Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz joins me to discuss his journey towards becoming a rabbi, the challenges faced in his role, and his deep involvement in interfaith work. The discussion also covers the Hebrew concept of machloket (disagreeing without rancor), its relevance in the current crisis between Israel and Gaza, and the importance of interfaith dialogue both for religious leaders and the wider community.

Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz began his tenure as the Senior Rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in July 2006. Previously he served as Senior Associate Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom.

A strong advocate of social justice, Rabbi Gewirtz was a founding executive committee member of the Newark Coalition for Hope and Peace, an interfaith organization of Jews, Christians and Muslims that was committed to ending gang violence in Newark from 2007-2017. Rabbi Gewirtz currently serves at the President of the Coalition of Religious Leaders for the State of New Jersey.

A regular contributor to numerous professional publications, including the CCAR Journal, The American Rabbi and The Wisdom Daily. He is the author of “The Gift of Grief: Finding Peace, Transformation and Renewed Life after Great Sorrow” (Random House). His second book, “To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder” came out in November, 2022 (Post Hill Press).

Rabbi Gewirtz is a Fellow at the National Jewish Think Tank CLAL. He appears as a commentator on religion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and CNN’s State of the Union. He was a tri-anchor of PBS’s (NJTV), A Matter of Faith with an Imam, Bishop and Rabbi from 2016-2020 along with Imam W. Deen Shariff and myself.

Rabbi Gewirtz is married to Lauren Rutkin, a philanthropy advisor. They are the proud parents of Jake, Natalia and Sadie. Rabbi Gewirtz is also an ardent fan of baseball (NY Mets) and football (NY Jets).

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• Website: https://rabbimattgewirtz.com

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to find more content like this, please visit my website at www.markbeckwith.net, where you can listen to more episodes (and read episode transcripts), read my blog, and sign up to get weekly reflections in your inbox. I also explore the themes of this podcast further in my book, Seeing the Unseen: Beyond Prejudices, Paradigms, and Party Lines.

This episode of the Reconciliation Roundtable podcast was edited, mixed, and produced by Luke Overstreet.