Michael Strassfeld

Michael Strassfeld grew up in a Modern Orthodox home. He received a BA and MA in Jewish Studies from Brandeis. After college, he became a member of Havurat Shalom, an intentional community, and was one of the editors of the Jewish Catalog (973) that sold over 300,000 copies.

He edited the Second and Third Jewish Catalogs (1975,1979), authored The Jewish Holidays (1985), co-authored A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah (1999), and authored A Book of Life: Embracing Judaism as a Spiritual Practice (2002). He recorded Songs to Open the Heart: Contemplative Niggunim (2003). He edits a free weekly newsletter about Judaism (subscribe at michaelstrassfeld.com).

He graduated the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College at the age of 41 and served as the rabbi of Congregation Ansche Chesed and then of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (both in Manhattan) until his retirement in 2015. He was a faculty member of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (1999-2014). He is married and lives in Manhattan.