Editing Michael Lerner (rabbi)

{{Short description|American activist and editor (1943–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Too short|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Lerner
| image = Rabbi Michael Lerner - Cropped.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = Lerner at [[Occupy Oakland]], 2011
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1943|2|7}}
| birth_place = [[Newark, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|08|28|1943|02|7}}
| death_place = [[Berkeley, California]], U.S.
| death_cause = 
| resting_place = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| known_for = 
| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | Columbia University,
[[University of California, Berkeley]] | [[Wright Institute]]}}
| employer = {{unbulleted list | [[Beyt Tikkun Synagogue]] | [[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]}}
| occupation = {{hlist | [[Rabbi]] | editor}}
| title = 
| networth = 
| term = 
| party = 
| spouse = {{unbulleted list | Theirrie Cook (divorced)| Nan Fink ({{abbr|div.|divorced}}&nbsp;1991) | {{marriage|Deborah Kohn-Lerner|1998|2014|end=div}} | {{marriage|Cat Zavis|2015|2024|end = separated}}}}
| partner = 
| children = Akiba Jeremiah Lerner
| parents = 
| relations = 
| signature = 
}}

'''Michael Phillip Lerner''' (February 7, 1943{{efn|name = DoB|A 2018 post from ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]'' gave Lerner's birthday as February 7.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.tikkun.org/help-us-celebrate-rabbi-lerners-75th-birthday/|title = Help us celebrate Rabbi Lerner's 75th birthday!|date = February 2, 2018|work = [[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]|accessdate = September 14, 2024}}</ref> Other sources have replicated this,<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/lerner-michael-p-1943|title = Lerner, Michael P. 1943–|website = [[Encyclopedia.com]]|accessdate = September 14, 2024}}</ref><ref name = Langer>{{cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/09/06/michael-lerner-tikkun-magazine-dead/|title = Michael Lerner, activist rabbi who founded Tikkun magazine, dies at 81|last = Langer|first = Emily|date = September 6, 2024|accessdate = September 14, 2024|newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]|url-access = limited}}</ref> but some have given his birth date as February 11.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.jta.org/2024/08/30/obituaries/michael-lerner-influential-rabbi-activist-and-founder-of-tikkun-magazine-dies-at-81|title = Michael Lerner, influential rabbi-activist and founder of Tikkun magazine, dies at 81|last = Silow-Carroll|first = Andrew|date = August 30, 2024|accessdate = September 14, 2024|work = [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]}}</ref><ref name = Nossiter>{{cite web|title=Michael Lerner, 81, Is Dead; Founder of a Combative Jewish Magazine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/06/business/media/michael-lerner-dead.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 6, 2024|last=Nossiter|first=Adam|access-date=September 9, 2024|url-access = limited}}</ref>}} – August 28, 2024) was an American political activist, the editor of ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]'', a [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] Jewish [[Interfaith dialogue|interfaith]] magazine based in [[Berkeley, California]], and the rabbi of [[Beyt Tikkun Synagogue]] in Berkeley.<ref name="Tikkun mag Lerner bio">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/bio
|title=Biographical Notes on Rabbi Lerner
|first=Michael
|last=Lerner
|website=[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]
|date=May–June 2005
|access-date=July 12, 2010
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107085329/http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/bio
|archive-date=January 7, 2008
}}</ref><ref name="jweekly 1996-08-02">{{cite web
|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/3716/controversial-editor-tikkun-s-lerner-starts-s-f-synagogue/
|title=Controversial editor : Tikkun's Lerner starts S.F. synagogue
|first=Leslie
|last=Katz
|website=JWeekly: Jewish News Weekly of Northern California
|date= August 2, 1996 |access-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life and education===
Michael Lerner was born in February 7, 1943,{{efn|name = DoB}} and grew up in the [[Weequahic, Newark|Weequahic]] section of [[Newark, New Jersey]].<ref name="Lerner p258">Lerner, Michael. ''The Politics of Meaning: Restoring Hope and Possibility in an Age of Cynicism''. 1997, page 258-9</ref> In his youth, he attended [[Far Brook School|Far Brook Country Day School]], a private school that he characterized as having "a rich commitment to interdenominational Christianity".<ref name="Lerner p258" /> While he has written that he appreciated "the immense beauty and wisdom of the Christianity to which [he] was being exposed", he also felt religiously isolated, as the child of passionate [[Zionists]] who attended [[Hebrew]] school three times a week, while at the same time being heavily exposed to Christian-oriented cultural activities in school.<ref name="Lerner p258" /> At his own request, in the 7th grade he switched to a public school in the Weequahic neighborhood of Newark, where his peers were, in his estimation, 80% Jewish.<ref name="Lerner p258" /> He graduated from [[Weequahic High School]] in 1960.<ref>[http://weequahicalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Distinguished-Weequahic-Alumni-Revised-01-12-18.pdf "Distinguished Weequahic Alumni"], Weequahic High School Alumni Association. Accessed December 19, 2019. "Michael Lerner (1960) a rabbi and ''Tikkun'' magazine publisher and author."</ref> Lerner received a BA degree from [[Columbia University]]. In 1972 he earned a PhD in philosophy from [[University of California, Berkeley]]. In 1977 he received a PhD in Clinical/Social Psychology from the [[Wright Institute]] in Berkeley.<ref name = Nossiter/>

