CLAL Faculty

Rabbi Steve Greenberg

Rabbi Steve Greenberg isn’t afraid of a challenge.  Known as an award-winning author, noted teacher, and religious iconoclast, Steve has broken boundaries and led the fight to make Orthodox Judaism more open and inclusive and accepting of homosexual members.  

A Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Steve was featured in the acclaimed 2001 film Trembling Before G-d, about Orthodox gay Jews, and has appeared in over 500 post-screening community dialogues throughout the world.  As educational coordinator for the film’s outreach project, he arranged for screenings in Israel’s religious school system, reaching over 2,000 principals, educators and school counselors.  A popular speaker on issues of faith, sexuality, and tradition, Steve helped organize the first Orthodox Mental Health Conference on homosexuality, and has worked with numerous families in reconciliation.   

Winner of the coveted Koret Book Award for Philosophy and Thought, Steve is the author of the groundbreaking book Wrestling with God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), which explores homosexuality and Jewish tradition. The Koret awards are the most prestigious in Jewish prose. The book was also selected as a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards.   

Steve is a founding member and educational advisor of the Open House in Jerusalem, an organization that advances the cause of social tolerance.  A renowned speaker across the U.S., Greenberg has participated in forums at such leading institutions as Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government-Institute of Politics with Bishop Gene Robinson, and at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco with Congressman Mark Leno.    

A guest on numerous talk shows including NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Steve is a frequent commentator for the media and has published several articles on Jewish law and church and state issues.  An expert scholar in Jewish texts and tradition, he is an often requested educator by communities.  

Steve received his B.A. in philosophy from Yeshiva University and his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.  He is a graduate of the Jerusalem Fellows program, a two-year fellowship for senior Jewish educators sponsored by the Mandel Institute.

Email: sgreenberg@clal.org