Lawrence Bush (born 1951) is the author of several books of
Jewish fiction and non-fiction, including ''Waiting for God: The Spiritual Explorations of a Reluctant Atheist'' and ''Bessie: A Novel of Love and Revolution''.
He was born in New York City, attended
Springfield Gardens High School
Springfield Gardens High School was a public 4–year high school located in the Springfield Gardens section in the New York City borough of Queens. The school was opened in 1965. Closed in 2007, The Springfield Gardens High School building is now ...
, and holds a B.A. from
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
. In addition to writing and editing, he has worked as a puppeteer and school music teacher.
''Jewish Currents''
Bush edits ''
Jewish Currents
''Jewish Currents'' is a progressive, secular Jewish quarterly magazine and news site whose content reflects the politics of the Jewish left. It features independent journalism, breaking news, political commentary, analysis, and a "countercultura ...
'', an independent, progressive magazine founded in 1946 and promotes Jewish identity as “a counterculture . . . in many ways antithetical to what drives our country today”.
[“Judaism as a Counterculture,” ]Jewish Currents
''Jewish Currents'' is a progressive, secular Jewish quarterly magazine and news site whose content reflects the politics of the Jewish left. It features independent journalism, breaking news, political commentary, analysis, and a "countercultura ...
, September–October 2007
:“Throughout the conservative onslaught of the past three decades,” Bush has editorialized in Jewish Currents, “we have argued repeatedly that Jewish identification with the have-nots is more consistent with our people’s history, tradition, self-interest, and prospects for continuity, than the currying of favor with the powers-that-be — especially when those powers resemble nothing more than Pharaoh, the imperial oppressor of Biblical Egypt.”
He is also the editor of the daily blog ''JEWDAYO,'' discussing events from Jewish life and history on the anniversary of their occurrence. In 2011, the entries from the first year of the blog, 2010, were collected into a printed daybook ''Jewdayo''.
Other writings
Bush is the former editor of ''
Reconstructionism Today'', the quarterly magazine of the Jewish
Reconstructionist movement. He was co-editor of ''
Jews.'', an arts magazine and mail-art experience publIshed from 1999-2004. His writings have appeared in the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Tikkun'', ''
Moment'', ''
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
'' and
''Mad'' magazine, among others. He provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of
Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography.
Early life
Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in Łódź ...
's classic, ''
The Joys of Yiddish
''The Joys of Yiddish'' is a book containing a lexicon of common words and phrases of Yinglish—i.e., words originating in the Yiddish language that had become known to speakers of American English due to the influence of American Ashkenazi J ...
''.
[WorldCat Identities]
/ref>
Bush served for more than a decade as speechwriter for Rabbi Alexander Schindler
Alexander Moshe Schindler (October 4, 1925 – November 15, 2000) was a rabbi and the leading figure of American Jewry and Reform Judaism during the 1970s and 1980s.Jacques SteinbergRabbi Alexander Schindler, Reform Leader and Major Jewish Voice, D ...
, the late leader of Reform Judaism in America. Bush has described himself as "an atheist who has nevertheless worked intimately in Jewish religious institutions as a writer and editor for much of my adult life.
:“There is a progressive pulse at the core of Jewish thought,” Bush has written. “It is this pulse — humanistic, engaged with the world, responsive to cultural evolution, dissatisfied with the status quo — that most keeps me engaged with Jewish identity and committed to its nurture. Notwithstanding contrary interpretations or even widespread indifference to the philosophical riches of Judaism, I’m drawn to the view of I.L. Peretz, who wrote that Jews who ‘wish to be true to ourselves’ should be asking ‘vital questions’ about ‘conscience, freedom, culture, ethics.’
In 2011, together with cartoonist Richard Codor, Bush created the humorous ''Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions'' [Bush, Lawrence, Dick Codor, and Bruce Sager. ''Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions.'' Accord, N.Y.: Babushkin's Digest, 1988?. OCLC 80198553]
Books by Lawrence Bush
*
* American Torah Toons: 54 Illustrated Commentaries (1997)
* Jews, Money and Social Responsibility: Creating “Torah of Money” for Everyday Life (1993)
* Emma Ansky-Levine and Her Mitzvah Machine (1991)
*
* ''Rooftop Secrets and other stories of anti-Semitism'' (1986), a collection of short stories intended for a juvenile audience.
References
External links
About Bush
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Lawrence
Living people
Jewish American atheists
American religious writers
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
American magazine editors
American short story writers
American Reconstructionist Jews
Jewish American writers
1951 births