===Student activism===
While at Berkeley, Lerner became a leader in the Berkeley student movement and the [[Free Speech Movement]],<ref>{{cite book |title= Jews of Oakland and Berkeley|last=Isaac |first=Frederick |date= July 15, 2009 |publisher= [[Arcadia Publishing]] |isbn= 9780738570334 |page=100 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RvOadZJHGj4C&q=%22Michael+Lerner%22&pg=PA100}}</ref> chair of the Free Student Union,<ref>{{cite book |title=Reflections on the University of California: from the Free Speech Movement to the global university |last=Smelser |first=Neil |year=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520260962 |page=41}}</ref> and chair from 1966 to 1968 of the Berkeley chapter of the [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)|Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS).<ref>{{cite book |title=Whose FBI? |last=Wright |first=Richard |year=1974 |publisher=Open Court |isbn=978-0-87548-148-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/whosefbi0000wrig/page/177 177] |url=https://archive.org/details/whosefbi0000wrig/page/177 |url-access=registration}}</ref> After teaching [[Jurisprudence|philosophy of law]] at [[San Francisco State University]],<ref>Not to be confused with the actor Michael Lerner who taught literature at the same school, San Francisco State.</ref><ref>Bio in ''Social Praxis'', Volumes 2–3, Mouton, 1974</ref> he took a job as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the [[University of Washington]] and taught ethics, [[Social philosophy|social]] and [[political philosophy]], philosophy of literature and culture, and introduction to philosophy.

Distressed over the disintegration of SDS in 1969, Lerner sought to re-organize New Left cadres formerly associated with SDS in a new organization called the [[Seattle Liberation Front]] (SLF) on January 19, 1970.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.historylink.org/File/2131 | title=Seattle Liberation Front}}</ref> While SLF did not publicly endorse violence as a political tactic, SLF members including [[Roger Lippman]], [[Michael Justesen]], and [[Susan Stern]] were also members of the [[Weather Underground]], which had bombing attacks as a central part of its political strategy. After the "Day After" demonstration SLF had called on February 17, 1970 (to protest the verdicts in the [[Chicago Seven]] trial) turned violent, Lerner and others were arrested and charged with [[riot#United States|inciting a riot]].

Lerner and his co-defendants became known as the "Seattle Seven". During their trial, [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI Director]] [[J. Edgar Hoover]] issued a public statement (repeated on radio and television) that described Lerner as "one of the most dangerous criminals in America", even though he had never engaged in any act of violence. Federal agents testifying at the trial later admitted to having played a major role instigating the violence and ensuing riot.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/05/seattle_seven_vietnam_proteste.php |title='Seattle Seven' Vietnam Protester Michael Lerner's New War - in Israel and at Home |author=Rick Anderson |date=May 4, 2010 |newspaper=Seattle Weekly |access-date=January 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327053912/http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/05/seattle_seven_vietnam_proteste.php |archive-date=March 27, 2012}}</ref>

The trial culminated in a courtroom brawl (during which Lerner was the only defendant to remain seated), and the presiding judge sent the defendants to jail on [[contempt of court]] charges.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/451/451.F2d.372.26889.html |title=451.F2d.372.26889 |author=George H. Boldt United States District Judge |date=November 18, 1971 |work=451 F .2d 372USA, Appellee vs. Charles Clark Marshall, III et al, Appellants, No. 26889 |publisher=United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit |access-date=January 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325093716/http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/451/451.F2d.372.26889.html |archive-date=March 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://radsearem.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/november-6-1970-the-seattle-seven/ |title=November 6, 1970: The Seattle Seven |author=Jeff Stevens |date= November 6, 2010|publisher=Radical Seattle Remembers |access-date=January 4, 2011}}</ref> Lerner was transported to [[Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island|Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary]] in [[San Pedro, Los Angeles, California|San Pedro, California]], where he served several months before the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals]] overturned his conviction for contempt of court and ordered him released. The main charges relating to the riot were subsequently dropped by the federal government.

Meanwhile, the [[Washington State Legislature]] had passed a law, commonly referred to as the "Lerner Act", that prohibited the University of Washington from hiring anyone "who might engage in illegal political activity", and Lerner's contract was not renewed. (The law was later overturned by the [[Washington Supreme Court]]).

