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UTJ Viewpoints
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Rabbi Gerald Sussman

A founding member of the UTJ, Rabbi Gerald Sussman presently serves as the organization’s executive director.  He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1979.  He has served as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Staten Island, a traditional congregation, since 1982 and is the longest serving rabbi in the Staten Island community.

Rabbi Sussman serves the community in many ways.  He is a rabbinic advisor to Kulanu, an organization that supports returning, emerging and isolated Jewish communities around the world.  In that capacity, he and his spouse, Rabbanit Bonita Sussman, who serves as vice-president of that organization, have traveled across the globe to such diverse places as Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, India and Nicaragua.

A pursuer of social justice, Rabbi Sussman is also president of Project Hospitality, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless, hungry, substance abusers, mentally ill, those suffering with aids and new immigrants.

He has been involved in numerous interfaith efforts and is a founder of the Building Bridges Coalition, which promotes interreligious cooperation in the Staten Island community. Rabbi Sussman is also president and founder of the Staten Island Jewish Historical society and serves veterans as chaplain of Jewish War Veterans Post 80 on Staten Island.

Despite his widespread activism, UTJ is Rabbi Sussman’s passion.  He believes that its message of an open-minded Judaism that is moderate and authentic is what the broader Jewish community needs. He sees the UTJ playing a critical role in serving as a balance between religious extremism and secularism.

Rabbi Sussman blogs for the Times of Israel here.

Rabbi Sussman and his wife Bonita are the proud parents of five children and many grandchildren.

Kulanu Matters Podcast 6 – Jewish Origin Stories Of Africa VIDEOS

Kulanu Matters Podcast 6 – Jewish Origin Stories Of Africa

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman and Bonita Nathan Sussman
March 10, 2024

Categories: Jewish History, Modern Judaism, Women's Forum
ARTICLE (Reprinted from Times of Israel Blogs)

Falling In Love With Judaism

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman
January 1, 2023

Categories: Articles, Holidays, Modern Judaism, Shabbat
ARTICLE (Reprinted from Times of Israel Blogs)

Rebuilding the Jewish People: A New Option

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman
January 1, 2023

Categories: Articles, Modern Judaism
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai VIDEOS

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman
May 3, 2018

Categories: Torah/Talmud
ARTICLE (Reprinted from Union For Traditional Judaism)

Union for Traditional Judaism Calls for Omar and King to Resign

by Rabbi Ronald Price, Rabbi David Novak and Rabbi Gerald Sussman
February 17, 2019

Categories: Modern Judaism, Politics
DIVREI TORAH

Parashat Korach – Korach, Human Rights, and the Politics of Grievance

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman
May 24, 2017

Categories: Anti-Semitism
ARTICLE (Reprinted from Asian Jewish Life)

Life with the Bene Ephraim

by Rabbi Gerald Sussman and Bonita Nathan Sussman
November 26, 2017

Categories: Articles, Holidays, Modern Judaism, Women's Forum

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