Rabbi Stephen Fuchs

Thanks for stopping by!

I served as the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, a synagogue founded in 1843 with a current membership of nearly 900 families.

Upon my retirement from the pulpit in 2011 I served as President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. In that capacity I visited more than 65 communities on five continents advocating for Reform Jewish values and legitimacy.

During my pulpit career I published more than 100 (pre-internet) articles, book chapters and op-Ed essays in such publications as The Washington Post, The Jerusalem Post, The Baltimore Sun, and The Hartford Courant.

Now, I am in thrilled by the to my first book, "What's in It for Me? Finding Ourselves in Biblical Narratives, which has been translated into German, Russian and Spanish.

In the falls of 2014, 15 and 16, my wife Vickie and I spent ten weeks of speaking and teaching in synagogues, schools and churches (most of which have never seen a rabbi befor) in Germany and at the Potsdam School of Theology and the Abraham Geiger College.

We teach about the Holocaust and work to revitalize Jewish life throughout Europe.

On Kristallnacht in 2014 I spoke at three Leipzig commemorations: at the city zoo, where Jews were rounded up, at the site where the Great Synaogogue stood, and at the famous Thomaskirche.

Leipzig is the city where my father was born, grew up and was arrested and sent to Dachau on Kristallnacht in 1938,

Two subsequent books, more than 400 blog essays and another out soon plus speaking engagements keep me busy.

Now I serve as Rabbi of Bat Yam Temple of the Islands in Sanibel, FL.

I graduated from Hamilton College and received my rabbinical education and ordination at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. HUC-JIR awarded me an honorary DD in 1999.

VanderbiltDivinity School, where I earned a D.Min. in Biblical Interpretation in 1992 named me its Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for 2017.

Please contact me through my website, www.rabbifuchs.com about speaking to or teaching at your synagogue, church, university, seminary or organization.

Vickie and I are proud parents of three grown children and six grandchildren.