Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Arthur Ocean Waskow was born in Baltimore on October 12, 1933. Now 89 and a rabbi, Waskow is a household name amongst progressive Jews and multireligious allies. Through his action and writing, he is one of several Jewish clergy who has helped to define a new generation of prophetic Judaism.

About Rabbi Waskow

By the time he turned 35, Waskow was already a long-time activist, Capitol Hill legislative assistant, published author, think-tank member, and DNC delegate. As a fundamental part of his work and beliefs, he had already been arrested on multiple occasions protesting the Vietnam War, South African Apartheid, racial segregation in the US, the treatment of Soviet Jewry, and more.

Then, in 1969, on the one year anniversary of Dr. King’s murder, Waskow was inspired to write and help organize the first ever Freedom Seder, a seminal moment for progressive Judaism and the moment when Waskow would first understand his calling to weave together progressive politics with prophetic Judaism. 

Since that time, Waskow has published more than two dozen books, including his best seller, Seasons of Our Joy, which helped to spark an American renaissance in Jewish holiday observance and understanding. He has been arrested more than two dozen times for political protest. And he has spoken, taught, and preached in classrooms, sanctuaries, lecture halls, and the streets. In so doing, he has inspired a generation of Jewish leaders to take on the mantle of prophetic Jewish action.

In 1983, Waskow founded The Shalom Center to serve as a “prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, and American life.” Combining thought leadership, public-facing action, grassroots mobilization, and deep spiritual teaching, Rabbi Waskow and The Shalom Center have woven together a transformational strand of Jewish wisdom, values, and spirit with a bold call for shalom - a prophetic vision of radical wholeness - within both Jewish and multfaith communities. 

Over the last four decades, he and The Shalom Center have beckoned and beseeched the Jewish community forward, helping to advance righteous causes and move new or often ignored issues to the center. The Shalom Center has been transforming ideas that were once foreign to the American Jewish community into commonly held assumptions. For instance, 40 years ago, most Jews would have scoffed at the idea that Judaism had anything meaningful to say about nature and Earth; now they think, “Of course it does.” 40 years ago, there was no Jewish climate movement. Now there is one and it is robust and growing.

Rabbi Waskow has played an indispensable role in helping to shape the progressive Jewish organizational landscape. He has trained rabbis as faculty at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, co-founded Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal with Reb Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, helped to found the National Havurah Institute, the Green Hevra (an early network of Jewish environmental organizations), and Rabbis for Human Rights North America (now T’ruah).

But at the core, Rabbi Waskow and The Shalom Center have embodied and inspired a new brand of prophetic Judaism, rooted in the ancient Jewish prophets and modernized for our age. Three primary examples of this include:

  • The Freedom Seder - The 1969 Freedom Seder was the first known instance of American Jews celebrating Passover as a holiday of contemporary liberation, uplifting the voices of civil rights leaders alongside classical Jewish texts. Every interfaith seder, freedom seder, and social justice haggadah over the last 60 years - many thousands, at least - can trace their roots back to Waskow’s breakthrough.

  • Occupy Yom Kippur - As a new wave of grassroots activism began to take seed in the fall of 2011, it was Rabbi Waskow once again serving as inspiration. Fusing together sacred Jewish ritual with public action, the Occupy Yom Kippur prayer service - an activist High Holiday observance at Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park was modeled in many ways off of his legacy. Attended by hundreds and live streamed by thousands, this service was the first time that many Millennial activists had ever experienced the power of justice-based action rooted in Jewish prayer and ritual. While Waskow was not able to attend the service in person due to an accident, his name was used in the promotion and the event had his full support. In the weeks that followed, he participated at Occupy Sukkot in Philadelphia and led a prayer service at Zuccotti Park with a diverse group of multifaith leaders. Occupy Yom Kippur services and Occupy Sukkot encampments in New York City and around the country not only helped to kickstart an immediate movement known as “Occupy Judaism,” but it laid the foundational inspiration for a new generation of left Jewish movement-building that is still growing and evolving today. 

  • Exodus Alliance - Most recently, Exodus Alliance - which came together in the spring of 2022 - was the first time the American Jewish community has engaged in a coordinated, nation-wide Passover campaign for prophetic justice. In alliance with over 45 organizations and in 21 cities across the US and Canada, The Shalom Center, working closely with Dayenu and Jewish Youth Climate Movement, helped to inspire and support public actions that utilized Passover symbols, songs, and liturgy to challenge big banks and asset managers - the “Corporate Carbon Pharaohs” - to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energies. A new realization of the original Freedom Seder, Exodus Alliance helped to mobilize thousands of people into Jewishly-rooted climate action and set the stage for future activist festivals, or “Actifests.”