During this period Lerner met several times with boxer [[Muhammad Ali]], who was also active in the anti-war movement, at anti-war meetings organized by Lerner.<ref name="East Bay Times 2016-06-16">{{cite news|last1=Drummond|first1=Tammerlin|title=Muhammad Ali memorial: Berkeley rabbi will speak at service, per sports legend's wish|url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/my-town/ci_29993237/berkeley-rabbi-grants-ali-death-wish-speak-at|date=June 8, 2016}}</ref> Lerner recounts that Ali was the first practicing [[Muslim]] he had ever met.<ref name="East Bay Times 2016-06-16" /> The two never met or spoke again after this period though in 1995 Lerner received a letter from Ali expressing appreciation for the book Lerner co-authored with [[Cornel West]], ''Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin''.<ref name="East Bay Times 2016-06-16" /> Muhammad Ali included an invitation to Lerner to speak at Ali's memorial, to represent progressive Jewish faith, which took place in 2016.<ref name="East Bay Times 2016-06-16" /> Lerner also learned from Ali's lawyer that Ali had been a "big fan" of the rabbi's work and that Ali was really sorry that he had not made more contact with Lerner over the past two decades. Ali and his wife had intended to do so many times and just hadn't followed through.<ref name="East Bay Times 2016-06-16" />

===Professorship and research===
After completing his Ph.D. Lerner moved to [[Hartford, Connecticut]] where he served as professor of philosophy at [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] until 1975, when he moved back to Berkeley, joined the faculty at the University of California in the Field Studies program and taught law and economics until 1976 when he accepted a position at [[Sonoma State University]] for one year in sociology, teaching courses in [[social psychology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityclubofsandiego.com/city_club_past_details_db.asp?id=13334|title=Welcome to The City Club of San Diego|date=July 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708155835/http://www.cityclubofsandiego.com/city_club_past_details_db.asp?id=13334 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 }}</ref> Meanwhile, he completed a second Ph.D. in 1977, this one in [[Social psychology|social]]/[[clinical psychology]] at the Wright Institute in Berkeley.<ref>Bio at Gettysburg College and at Council for a Parliament of World Religions [http://www.gettysburg.edu/news_events/press_release_detail.dot?id=167333&crumbTitle="Middle East peace to be Rabbi Michael Lerner's topic Nov. 11 at Gettysburg College"]{{dead link|date=August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=27&sn=85 |title=Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue; Editor, ''Tikkun'' Magazine; Author |publisher=Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions |year=2009 |access-date=January 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706010801/http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=27&sn=85 |archive-date=July 6, 2010}}</ref>

In 1976 Lerner founded the Institute for Labor and Mental Health to work with the labor movement and do research on the [[psychodynamics]] of American society.<ref>Bios at ''Atlantic'' Monthly and PBS [https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96jun/lerner/lerner.htm] and [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/archive/200501/20050107_lerner.html]</ref> In 1979 he received a grant from the [[National Institute of Mental Health]] to train [[Union steward|union shop stewards]] as agents of prevention for mental health disorders, and he simultaneously extended his previous study of the psychodynamics of American society. With a subsequent grant from the NIMH he studied American politics and reported that "a spiritual crisis" was at the heart of the political transformation of American society as well as at the heart of much of the psychic pain that was being treated in individual [[Psychotherapy|therapy]].<ref>This study is described at length in Lerner's book ''Spirit Matters''.</ref>

His writing reflects a transposition of this analysis to economics too, viz. "This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society—one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security." :<ref>Information Clearing House Weekend Edition of 6 December 2008 22:07</ref>

===''Tikkun'' magazine===
After serving for five years as dean of the graduate school of psychology at [[New College of California]] (now defunct) in San Francisco,<ref>''Mother Jones'' Magazine May 1985 p. 48 gives New College as a contact address for Lerner.</ref> Lerner and his then-wife Nan Fink created a general-interest intellectual magazine called ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun: A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society]]''. ''Tikkun'' was started with the intention of challenging [[Left-wing politics|the Left]] for its inability to understand the centrality of religious and spiritual concerns in the lives of ordinary Americans.

With his associate editor [[Peter Gabel]], Lerner developed a "politics of meaning": that Americans hunger not only for material security but also for a life that is connected to some higher meaning, and that the failure of the liberal and progressive movements to win a consistent majority support was based on their inability to understand this hunger and to address it by showing Americans and middle income working people in other advanced industrial societies that it was the values of the competitive marketplace and its Bottom Line of money and power that is the fundamental source undermining ethical and spiritual values in the public sphere and then undermining friendships and marriages when these values are brought home into personal life.<ref>(See Lerner's book ''The Politics of Meaning'', Addison Wesley, 1996).</ref>

This was intended to speak to the hunger for meaning that was characteristic of the thousands of people that Lerner and his colleagues were studying at the Institute for Labor and Mental Health. ''Tikkun'' was formed to educate the public about the findings of the Institute and to develop some of the implications of that work. However, because it also had an interest in being an "alternative to the voices of [[Jewish right|Jewish conservatism]]," ''Tikkun'' was criticized by some Jewish groups.

