The Rabbi as Spiritual Mentor: Reimagining the Role of the Rabbi

Neil Kurshan, Rabbi of the Huntington Jewish Center, Huntington, New York, encourages rabbis to move beyond their traditional role by embracing the role of spiritual mentor. Kurshan discusses his own efforts to connect spiritually with his congregants, pulling from extracts and experiences with participants in a spiritual formation. He argues that rabbis should adopt a spiritual role, in addition to the role of teacher and preacher, to increase engagement by showing multiple pathways to God. Spiritual mentoring is a starting point from which rabbis can set fundamental expressions of Judaism in the context of responses to God, rather than ends in themselves.

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