Through these and other actions, Rabbi Waskow and The Shalom Center have inspired and provided resources to at least four generations of prophetic Jewish clergy and lay activists who make prophetic justice central to their identities as Jews and clergy. It is no longer odd to see rabbis and other Jewish clergy risking arrest in religious garb (prayer shawls, head coverings, etc). It is no longer odd to consider the justice-roots of a particular Jewish holiday or teaching. It is no longer odd to think of Judaism as a prophetic tradition. That is - in large part - because of the work of Rabbi Waskow and The Shalom Center.

An elder now, Waskow has taken on the title of Prophetic Envoy for The Shalom Center and is often turned to for his wisdom and prophetic teachings at retreats and communal gatherings. He has attracted a following of many thousands who read, share, and are activated by his work.

Rabbi Waskow’s Books

  • A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral As a Spiritual Path (2002)

    Arthur Ocean Waskow, Phyllis Ocean Berman

    A new book that celebrates the Jewish life-spiral, fusing ancient teachings of the Bible and rabbis with new rituals for the twenty-first century. More than twenty years ago, Arthur Ocean Waskow published a book, Seasons of Our Joy, that followed the flow of Jewish festivals through the year. It became a classic. Now, in A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven, Rabbi Waskow and his wife, Phyllis Ocean Berman, have brought us a book for the other great cycle of Jewish life--from birth to death. They have woven handbook and history, spiritual guide and their own personal experience, ancient ceremonies and those brought forward by Jewish women today, into the single pattern of a well-lived life--a unity.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Before There Was a Before (1984)

    Arthur, David, and Shoshana Waskow; illustrations by Amnon Danzinger

    Arthur Waskow and his two children David and Shoshana have brought to life the orchestra of sounds and panoply of colors and smells of the seven days of creation. Their language is as unique and vibrant as the creation story. Together with Amnon Danziger's beautiful black and white illustrations, creation is revealed as a soul-stirring act of love and need, showing anew the interrelatedness of all life. This is the perfect book for parents and their children to read together. It raises important spiritual questions in a style that is universally appealing. The book is filled with conversation between God, Human, and Earth - together defining the world. This is truly a fresh look at an important story.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Dancing in God's Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion (2020)

    Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow

    Here is a book of deep wisdom from a prophetic rabbi who has for fifty years worked to promote a progressive spirit of renewal that connects Jews, Christians, and people of other faiths. We all experience earthquakes in our lives--social, personal, religious. From those earthquakes renewal and new life can come forth if we learn to dance in the midst of the earthquake.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Down to Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life (2020)

    Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

    In Down-to-Earth Judaism, Rabbi Arthur Waskow focuses on food, money, sex, and rest, the pillars of a spiritual life in the real world and the guide-posts that mark the communal path for the modern Jewish practitioner. To help readers infuse the rich traditions of Judaism into daily life, he examines what the Bible and the Talmud tell us regarding how to treat the environment, what greater roles women may play in Judaism, and how to allow worship to become an integral part of our lives.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millennia (2011)

    Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis O. Waskow

    The story Jews retell on Passover is about rising up against tyranny, about the triumph of the God who sides with the despised against a resplendent emperor. Exploring how this tale applies to our own time enriches the ancient account--and it expands and transforms the community for which Exodus is a collective family story. Exodus is not only the saga of the escape from slavery, but also a story of courage, celebration, rebirth and community from which people of all faith traditions have learned and can continue to learn. Calling us to relearn and rethink the Passover story, Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman share the enduring spiritual resonance of the Hebrews' journey for our own time; social justice, ecological and feminist perspectives on the Exodus; and how the Passover story has been adapted and used by African American as well as Christian and Muslim communities to provide insight and inspiration.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Godwrestling (1978)

    Arthur I. Waskow

    Godwrestling, resembling midrash, or rabbinical commentary on the scriptures, seeks to create a modern path of life rooted in Jewish traditions.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Godwrestling -- Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths (Revised, 1995)

    Arthur Waskow

    This 20th anniversary sequel to a seminal book of the Jewish renewal movement deals with spirituality in relation to personal growth, marriage, ecology, feminism, politics, and more. Including new chapters, Waskow outlines original ways to merge religious life and personal life in our society today.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Liberating Your Passover Seder: An Anthology Beyond The Freedom Seder (2021)

    Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow, Rabbi Phyllis Ocean Berman

    In 1969, Arthur Waskow created the Freedom Seder to address America's racial issues a year after the assassination of Martin Luther King. It began a revolution in American Judaism, using the ancient Passover Seder ritual to tell a contemporary story of liberation and combining the ancient and the timely in a way that lay the path for subsequent repurposing of the Seder for other messages. Liberating Your Passover Seder tells the story of those innovations while laying the groundwork for future religious creativity.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays (1982)

    Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

    Circling the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Tisha B'Av, this lively, accessible guide provides rituals, recipes, songs, prayers, and suggestions for new approaches to holiday observance. Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow explores the meaning of each holiday in relation to the history of the Jewish people and individual spirituality, examines how the place of each holiday in the cycle of the moon and the changing seasons affects the mood of the day, and suggests ritual and spiritual ways to prepare for each festival. In his extensive afterword to this new edition of Seasons of Our Joy, Rabbi Waskow addresses the many changes Judaism has undergone in the last thirty years, as feminist Judaism, neo-Chassidic mysticism, eco-Judaism, and Jewish meditation have newly colored our understanding of the festivals.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World (2020)

    Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman, Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow

    Tikkun means to repair and heal. With this book of new Jewish tales fashioned from ancient stories, Rabbis Berman and Waskow aim to repair our past, renew our future, and captivate our imaginations. The eleven stories in this volume draw from and expand the midrashic tradition of Jewish creativity. They include a a mythical quest by Noah and his wife Na'amah to save the world from modern-day rising oceans, retelling the Torah's most difficult stories in a way that makes them whole and healing, and even an imaginative yet shockingly plausible vision of the Messianic age. With its stories that include missing perspectives, unite people, and allow for healing and growth, Tales of Tikkun aims to keep the Divine Spirit alive in the Jewish people.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • The Bush Is Burning: Radical Judaism Faces the Pharaohs of the Modern Superstate (1971)

    Arthur I. Waskow

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • The Looooong Narrow Pharaoh & the Midwives Who Gave Birth to Freedom (2016)

    Rabbis Phyllis Ocean Berman & Arthur Ocean Waskow; illustrated by Avi Katz

    The Loooong Narrow Pharaoh is Rabbi Phyllis Berman and Rabbi Arthur Waskow's delightful retelling and reinterpretation of the Exodus story, in which two brave and wise midwives resist the murderous and despotic commands of Pharaoh, and help lead the ancient exodus of the Hebrew people from slavery into freedom.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • The Rest of Creation (2016)

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow, illustrated by Avi Katz

    In The Rest of Creation, words by Rabbi Arthur Waskow and pictures by illustrator Avi Katz tell children and grown-ups why and how God decided to create the Sabbath with advice from a hippopotamus, a peacock, a bumble-bee, a redwood tree, and two humans.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims (2007)

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Joan Chittister, OSB, Saadi Shakur Chishti

    The Tent of Abraham is the first book to tell the entire story of Abraham and to reenergize it as a basis for peace. Written by three leaders belonging to different faiths, the book explores in accessible language the mythic quality and the teachings of reconciliation that are embedded in the Torah, the Qur'an, and the Bible.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • These Holy Sparks: The Rebirth of the Jewish People (1983)

    Waskow, Arthur I.

    Here is a clear-sighted, probing, passionate inside look at the present situation and future directions of the contemporary Jewish renewal movement. The author prophetically explores exciting new directions in Jewish life. Seeks to recover the unity and wholeness of Jewish tradition and the core of ancient wisdom.

    Purchase the book HERE.

  • Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought: Zionism & Eco-Judaism (2000)

    Edited by Arthur Waskow

    Can we re-imagine our relationship to the earth--using the viewpoints and texts of the last four millennia? Human responses to the natural world stretching back through the last 4,000 years come to life in this major new resource providing a diverse group of ecological and religious voices. It gives us an invaluable key to understanding the intersection of ecology and Judaism, and offers the wisdom of Judaism in dealing with the present environmental crisis. Both intelligent and accessible, Torah of the Earth is an essential resource and a reminder to us that humans and the earth are intertwined. More than 30 leading scholars and experts enlighten, provoke, and provide a guided tour of ecological thought from four major Jewish viewpoints:

    Purchase Volume 1 HERE and Volume 2 HERE.

  • Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B'Shvat Anthology (2000)

    Edited by Ari Elon, Naomi Mara Hyman, Arthur Waskow

    Trees, Earth, and Torah is the first extensive collection of Jewish resources for observing the increasingly popular late-winter holiday of Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish "New Year of the Tree." Shaped in the sixteenth century by Jewish mystics, this holiday celebrates natural and supernatural renewal, and includes a special seder modeled after the Passover seder. The relationship of humanity with the earth--of adam to adamah--has long been a vital element of Hebrew Scripture. Today the Tu B'Shvat holiday has taken on added significance because of the greening of Israel and the growth of the ecology and environmental movements in the United States and abroad. This anthology draws from biblical, rabbinical, medieval, and modern sources that address the significance and historical development of the holiday, offers several examples of a "Seder Tu B'Shvat," and includes mystical writings along with Zionist and Eco-Jewish pieces.

    Purchase the book HERE.