In 1993, [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Hillary Clinton]] included the "politics of meaning" in her synthesis of political and social philosophy she was forming.<ref>{{cite news | title=Saint Hillary | author-link=Michael Kelly (editor) | work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] | date=May 23, 1993 | last=Kelly | first=Michael}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978625,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216221956/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978625,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 16, 2008 | title=The Politics of What? | first=Priscilla |last=Painton | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=May 31, 1993 | access-date=October 20, 2007 | author-link=Priscilla Painton}}</ref>

In 2002, Lerner organized a group called the Tikkun Community among readers of ''Tikkun'' magazine and those who share its editorial vision.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shiftinaction.com/discover/luminaries/rabbi_michael_lerner |title=Luminary: Rabbi Michael Lerner |website=Shift in Action |year=2005 |publisher=[[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] |access-date=January 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222010038/http://www.shiftinaction.com/discover/luminaries/rabbi_michael_lerner |archive-date=February 22, 2009}} {{cite web |title=Rabbi Michael Lerner and Dr. Timothy P. Weber |date=October 5, 2007 |work=Bill Moyers Journal |publisher=Public Affairs Television |url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10052007/profile2.html}}</ref>

===Rabbinical ordination===
Lerner received [[Semicha|rabbinical ordination]] in 1995 through a [[beth din]] (rabbinical court) composed of three rabbis, "each of whom had received orthodox rabbinic ordination".<ref name="Tikkun mag Lerner bio" /> According to ''j. the Jewish news weekly'', "mainstream rabbinical leaders of the [[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] and [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] movements" have questioned private ordinations such as Lerner's, arguing that non-seminary ordinations risk producing poorly educated or fraudulent Rabbis.<ref name="jweekly 1996-08-02" /> Similarly, some rabbis have challenged Lerner's decision to not be trained for the rabbinate in a classical Jewish seminary (although Lerner did spend three years as a student at Jewish Theological Seminary). Lerner has been quoted in ''Jewish Weekly'' as saying that the non-seminary track is one that "every Chabad rabbi takes, & every ultra-Orthodox rabbi". Lerner pointed out that none of the rabbis in Jewish history ever attended a "seminary" until the middle of the 19th century, and that most rabbis in Israel today did not attend a seminary. They were ordained in the same manner, a Beth din composed of three rabbis. When Lerner attacked seminaries for being "more interested in producing organizational men for Jewish life than spiritual leaders connected to the deepest spiritual and social-justice minds", Rabbi Alan Lew said "That is arrogant nonsense ... I spent six years in extremely rigorous, round-the-clock study in the classic texts of our tradition. Authentic Jewish spirituality is in the texts, not in some fancy New Age ideas or watered-down kabbalah".<ref name="jweekly 1996-08-02" /> Lerner's synagogue 'Beyt Tikkun' became an embodiment of what he described as "neo-Hasidism," passionately pursuing the spiritual dimension of the prayers rather than rushing through them. The goal, he insisted, is to connect to God, not simply mouth every prayer in the prayerbook. His synagogue grew, according to members, not only because of Lerner's willingness to take the social justice message of the prophets seriously, but also because the actual experience of being involved in prayer, meditation, singing and dancing in the synagogue became an ecstatic experience of transcendence for many of those who attended. Lerner's 1994 book ''Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation'' published by HarperCollins (and in paperback as a Harper Perennial), became a national best-seller and brought thousands of young people into the emerging Jewish Renewal movement. After studying his background and qualifications, the Northern California Board of Rabbis accepted Lerner as a full member and he has remained a member ever since. Lerner was the first Jewish Renewal rabbi to achieve membership in a local American Board of Rabbis, but since that time in 1997, many local Boards of Rabbis have accepted Jewish Renewal rabbis into full membership.

Lerner was the spiritual leader of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in Berkeley, and a member of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California. He was also a member of Ohalah, the organization of [[Jewish Renewal]] Rabbis.

===Network of Spiritual Progressives===
In 2005 Lerner became chair of The [[Network of Spiritual Progressives]] whose mission was to "challenge the materialism and selfishness in American society and to promote an ethos of love, generosity, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe."<ref name="NSP Covenant">{{cite web | url=http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php?story=covenant | title=The Spiritual Covenant with America | last=Lerner | first=Michael | access-date=April 4, 2008 | date=November 1, 2006 | publisher=The Network of Spiritual Progressives | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025092534/http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php?story=covenant | archive-date=October 25, 2007}}</ref> They have since sponsored national conferences on both the East and West Coast. In 2007 Lerner launched a campaign for a "Global Marshall Plan".<ref name="The Global Marshall Plan">{{cite web | url=http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php?story=20070228183252814 | title=The Global Marshall Plan | access-date=April 4, 2008 | date=February 27, 2007 | publisher=The Network of Spiritual Progressives | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025092005/http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php?story=20070228183252814 | archive-date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>

