| Rabbi Steve Gutow | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Rabbi, activist |
Rabbi Steve Gutow is a rabbi, lawyer, community activist, and Jewish leader. He currently serves as the President and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).
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Rabbi Gutow is a community organizer and Jewish community leader who has mobilized the Jewish community and built grassroots coalitions across faith groups to advocate on a broad range of issues including hunger, interfaith relations, judicial independence and the security of Israel. He has specifically led national initiatives to encourage the United States government to take firm stands against Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, end the genocide in Darfur, maintain and enhance anti-poverty programs, and create a sustainable environment.
A Dallas, Texas native, Gutow attended the University of Texas at Austin where he earned an undergraduate degree in history in 1970, and a juris doctorate in 1977. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and practiced with the firm of Gutow, Albach, and Blume in Dallas from 1980-1990. He graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA in 2003 [1] and received the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters.
Gutow is the founding executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC).[2] Founded in 1990, NJDC is the national voice of Jewish Democrats. Under his leadership, the organization formed chapters in more than two dozen communities around America. He also served as the chair and chief professional officer of the Texas Democratic party coordinated campaign in 1995-1996 [3] as well as the leader of the 21st Century Democrats [4] during that same period.
After his graduation from rabbinical school, Gutow served as the pulpit rabbi at the Reconstructionist Minyan of St. Louis, MO.[5] He served in this position until 2005. During that time he was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at St. Louis University Law School.[6]
In August 2005, Gutow was named Executive Director [7] of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the national coordinating and advisory body for the 14 national and 125 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations. He became the organization's President and CEO in 2009.[8]
Under Gutow's leadership, the JCPA has been a stalwart advocate of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship with a focus on preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.[9] JCPA has also become a central agency in combating hunger in America.[10] Rabbi Gutow and JCPA launched the There Shall Be No Needy Among You initiative [11] in 2007 to urge local, state and national leaders to advance legislation and programs to help provide food, shelter, additional work and educational opportunities for the nation's most vulnerable. Under Rabbi Gutow's leadership, the JCPA poverty campaign has implemented several efforts that have led to an increased national commitment to reduce poverty such as the "food stamp challenge," [12] Fighting Poverty with Faith,[13] and the "Childhood Nutrition Seders." [14]
In 2009, Gutow announced the expansion of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) [15] — a project of JCPA — and the launch of the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign under COEJL's aegis. This campaign seeks to increase the involvement of the American Jewish community in the nation’s climate change and energy debates.
Gutow is a former chair of the Dallas Jewish Community Relations Council and was the founding regional director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Southwest Region.[16]
In 2010, Gutow joined the Board of the Washington, D.C. based Faith in Public Life,[17] an organization founded following the 2004 presidential election to help shape public debates and advance faith as a positive and unifying force for justice, compassion and the common good.
He also served as chair from 2008 to 2009 and is now an executive committee member of the Save Darfur Coalition,[18] a U.S.-based advocacy group calling for international intervention in Sudan, to try and stop the genocidal conflict there.
Gutow has served on the state board of the Texas Civil Liberties Union,[19] the national board of the American Jewish Congress,[20] as well as maintaining leadership roles in many other local and state organizations in Texas.
Gutow has been twice recognized as one of the nation’s most influential rabbis by Newsweek magazine, both in 2009 [21] and 2010.[22] He has also been recognized as one of the nation’s top Jewish leaders by the Forward.[23]
In 2001, Gutow was awarded both the Reconstructionist Student Association Prize for Social Action within the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbi Devora Bartnoff Memorial Prize for Spiritually Motivated Social Action.[24]