was named clergyman of
shul or to church and pray
the year, and in 2004 he read
and to believe in God, to
from the book of Isaiah at
believe that God is on their
the state funeral of Ronald
side. It restores to them the
Reagan.
legitimacy of outrage when
Long popular in Christian
something tragic has hap-
circles, Kushner has been
pened to them "
seen as more of a mixed
The book's influence is
blessing among more tradi-
undeniable and has made
tional Jews.
Kushner a sought-after
He says he gets a better
expert on God and human
reception from Mormons
suffering.
than from Orthodox Jews,
"It started a whole trend
Rabbi Kushn er
and it's not hard to see
in writing;' Carolyn Hessel,
why. Kushner sees the
the director of the Jewish
world through the prism of
Book Council, said of When
human needs, and if that means taking
Bad Things Happen to Good People.
liberties with Jewish theology to make
"I think that Rabbi Kushner was suc-
people feel better, he's more than willing.
cessful because he catered to everybody:'
"I always thought Judaism was at its
she said. "He reached everybody's heart.
best when it not only looked at text, but
It wasn't just the Jewish heart. He reached
when it looked at people he said.
the heart of every human being."
Kushner committed his gravest offense,
Kushner was born in Brooklyn and
as the Orthodox see it, in When Bad
educated in the New York borough's public
Things Happen to Good People. He labored schools. After his ordination at the Jewish
to reconcile the twin Jewish beliefs in
Theological Seminary in 1960, he went
God's omnipotence and His benevolence
to court to have his military exemption
with the reality of human suffering, ulti-
waived.
mately sacrificing the former to salvage
For two years he served as a military
the latter.
chaplain in Oklahoma before assuming his
Kushner's God is limited in His ability
first pulpit, as an assistant rabbi at another
to control the random hazards of life that
Temple Israel, in Great Neck, N.Y.
result in tragedy on a widespread and a
Four years later he came to Natick,
smaller scale, like the Holocaust and the
where he has remained. In 1983, with his
death of a child. It is a view that runs afoul book a best-seller and demanding more
of traditional Jewish teaching about God.
of his time, Kushner cut back to part-time
The Orthodox, who Kushner says feel
at the synagogue. Seven years later he
obliged to defend every writing by an
stepped down to devote himself fully to
Orthodox rabbi, accuse him of propound-
writing.
ing un-Jewish ideas. Among the top
The congregation, believing their then-
Google hits for "Harold Kushner" is an
55-year-old rabbi too young to be named
article from an Orthodox Web site titled
rabbi emeritus, made Kushner its rabbi
"'Why Harold Kushner is Wrong"
laureate, a title held by only a handful of
Remarkably, Kushner himself concedes
American spiritual leaders.
the point, acknowledging that he may be
Last month, Kushner turned his
wrong about God. But drawing on the
human-centered approach to the chal-
thousands of letters he has received over
lenges facing the Conservative movement
the years from grateful readers, the vast
in an article titled "Conservative Judaism

.

in an Age of Democracy" published in
Conservative Judaism magazine.
An early and outspoken supporter of
the new JTS chancellor, Arnold Eisen,
Kushner said that as a sociologist, Eisen is
also disposed to see Judaism through the
eyes of those who actually live it and not
solely from the perspective of an academic
— a frequent criticism of Eisen's prede-
cessors.
In the article, Kushner argues that in
an era of personal autonomy, where the
Jewish community lacks the ability to
enforce communal standards the way it
did in the shtetl, Jews must be given posi-
tive reasons to choose observance.
Conservative Judaism has withered,
in part, because it still treats mitzvot as
commandments, Kushner said. Instead, it
should market itself as the movement that
satisfies the deep human need for com-
munity and purpose.
"My seminary training was all about
Jewish answers. My congregational experi-
ence has been more in terms of Jewish
questions:' Kushner said.
"I start with the anguish, the uncertain-
ty, the lack of fulfillment I find in the lives
of the very nice, decent people who are in
this synagogue and who are my readers.
And Judaism is the answer.
"How do I live a fulfilling life is the
question. And Judaism is the answer."

Guide For Passover
In a colorful new format full of informa-
tion to facilitate Passover preparation
and observance, the OU Guide to Passover
5768/2008 is now available. It is an annual
special issue of the New York-based
Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine.
In recognition that this year Passover
begins on Saturday night, the Guide
includes a section that explains what to do
when Passover falls immediately following
Shabbat, as it does this year, on April 19.
The Guide contains essential informa-
tion for observing the holiday and articles
on making a kitchen kosher for Passover
as well as guidelines for the seder and the
counting of the Omer, the 49 days that lead
to Shavuot. Listed are the latest possible
times to eat as well as burn chametz.
Access the Guide on the OU Web site,
www.oupassover.org. To order individual
copies for $3 each, contact Roberta Levine,
roberta@ou.org or (212) 613-8125.

March 27 . 2008

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