Menachem Creditor

Menachem Creditor is the rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom,^[1] in Berkeley, California, a blogger for the Times of Israel and a contributor to the Huffington Post. Rabbi Creditor is a Trustee of American Jewish World Service (AJWS),^[2] founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence,^[3] sits on the Social Justice Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly, chair of The Masorti Center, and is a member of the Chancellor's Rabbinic Leadership Team at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

A frequent speaker at synagogues, college campuses, and Jewish communities around the country and in Israel on questions of Jewish Identity, Leadership, Activism and Spirituality, Rabbi Creditor was named by Newsweek as one of the 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America.^[4] Creditor has been described as "one of the most outspoken, activist rabbis, speaking and organizing on behalf of a range of progressive causes",^[5] "a vocal proponent of gay and women’s rights"^[6] and "a leading advocate of gay ordination."^[7]

In August 2012, Creditor traveled to Ghana, Africa, with American Jewish World Service, and has since become increasingly vocal on issues such as global slavery and urban gun violence, partnering with national faith-based organizing groups such as the PICO Network^[8] and Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.^[9] He has twice been invited as an American faith leader to the White House, presenting "A Prophetic Response to Gun Violence" and the PICO interfaith "Healing the Soul of America from Gun Violence" statement^[10] As an outcome of the clergy gathering, Creditor edited and published a collection of rabbinic voices as "Peace in Our Cities: Rabbis Against Gun Violence."^[11] The book, now in its second printing, has been distributed to congressional leaders, and Creditor's contemporary Prayer to end Gun Violence^[12] has been distributed by interfaith organizations around the United States.

In August 2014, he edited and published in less than two days a collection entitled "The Hope: American Jewish Voices in Support of Israel"^[13][14] in solidarity with Israel during attacks from Hamas in Gaza.

In March 2016, Creditor helped lead a rabbinic walk-out^[15] during the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. when Donald Trump took the stage.^[16] Then, following Trump's speech, Creditor addressed the 18,000 conference attendees calling upon them to reject "the politics of hate"^[17]

Following the shooting massacre in Orlando in June 2016, Creditor edited a rapid-response book,^[18] "Not by Might: Channeling the Power of Faith to End Gun Violence," including 62 faith leaders as contributors and a foreword by Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action.

Creditor first received national attention for his controversial 2005 speech at the biennial conference of the Conservative Movement, urging the expulsion of non-egalitarian congregations from the movement.^[19] He was a co-founder of ShefaNetwork: The Conservative/Masorti Movement Dreaming from Within,^[20] co-founder of KeshetRabbis: The Alliance of Gay-Friendly Conservative/Masorti Rabbis,^[21] and was the founding International Co-Chair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall.^[22] Rabbi Creditor appeared as a "central figure" in Josh Kornbluth's 2010 monologue Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews? and Kornbluth's 2013 monologue Sea of Reeds^[23][24][25]

Some of his other books include the transliterated Shabbat prayerbook "Tov LeHodot," the children's books "A Pesach Rhyme" and "Avodah: A Yom Kippur Story," "A Manifesto for the Future: The ShefaNetwork Archive," "Primal Prayers: Spiritual Responses to a Real World," and "And Yet We Love: Poems" (with a foreword by Ruth Messinger, Global Ambassador for American Jewish World Service).

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