Lawrence Bush
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Bush is the author of several books of Jewish
fiction and non-fiction, including Waiting for God: The Spiritual Explorations of a Reluctant Atheist and Bessie: A Novel of Love and Revolution.
Bush edits Jewish Currents, an independent, progressive magazine founded in 1946 and promotes Jewish identity as “a counterculture . . . in many ways antithetical to what drives our country today”.
Bush is the former editor of Reconstructionism Today, the quarterly magazine of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement
. He was co-editor of Jews, an arts magazine and mail-art experience that was publIshed from 1999-2004. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Tikkun
, Moment
, Reform Judaism
and Mad magazine, among others. He provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of Leo Rosten
's classic, The Joys of Yiddish
.
Bush served for more than a decade as speechwriter for Rabbi Alexander Schindler
, the late leader of Reform Judaism in America. He has described himself as "an atheist who has nevertheless worked intimately in Jewish religious institutions as a writer and editor for much of my adult life.
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
fiction and non-fiction, including Waiting for God: The Spiritual Explorations of a Reluctant Atheist and Bessie: A Novel of Love and Revolution.
Bush edits Jewish Currents, an independent, progressive magazine founded in 1946 and promotes Jewish identity as “a counterculture . . . in many ways antithetical to what drives our country today”.
- “Throughout the conservative onslaught of the past three decades,” Bush has editorialized in Jewish Currents, “we have argued repeatedly that Jewish identification with the have-nots is more consistent with our people’s history, tradition, self-interest, and prospects for continuity, than the currying of favor with the powers-that-be — especially when those powers resemble nothing more than Pharaoh, the imperial oppressor of Biblical Egypt.”
Bush is the former editor of Reconstructionism Today, the quarterly magazine of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Jewish movement based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization. It originated as a branch of Conservative Judaism, before it splintered...
. He was co-editor of Jews, an arts magazine and mail-art experience that was publIshed from 1999-2004. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Tikkun
Tikkun (magazine)
Tikkun is a quarterly English-language magazine, published in the United States, that analyzes American and Israeli culture, politics, religion and history from a leftist-progressive viewpoint, and provides commentary about Israeli politics and Jewish life in North America...
, Moment
Moment (magazine)
Moment is an American Jewish magazine. It publishes articles related to Jewish culture, lifestyle, politics, and religion. Moment is not affiliated with any Jewish organization or religious movement, and its articles and columnists represent a diverse range of political views.-History:Nobel Peace...
, Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism (magazine)
Reform Judaism is the official magazine of the Union for Reform Judaism. Its print edition has a quarterly circulation to 300,000 households, synagogues, and other Jewish institutions.- Awards and academic recognition :...
and Mad magazine, among others. He provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of Leo Rosten
Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten was born in Łódź, Russian Empire and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.-Early life:Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in what is now...
's classic, The Joys of Yiddish
The Joys of Yiddish
The Joys of Yiddish is a book containing the lexicon of common words and phrases in the Yiddish language, primarily focusing on those words that had become known to speakers of American English due to the influence of American Ashkenazi Jews...
.
Bush served for more than a decade as speechwriter for Rabbi Alexander Schindler
Alexander Schindler
Alexander Schindler was a rabbi and the leading figure of American Reform Judaism during the 1970s and 1980s.Born in Germany, he came to America with his family at age 12...
, the late leader of Reform Judaism in America. He has described himself as "an atheist who has nevertheless worked intimately in Jewish religious institutions as a writer and editor for much of my adult life.
- “There is a progressive pulse at the core of Jewish thought,” Bush has written. “It is this pulse — humanistic, engaged with the world, responsive to cultural evolution, dissatisfied with the status quo — that most keeps me engaged with Jewish identity and committed to its nurture. Notwithstanding contrary interpretations or even widespread indifference to the philosophical riches of Judaism, I’m drawn to the view of I.L. Peretz, who wrote that Jews who ‘wish to be true to ourselves’ should be asking ‘vital questions’ about ‘conscience, freedom, culture, ethics.’
Books by Lawrence Bush
- American Torah Toons: 54 Illustrated Commentaries (1997)
- Jews, Money and Social Responsibility: Creating “Torah of Money” for Everyday Life (1993)
- Emma Ansky-Levine and Her Mitzvah Machine (1991)
- Rooftop Secrets (1986)