Evolution of an Unorthodox Rabbi

Book excerpt: A most unorthodox rabbi revisits twenty-five turbulent years in Toronto’s Reform Jewish community. John Moscowitz is an unlikely rabbi who rejected a religious life as a teenager and spent his formative years as a social activist under the wing of a radical professor. It is hard to say what path his life might have taken, had not a spiritual awakening led him to devote his life to the service of the Jewish community. This set him on a path to becoming one of Toronto’s most cherished and effective rabbis over the past twenty-five years. For the congregants of Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto’s oldest Reform synagogue, those twenty-five years were a great blessing. In the sermons he has gathered here, Rabbi Moscowitz looks back at the temple and congregation he served for so long. A most unconventional rabbi indeed, he charts the rapid shifts in thinking on issues including same-sex marriage, peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and gun control laws. Part memoir, part social history, this book is also a deep examination of a long, personal and public journey into the centre of an evolving community of faith.