Lawrence Bush


Lawrence Bush 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, and holds a B.A. from City College of 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, an independent, progressive magazine founded in 1946 that during his tenure promoted Jewish identity as "a counterculture... in many ways antithetical to what drives our country today".
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 The [New York Times|New York Times], Tikkun, Moment, Reform Judaism and Mad magazine, among others. He provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of Leo Rosten's classic, The Joys of Yiddish.
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 "an atheist who has nevertheless worked intimately in Jewish religious institutions as a writer and editor for much of my adult life."
In 2011, together with cartoonist Richard Codor, Bush created the humorous ''Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions''

Books by Lawrence Bush

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