Welcome! This blog is my place for exploring and teaching Judaism, Torah, Ethics, Teshuvah (penitence, return), Halakha (Jewish Law), Chassidus (Hassidic thought), Kabbalah (mysticism) and Spirituality. On this site you will find my sermons, classes, halakhic papers and more. And because hiking, biking and music are a big part of my spirituality, you will eventually also find that here too.
Rabbi Stephen Weiss
Director Of Leadership Development,
Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute
Cleveland, OH
I was born in Chicago and raised in Simi Valley, CA outside of Los Angeles. A former president of Far West Region USY, I received my B.A. in Western and Jewish Civilization and a B.H.L. (Bachelor of Hebrew Literacy) from the University of Judaism, now the American Jewish University, in Los Angeles. After additional studies in Jerusalem and New York, I received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1990. In 2020, I also received an honorary doctoral degree (Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa) from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
I also studied four years in the Rabbinic Leadership Institute at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. I have served as student Rabbi at Adat Shalom in West Los Angeles, Highland Park Conservative Temple in Highland Park, New Jersey, Temple Beth El in Oneonta, NY, and Temple Beth Israel in Bay City MI. After ordination I served as Associate Rabbi at Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta, GA and co-Rabbi at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, MI before assuming the role of Senior Rabbi at B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, OH in April of 2001.
In 2023, I was arrested for actions that brought great shame on my family, synagogue and community. Those actions betrayed the values I had taught and lived by my entire life. Medical and mental health professionals examining me reached the conclusion that a severe brain injury from a car accident — which had not been properly diagnosed — made me susceptible to compulsive thoughts and behaviors caused by medications I was taking that affect neurotransmitters in the brain.
Since being off of those medications, I have returned to my old self. That reality does not in any way excuse what happened, nor does it alleviate my deep shame, guilt and remorse. I have suffered greatly for my actions, as I should, and am now seeking to do the hard work of teshuvah (penitence) and to rebuild my life.
This website was created before my fall. There are those who have suggested I should take it down. But the “Torah” taught here is still true, beautiful and valuable. It serves as much as a guide to me now as to others who read it.
Rather than remove this site, I have chosen to expand it. I will not be adding sermons, but I will add other writings and teaching, both mine and by others I learn from. In particular, I am adding a new section specifically on teshuvah (penitence) so that, as I engage in teshuvah study, I can invite others who are also struggling to rebuild their lives to join me in my journey. It is my hope that this sharing of my own self-reflection, learning and struggling, and of the texts that inspire me, will in turn be of benefit others.
As I write this new part of my “About Me” section, I have taken a position as Director of Leadership Development at Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute in Cleveland (edwinsrestaurant.org). In that role, I am providing leadership training and coaching to staff members and formerly incarcerated students and developing leadership-skills tablet courses for inmates in incarceration institutions across the country.
I am grateful to Edwin’s for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. Edwin’s believes firmly that everyone deserves a second chance. Their program supporting re-entry through teaching restaurant skills has earned national recognition as a leader in the field.
Now once again they are leading the way by using leadership training as a way to provide for the personal reflection and growth, interpersonal and soft skills that are necessary in order to be able to move up into higher positions, and also necessary for successful relationships and re-integration into community. The effort is likewise garnering broad attention by others who desire to learn from and emulate it.
If you are interested in learning more about the power of leadership development to transform lives of those formerly incarcerated and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, you can read an article by me:
Transforming Lives Through Leadership:
A Beacon of Hope for the Recently Incarcerated and Disadvantaged
You can explore that article and other leadership resources on the website from my leadership development organization, Transformational Leadership Academy.
I pray that the learning I present here and my own grappling with my teshuvah earn me some measure of forgiveness and atonement.