Rabbi Steve Gutow

I was arrested for a second time in just a few years because of the atrocities being committed in Sudan. Why? The atrocities did not stop because of my arrest. President Omar al-Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, was not sent packing from his hideout in...

It sounds like the beginning of a semi-decent joke: A movie star, four Congress members, leaders of several NGOs including the NAACP, two rabbis, a journalist and a great comedian walk into a jail cell.

Last Friday, that is what happened though.

Led by George Clooney -- who...

As our Congress members return to Washington to resume the debate on helping the unemployed just weeks before that extension expires, I hope they find great inspiration from this week's holiday honoring Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reverend King's legacy does not belong to just one epoch. Just as the...

Looking at my dwindling stash of food the last few days caused me strange sensations of fear, fragility, and questions about the world. I admit I was a little dizzy at times and euphoric at other times. I was bored with what I was eating, concentrating on husbanding my last...

I am not ever sanguine about food. But right now, in an uncomfortable way, food occupies my mind all the time. There is little I can do to stop the takeover.

On the train coming back from an all-day meeting in D.C. yesterday I kept thinking and thinking of...

Having dinner with two friends, Geri and Jared, the first Shabbat after starting the food stamp challenge, under the watchful eyes of a Washington Post reporter and photographer, Teresa and Sarah, turned out to be both a treat and a moment for levity. Eating this way gives one a great...

Poor people rarely make headlines. In fact, the poor are seldom the topic of public discourse. For all the talk about pressing issues of the day from politicians and religious leaders, the poor are practically an invisible demographic, relegated to a line in a speech or a rallying cry in...

In 2006, Facebook had just 10 million users, Justin Bieber was 11, and Gilad Shalit was free.

On June 25, 2006, Hamas terrorists captured Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal, in a cross border raid. He has remained captive since.

A lot can happen in five years.

Facebook now has...

In just a few days Jews around the world will begin the celebration of Passover by holding seders to tell the story of freedom from bondage and oppression in Egypt. In many communities around America this past week and next, seders will be held telling a different story: not the...

At the end of September, Congress adjourned in advance of the midterm elections without voting on one of the most important, popular, and bipartisan bills of the year: the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (S. 3307, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act). Members of Congress quickly left Washington and headed home to campaign,...

The country has turned upside down. Rather than deal with our problems, we have settled into the bi-annual free-for-all "Attack Mercilessly Those You Oppose" -- the elections. For those unable to find a job, have lost their homes, or know families terrified of the coming winter's choice between heating their...

As the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Jordan meet in Washington this week to begin the first direct peace talks in 20 months, the deliberate and flagrant murders by Hamas in Hebron remind us of the urgency, and difficulty, of the task at hand. Radical voices continue...

It is the end of the hot months of summer and some Americans and Washingtonians, particularly, are in their last days of vacation. In political Washington August means recess - vacation and relaxation or even politicking as our Senators and Representatives return home for the month. But for Jews, the...

This is the final blog post in the series of my trip to Viet Nam to learn about the lingering effects of Agent Orange.

The trip has ended; I am still suffering from jet-lag in my New York apartment, well aware that I will continue absorbing and learning in the...

Wandering through youth centers for disabled kids in Saigon and Da Nang has left me shocked and hopeful. Children with heads so large that I feared I was in a horror movie held my hands and smiled wide smiles at me; I felt their souls, as large and as beautiful...

It is my first visit to Vietnam, and I want to let you know why I am here and what I am learning.

It is Sunday evening in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Why is this rabbi in Vietnam? The question has been asked of me over and over...

As I flip through the pages of the Haggadah -- the traditional Passover Seder guide -- and reflect upon the miracles that enabled my ancestors to break free from slavery, I am often drawn to the line uttered in the beginning pages: "Let all who are hungry come and eat."...

We are all captivated by the photo of the damaged Presidential Palace in Haiti. It shows us that the Haitian earthquake was powerful and overwhelming. After all, the seat of power in that impoverished country is in ruins. What must that say about the remainder of Port au Prince? Imagine...

The New Year has begun and resolutions abound: lose weight, treat our family and friends better, eat more greens. As individuals, we resolve to do all kinds of things. But it is those commitments we resolve to do as a society which are both more difficult and more meaningful. This...

Hillel, the great sage, said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." Torture - prohibited by our values, by our laws, and by international treaties and conventions - is an issue that transcends the politics of the moment. Our nation's hopefully aberrational actions implementing torture...