===Personal life, illness and death===
Lerner was married to Theirrie Cook until divorcing; he was then married to Nan Fink until divorcing in 1991, to Debora Kohn from 1998 until divorcing in 2014, and then to Cat Zavis in 2015, from whom he had separated in 2024.<ref name = Langer/> Lerner and Cook had a son.<ref name = Langer/>

In February 2009 Lerner publicly announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and mentioned this in many promotional mailings and published pieces.<ref>There is also a champion of Alternative Medicine treatments of cancer named Michael Lerner [http://www.bigspeak.com/michael-lerner.html] who is unrelated.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/103602/tikkun-s-founder-i-have-cancer-give-to-my/|title=Tikkun's Founder: 'I Have Cancer,' Give to My Cause|author=Rebecca Spence|date=March 4, 2009|website=Jewish Daily Forward|access-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref> He was treated with surgery in March 2009, which was apparently successful.

Lerner died at his home in Berkeley on August 28, 2024, at the age of 81; he had [[congestive heart failure]], and died through assisted suicide permitted by the [[California End of Life Option Act]].<ref name = Langer/><ref name = Nossiter/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://forward.com/opinion/649188/michael-lerner-rabbi-appreciation-jewish-justice-spirituality-tikkun/ |title=How Rabbi Michael Lerner merged spirituality and social justice and influenced a generation of progressives |first=Jay |last=Michaelson |date=August 30, 2024 |website=[[The Forward]] }}</ref>

==Views==
===Positive Judaism===
Lerner was associated with and promoted [[Jewish Renewal]], having received his ''semikhah'' from the movement's founder, Rabbi [[Zalman Schachter-Shalomi]].<ref name="x525">{{citation | last=Wilensky | first=David A.M. | title=Rabbi Michael Lerner, religious and political visionary, dies at 81 | date=30 August 2024 | url=https://jweekly.com/2024/08/30/rabbi-michael-lerner-a-religious-and-political-visionary-never-stopped-believing/ | language=en-US | access-date=5 February 2025 | page=}}</ref> Jewish Renewal is a small Jewish religious movement that Lerner described as "positive Judaism", rejecting what he considered to be [[ethnocentrism|ethnocentric]] interpretations of the [[Torah]]. His publications promoted [[religious pluralism]] and [[Progressivism|progressive]] or [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]] approaches to political problems. He was, for example, outspoken against [[xenophobia in the United States]],<ref>See especially ''Tikkun'' Volume 7</ref> and he attempted to build bridges with [[Christianity|Christian]], [[Buddhist]] and [[Muslim]] leaders around such issues.<ref>Particularly through the Network of Spiritual Progressives.</ref>

Lerner's call for a spiritual transformation of American society was first articulated in ''Tikkun'' and then in his book ''The Politics of Meaning''. Lerner developed his ideas further in his books ''Spirit Matters'' (2000) and ''[[The Left Hand of God (Lerner book)|The Left Hand of God]]'' (2006).

Lerner strongly objected to Israel's occupation of the [[West Bank]]. He supported the adoption of the 2003 [[Geneva Accords (2003)|Geneva Accords]] as a basis for an independent [[Palestinian state]].<ref>His 2004 book ''The Geneva accord: and other strategies for healing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict'' elaborates this position. North Atlantic Books, 2004 {{ISBN|1-55643-537-1}}, {{ISBN|978-1-55643-537-9}}</ref>

In February 2007, Lerner published a column entitled "There Is No [[New Anti-Semitism]]," in which he criticized some American Jewish organizations for labeling critics of Israel as antisemites. He was especially critical of the [[Anti-Defamation League]] and the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]], which he characterized as "Israel-can-do-no-wrong voices in American politics." Lerner wrote that this mentality, which frequently leads to accusations that Jews who oppose Israel's policies toward the [[Palestinian people|Palestinians]] are "[[self-hating Jew]]s," is alienating young Jews who "say that they can no longer identify with their Jewishness."<ref>
{{cite news
|url=http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/020207LERNER.shtml
|title=There Is No New Anti-Semitism
|first=Michael
|last=Lerner
|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Chronicle]]
|date=February 2, 2007
|access-date=February 14, 2007}}</ref>

