Dennis G. Shulman (born May 19, 1950) is a clinical

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

, author, teacher, public speaker, and ordained

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. In 2008, Shulman was the Democratic nominee for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

's Fifth Congressional District.

Background

Born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, Shulman was the second of three children of Israel and Helene Shulman. His father was a pharmacist. Shulman began losing his sight at an early age, from a degenerative nerve disorder.

Education

By then totally blind, Shulman gained admission to

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

. He graduated in the class of 1972

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. Shulman next attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

where he began work toward a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Public Practice. There, he won a Training Fellowship from the

National Institute for Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...

. In 1974, he married medical student Pamela Tropper. Also in that period, he began what has become an extended and diverse series of teaching positions, professional publications, postdoctoral studies and speaking engagements.

Career

In 1979 Shulman was licensed by New York State and opened his practice in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Two years later, he moved to New Jersey, first Harrington Park and then Demarest, and received his license to practice in NJ in 1982. In 1990-91 he served as senior content designer and on-air lecturer in the nationally televised

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

series ''The World of Abnormal Psychology''. In 1997 he founded and directed the National Training Program in Contemporary Psychoanalysis at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies, at which he continues to teach and supervise. The National Training Program was Shulman’s and Dr. James Fosshage's creation. It is unique in the world of psychoanalytic training institutes, attracting distance learning students (psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) for full postgraduate psychotherapeutic/psychoanalytic training from throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. Meanwhile, in the mid-1990s Shulman began to explore the intersection between psychology and religion, discovering wisdom in the Bible that can inform contemporary life—“Taking the Bible not literally, but seriously” Shulman explains. Ultimately, Shulman took up study for the rabbinate. In 2003, Shulman received his rabbinic ordination—the same year that saw the publication of his book
The Genius of Genesis: A Psychoanalyst and Rabbi Examines the First Book of the Bible
Since December 2001, Rabbi Shulman has been the leader of a Jewish spiritual and study community in Bergen County, NJ.

Personal life

Shulman has lived in Demarest, New JerseyCarmiel, Oshrat

'' The Record (Bergen County)'', February 29, 2008. Accessed March 6, 2008. since 1984 with Dr. Pamela Tropper, his wife since 1974, an Attending Physician and Director of Global Women's Health at the

Montefiore Medical Center Montefiore Medical Center is a premier academic medical center and the primary teaching hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City. Its main campus, the Henry and Lucy Moses Division, is located in the Norwoo ...

in the Bronx. The couple has two daughters: Holly, who graduated from Vassar in 2005, is the National Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee (DNC); and Juliana, who graduated from the University of Chicago in 2009, received her MPH from Johns Hopkins in 2015, and is studying law at Northeastern University.

Notes

References

* Monica Hesse. "Rabbi on the Roof: N.J. Candidate Gets Taste of Washington." Washington Post August 2, 2008, p. C1. * Dianne Williamson. "Time to Take a Stand, And Friends Join In." Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, December 4, 2007, p. B1.

External links

*
Shulman for Congress
''official campaign website''
Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

Dennis Shulman
''professional website'' *

* Shulman, Denni
The Genius of Genesis
* Toobin, Jeffre
First Timer
''New Yorker'', July 28, 2008 * Goodman, Ada

''Time'', July 18, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shulman, Dennis Living people 1950 births American Reform rabbis Worcester Academy alumni Brandeis University alumni Blind scholars and academics Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Demarest, New Jersey People from Harrington Park, New Jersey American blind people New Jersey Democrats 20th-century American psychologists