Lawrence Bush (born 1951) is the author of several books of Jewish fiction and non-fiction, including ''Waiting for God: The Spiritual Explorations of a Reluctant Atheist'' and ''Bessie: A Novel of Love and Revolution''. He was born in New York City, attended

Springfield Gardens High School Springfield Gardens High School was a public 4-year high school located in the Springfield Gardens section in the New York City borough of Queens. The school was opened in 1965. Closed in 2007, The Springfield Gardens High School building is now ...

, and holds a B.A. from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

. In addition to writing and editing, he has worked as a puppeteer and school music teacher.

''Jewish Currents''

From 2002 to 2018 Bush edited ''

Jewish Currents ''Jewish Currents'' is an American progressive Jewish quarterly magazine and news site whose content reflects the politics of the Jewish left. It features news, political commentary, analysis, and Jewish arts and literature. Publication histo ...

'', an independent, progressive magazine founded in 1946 that during his tenure promoted Jewish identity as ."Judaism as a Counterculture,"

, September–October 2007 He is also the editor of the daily blog ''JEWDAYO,'' discussing events from Jewish life and history on the anniversary of their occurrence. In 2011, the entries from the first year of the blog, 2010, were collected into a printed daybook ''Jewdayo''.

Other writings

Bush is the former editor of '' Reconstructionism Today'', the quarterly magazine of the Jewish Reconstructionist movement. He was co-editor of '' Jews.'', an arts magazine and mail-art experience publIshed from 1999–2004. His writings have appeared in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', '' Tikkun'', '' Moment'', ''

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

'' and ''Mad'' magazine, among others. He provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of

Leo Rosten Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American writer and humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography. Early life Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking famil ...

's classic, ''

The Joys of Yiddish ''The Joys of Yiddish'' is a book containing a lexicon of common words and phrases of Yinglish—i.e., words originating in the Yiddish language that had become known to speakers of American English due to the influence of American Ashkenazi Jew ...

''. Bush served for more than a decade as speechwriter for Rabbi Alexander Schindler, the late leader of Reform Judaism in America. Bush has described himself as In 2011, together with cartoonist Richard Codor, Bush created the humorous ''Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions''Bush, Lawrence, Dick Codor, and Bruce Sager. ''Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions.'' Accord, N.Y.: Babushkin's Digest, 1988?. OCLC 80198553

Books by Lawrence Bush

* * American Torah Toons: 54 Illustrated Commentaries (1997) * Jews, Money and Social Responsibility: Creating "Torah of Money" for Everyday Life (1993) * Emma Ansky-Levine and Her Mitzvah Machine (1991) * * ''Rooftop Secrets and other stories of anti-Semitism'' (1986), a collection of short stories intended for a juvenile audience.

References

External links

About Bush
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Lawrence Living people Jewish American atheists American atheists American religious writers American magazine editors American short story writers American Reconstructionist Jews Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American short story writers 1951 births