===Controversy===
Lerner described some of his views as "very controversial," particularly his views about building peace between Israel and Palestine.<ref name="Tikkun mag Lerner bio" /> In 2003, the ''[[San Diego Jewish Journal]]'' described Lerner as "the most controversial Jew in America," writing that "He is relentlessly critical of Israel. He eulogizes [[Rachel Corrie]]. And he's done more for peace than any conservative we know."<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/sept03_4.html
|title=Michael Lerner: The most controversial Jew in America
|first=Judd
|last=Handler
|website=San Diego Jewish Journal
|date=September 2003
|access-date=March 26, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061231071732/http://sdjewishjournal.com/stories/sept03_4.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = December 31, 2006}}</ref> That same year, the executive editor of ''[[The Jewish Exponent]]'' wrote that Lerner "supports every measure against Israel short of its immediate destruction and often makes common cause with those who do plot the eradication of Israel's Jews."<ref>{{cite magazine
|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/tobin022403.asp
|title= The darker side of peace protests: Coming to grips with anti-Semitism in the debate over war with Iraq
|first=Jonathan
|last=Tobin
|magazine=Jewish World Review
|date= February 24, 2003 |access-date=March 26, 2007}}</ref>

In 1997, former ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]'' editors accused Lerner of publishing pseudonymous letters to the editor that he himself had written. While many of the letters were laudatory ("Your editorial stand on Iraq said publicly what many of us in the Israeli peace camp are feeling privately but dare not say."), a few were critical ("Have you gone off your rocker?"). Lerner admitted that he had fabricated the letters but said his only mistake was not informing readers that the authors' names were pseudonyms.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/5763/edition_id/107/format/html/displaystory.html
|title=Tikkun editor calls letter-writing policy 'a mistake'
|date=March 21, 1997
|first=Leslie
|last=Katz
|website=Jewish News Weekly of Northern California
|access-date=April 17, 2007}}</ref>

===Criticism of leftist antisemitism===
For many years, Lerner was an outspoken critic of modern [[antisemitism]] that he perceived to have arisen among some leftists. In 1992, he wrote ''The Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism on the Left'', in which he described the manner in which the left often denies the existence of antisemitism, defended [[Zionism]], and distinguished legitimate criticism of the State of Israel from Israel-bashing and antisemitism; and suggested ways in which progressives can fight antisemitism on the Left.

In 2003, Lerner criticized the left-wing anti-war [[Act Now to Stop War and End Racism|ANSWER Coalition]] for the antisemitism that he and others believe is reflected in the rhetoric at ANSWER-sponsored demonstrations. He later claimed that because of his criticism, the ANSWER coalition—of which Lerner's Tikkun community was a member—barred him from speaking at their rallies against the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]].<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0305/article/030512a.html
|title=Authoritarianism and Anti-Semitism in the Anti-War Movement?
|first=Michael
|last=Lerner
|website=Tikkun
|date=May–June 2003
|access-date=February 14, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041019075845/http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0305/article/030512a.html |archive-date = October 19, 2004}}</ref>

===Good Friday Prayer for the Jews===
Regarding the ''[[motu proprio]]'' ''[[Summorum Pontificum]]'', which allowed the re-introduction of the [[Tridentine Mass]] and the related [[Good Friday Prayer for the Jews]], he said that the Pope took "a powerful step toward the re-introduction of the process of demeaning Jews. You cannot respect another religion if you teach that those who are part of it [[Forced conversion|must convert]] to your own religion."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007_07_08_revived_latin_mass_N.htm |title=Revived Latin Mass |date=July 9, 2007 |newspaper=USA Today}}{{dead link|date=August 2022}}</ref>

== Beyt Tikkun Synagogue ==
'''Beyt Tikkun Synagogue''' is a [[Jewish Renewal]] congregation in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. It is a loosely organized, unconventional endeavor with a small physical base that is also described by its founder as a "synagogue-without-walls"<ref>{{cite news|last=Lerner|first=Michael|title=Occupy Rosh Hashanah|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-michael-lerner/occupy-rosh-hashanah_b_1883522.html|access-date=August 26, 2013|newspaper=The Huffington Post}}</ref> that, since its founding, has served as a [[bully pulpit]] for Lerner.

===History===
Beyt Tikkun was founded in 1996 by Lerner and is loosely affiliated with his ''[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]]'' magazine.<ref name="JewishSF 1996-08-02">{{cite news |url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/4169/edition_id/75/format/html/displaystory.html |title=Controversial editor : Tikkun's Lerner starts S.F. synagogue |first=Leslie |last=Katz |newspaper=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=August 2, 1996 |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Lerner bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/bio |title=Biographical Notes on Rabbi Lerner |website=[[Tikkun (magazine)|Tikkun]] |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref> It describes itself as a "[[Halakha|hallachic]] community bound by Jewish law".<ref name="Beyt Tikkun Founding Perspective">{{cite web |url=http://www.beyttikkun.org/fmd/files/FoundingPerspective.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081002001335/http://beyttikkun.org/fmd/files/foundingperspective.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 2, 2008 |title=Founding Perspective |publisher=Beyt Tikkun |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref>

