Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz

Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz began his tenure as the Senior Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in July 2006. Previously he served as Senior Associate Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom. He earned his Masters in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1996 and was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1997.

A strong advocate of social justice, Rabbi Gewirtz was a founding executive committee member of the Newark Coalition for Hope and Peace, which was an interfaith organization of Jews, Christians and Muslims that is committed to ending gang violence in Newark. Rabbi Gewirtz has served for the past four years of the President of the Coalition of Religious Leaders for the State of New Jersey.

A regular contributor to numerous professional publications, including the CCAR Journal, The American Rabbi and The Wisdom Daily. He is the author of “The Gift of Grief: Finding Peace, Transformation and Renewed Life after Great Sorrow” (Random House). His second book, “To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder (Wicked Son) is due out on November 1st, 2022.

Rabbi Gewirtz is a Fellow at the National Jewish Think Tank CLAL. He appears as a commentator on religion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and CNN’s State of the Union. He has co-anchored and started his own television series as a tri-anchor of PBS’s (NJTV), A Matter of Faith with an Imam, Bishop and Rabbi.

Rabbi Gewirtz is married to Lauren Rutkin, a philanthropy advisor. They are the proud parents of Jake, Natalia and Sadie. Rabbi Gewirtz is also an ardent fan of baseball (NY Mets) and football (NY Jets) and serves on the Newark Museum Council.

Follow him on Social:

• LinkedIn:@MatthewGewirtz
• Facebook:@RabbiMatthewGewirtz
• Instagram:@rabbimatt
• Twitter: @rabbimat