Dennis Shulman
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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 explanation, interpretatio ...
,
psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
, 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 t ...
. In 2008, Shulman was the Democratic nominee for the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
's Fifth Congressional District.


Background

Born in
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
, 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 Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
. 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 Sout ...
and
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
. Shulman next attended
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
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. 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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. 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 broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
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) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...
'', 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 Einstein Medical Center is an academic medical center that is 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 in the Norwo ...
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 and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector and ...

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