Beyt Tikkun has no building of its own,<ref name="Beyt Tikkun FAQ">{{cite web |url=http://www.beyttikkun.org/index.php?topic=faq |title=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Beyt Tikkun |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref> and the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' as well as ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it the "synagogue-without-walls in San Francisco and [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/03/INI9UP0S1.DTL |title=Primary Views: Rabbi Michael Lerner: Candidate: Barack Obama |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=February 3, 2008 |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE6D71330F93BA25756C0A96E948260 |title=On West Coast, a Newly Vital Judaism |first=Perry |last=Garfinkel |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 18, 1988 |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref>

In 2010, Lerner, recovering from cancer, moved Beyt Tikkun closer to his Berkeley home: the [[East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)|East Bay]], near the [[University of California, Berkeley|U.C. Berkeley]] campus.<ref>{{cite news|last=Godbe|first=Mike|title=Why Rabbi Lerner's Move of his Synagogue from San Francisco to Berkeley is Hard News|url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-08-03/article/35993?headline=Why-Rabbi-Lerner-s-Move-of-his-Synagogue-from-San-Francisco-to-Berkeley-is-Hard-News--By-Mike-Godbe|access-date=August 26, 2013|newspaper=The Berkeley Daily Planet}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Anders|first=Corrie M|title=Beyt Tikkun Follows Lerner to Berkeley|url=http://www.noevalleyvoice.com/2010/September/Beyt.htm|access-date=August 26, 2013|newspaper=The Noe Valley Voice}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Palevsky|first=Stacey|title=Beyt Tikkun moves to Berkeley from San Francisco|url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/58651/beyt-tikkun-moves-to-berkeley-from-san-francisco|access-date=August 26, 2013|newspaper=J-Weekly.com}}</ref>

===Controversies===
Beyt Tikkun found itself in the middle of controversies in 2005 and 2007 when it invited anti-war activist [[Cindy Sheehan]] to speak during [[Yom Kippur]] services.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/2021/ |title=Filling the Pews With High-wattage Guests |website=[[The Forward]] |date=October 7, 2005 |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/27355/edition_id/523/format/html/displaystory.html |title=Anti-war activist speaks out at Beyt Tikkun |newspaper=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=October 21, 2005 |access-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref>

[[Code Pink]] activist Rae Abliea addressed the synagogue—against the [[Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip]]—on September 29, 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://palestinedaily.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/from-kissing-land-to-cast-lead.html |title=From kissing the land to Cast Lead destruction – a coming out journey. Rosh Hoshanah address to Beyt Tikkun synagogue |website=Palestine Daily |date=October 4, 2011 |access-date=August 25, 2013}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
While at the Seminary, Lerner was elected national president of Atid, the college organization of the [[United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism|United Synagogue of America]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/03/02/mj.kjn024|title=archive.ph|journal=Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience|date=February 2009 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=34–43 |doi=10.1093/mj/kjn024 |access-date=September 16, 2023|archive-date=July 10, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710185110/http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/03/02/mj.kjn024|url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Lerner |first1=Michael |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Lerner was chosen by [[Utne Reader]] in 1995 as one of the world's "100 top visionaries" along with [[Vaclav Havel]] and [[Noam Chomsky]]. In 2005 Lerner received the [[Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prize]] from [[Morehouse College]] in [[Atlanta]] in recognition of his work in forging a "progressive middle path that is both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine" in his book ''Healing Israel/Palestine'' and in his writing in ''Tikkun'' magazine.<ref>
{{cite press release
 |title = Science and Spiritual Awareness Week
 |publisher = [[Morehouse College]]
 |date = March 22, 2005
|url = http://www.morehouse.edu/communications/newsreleases/archives/000203.html
 |access-date = February 14, 2007
|url-status = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061210023227/http://www.morehouse.edu/communications/newsreleases/archives/000203.html
 |archive-date = December 10, 2006
}}</ref> Tikkun magazine, which Lerner continues to edit, received from the mainstream media organization RNA The Religion Newswriters Association, the "Best Magazine of the Year" Award in both 2014 and 2015.

==Television appearances==
Lerner was a guest on ''[[Larry King Live]]'' several times. On March 5, 2006, he discussed his book, ''[[The Left Hand of God (Lerner book)|The Left Hand of God]]'', on [[C-SPAN]]. Lerner was part of a panel of religious leaders on [[Meet the Press with Tim Russert]] on April 16, 2006. He was interviewed on Jewish reactions to the [[Christian Zionism|Christian Zionist]] movement of [[Christian right|right-wing evangelical]] pastor [[John Hagee]] on the [[Bill Moyers|Bill Moyers PBS]] show on October 7, 2007.

