Rabbi Wittenberg’s recent book, Listening for God in Torah and Creation taps into the wisdom of one the world’s ancient religions by meditating on contemporary, spiritual, social and ethical insights to the Torah. Rooted in decades of devoted immersion in Jewish learning, humanist literature, concern for people at all ages and stages of life, environmental activism and a love of nature, Rabbi Wittenberg offers wisdom relevant to spiritual seekers of all and no faiths. Rabbi Wittenberg will introduce his approach to the key issues considered in this book, such as: compassion and kindness; creation and wonder; emotional struggles; environment and our relationship to nature; ethical challenges; illness and suffering; identity and community; justice and social justice; refugees and strangers; remorse and repentance; responsibility; searching for meaning; seeking God.
Jonathan Wittenberg was born in Glasgow in 1957, to a family of German Jewish origin with rabbinic ancestors on both sides. The family moved to London in 1963, where he attended University College School, specialising in classical and modern languages. He further developed his love of literature when reading English at King’s College Cambridge (1976-9). After two years teaching and social work in Israel and England he took a PGCE at Goldsmith’s College, London. Already deeply involved in Jewish life, he trained for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College London, receiving ordination in 1987, and continued his studies to gain a further rabbinic qualification from his teacher Dr Aryeh Strikovsky in Israel.
Since then he has worked as rabbi of the New North London Synagogue and has taken a leading role in the development of the Masorti Movement for traditional non-fundamentalist Judaism in England. In 2008 he was appointed Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism in the UK.
Edinburgh Jewish Literary Society 