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New York, NY

Rabbi Steve Gutow just completed a six-year position as a visiting scholar at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is also a political advisor for J Street to advise on certain Congressional races in the 2016 election. Prior to these positions Gutow served for more than ten years until January 1, 2016 as president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the public policy and community relations coordinating agency of the American Jewish community.

He earned his bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate from the University of Texas. He received a Master of Hebrew Letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA.  Last May Steve received an honorary doctorate from Gratz College in Philadelphia where he delivered the commencement speech for the 2016 graduating class.

Gutow also has worked diligently to foster a stronger bond among the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths. Gutow was recently appointed to the President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. For his leadership, Gutow has been chosen as one of the 50 most influential American rabbis three times by Newsweek and the 50 most influential American Jews by The Forward. Gutow was accepted as a New York member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2015.

As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Gutow focuses on the organization’s efforts to look at the intersection of religion and foreign policy.  In addition, he serves as chair of the board of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, a partnership of the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Council of Churches, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.  

Steve chaired the Save Darfur Coalition and was arrested twice with other faith leaders and members of Congress  in acts of civil disobedience outside of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, most recently in 2012.

In waging war against poverty in the United States  Steve has taken the Food Stamp Challenge four times since 2007, living for a week on the amount the average food stamp recipient on the SNAP program lives on.