Lerner delivered a eulogy at the memorial service for [[Muhammad Ali]] on June 10, 2016, praising Ali's stances on social justice and calling for an end to [[antisemitism]], [[homophobia]], and [[Islamophobia]].<ref name="Business Insider 2016-06-10">{{cite web |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/muhammad-ali-funeral-rabbi-michael-lerner-speech-2016-6 |title=A rabbi received a standing ovation for his powerful speech at Muhammad Ali's funeral |first=Natasha |last=Bertrand |date=June 10, 2016 |work=[[Business Insider]] |access-date=June 11, 2016}}</ref> Lerner said, "The way to honor the memory of Muhammad Ali is to be Muhammad Ali today in our own lives."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.724338 |title=Muhammad Ali's Message: Fight for Your Vision and Change the System |first=Michael |last=Lerner |date=June 10, 2016 |work=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=June 11, 2016}}</ref> "Tell the leaders of Turkey to stop bombing and murdering their Kurd minority. Tell the U.S. to stop sending military supplies to Saudi Arabia, which is the sponsor of some of the most hate-filled teachings in the Islamic world and is one of the most repressive regimes on the face of the earth."<ref name="Business Insider 2016-06-10" />

==Goldstone report and vandalism of Lerner's home==
Lerner was one of a small group of Jewish leaders who supported [[Richard Goldstone|Judge Richard Goldstone]] after Goldstone released his [[Goldstone report|United Nations report]] that accused Israel and [[Hamas]] of [[war crimes]] and possible [[crimes against humanity]] during the winter 2009 [[Gaza War (2008–09)|Gaza War]]. After ''Tikkun'' magazine announced that it would award Goldstone with its Tikkun Award, Lerner's home was vandalized several times, with posters caricaturing him as a Nazi.<ref>{{cite web|title=Zionist Extremist Hate Crime Against Rabbi Lerner: Third Attack on His Home and the Limits of "Freedom of the Press"|url=http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/03/16/zionist-extremist-hate-crime-against-rabbi-lerner-3rd-attack-on-his-home-and-the-limits-of-freedom-of-the-press/|website=Tikkun|date=March 16, 2011 |access-date=March 19, 2011}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
In 2024, Stanford University created an archive of Michael Lerner's work.<ref>{{cite archive |collection-url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c81v5nwv/ |last=Lerner |first=Michael |collection=Writings, transcripts, manuals, brochures, guides for Jewish services, press clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, ephemera and other materials |repository=[[California Digital Library#Online_Archive_of_California_(OAC)|Online Archive of California]] |institution=[[Stanford University]] }}</ref>
===Books===
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=The New Socialist Revolution | publisher=New York : Delacorte Press | date=1973 | isbn=978-0-440-06372-8}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=Surplus Powerlessness: The Psychodynamics of Everyday Life and the Psychology of Individual and Social Transformation | date=1986 | publisher=Institute for Labor & Mental Health |url=https://archive.org/details/surpluspowerles000lern |url-access=registration | isbn=978-0-935933-01-7}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=The Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism on the Left |url=https://archive.org/details/socialismoffools00mich/mode/2up |url-access=registration | publisher=Institute for Labor & Mental Health | publication-place=Oakland | date=1992 | isbn=978-0-935933-05-5}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation |url=https://archive.org/details/jewishrenewalpat0000lern/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access=registration | publisher=Putnam Adult | publication-place=New York | date=1994 | isbn=0-399-13980-X}}
* {{cite book | last1=Lerner | first1=Michael | last2=West | first2=Cornel | title=Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin |url=https://archive.org/details/jewsblackslethea00lern/mode/2up |url-access=registration | publisher=Putnam Adult | publication-place=New York | date=1995 | isbn=0-399-14046-8}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=The Politics Of Meaning: Restoring Hope and Possibility in an Age of Cynicism | publisher=Addison-Wesley Longman | date=1996 | isbn=978-0-201-47966-9}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=Spirit Matters: Global Healing and the Wisdom of the Soul | publisher=Walsch Books | publication-place=Charlottesville, Va | date=2000 | isbn=978-1-57174-195-0}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path to Peace and Reconciliation | publisher=North Atlantic Books | publication-place=Berkeley, Calif | date=2003 | isbn=978-1-55643-484-6}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=The Geneva Accord: And Other Strategies for Healing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict |url=https://archive.org/details/genevaaccord00mich |url-access=registration | publisher=North Atlantic Books | publication-place=Berkeley, Calif | date=2004 | isbn=1-55643-537-1}}
* {{cite book | last=Lerner | first=Michael | title=[[The Left Hand of God (Lerner book)|The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right]] | publisher=Harper Collins | publication-place=San Francisco | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-06-084247-5 | oclc=ocm61211456}}

===Anthologies===
* ''Tikkun: To Heal, Repair, and Transform the World'' (1992) – edited by Michael Lerner
* ''Best Contemporary Jewish Writing'' (2001) – edited by Michael Lerner
* ''Best Jewish Writing 2002'' (2002) – edited by Michael Lerner
* ''Tikkun Reader: Twentieth Anniversary'' (2006) – edited by Michael Lerner

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://www.tikkun.org/rabbi-michael-lerner/ Biography] at ''Tikkun''
*{{C-SPAN|33214}}

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