Susan Schnur

{{short description|American rabbi, psychologist, and writer (born 1951)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Susan Schnur | honorific_suffix = | image =  | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1951}} | birth_place = | baptised =  | disappeared_date =  | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | burial_place =  | burial_coordinates = | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = Ordained as Reconstructionist Rabbi at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 1982, <br/> Degree in Creative Writing at the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminar, <br/> Degree in psychology at Rutgers University, 2007 | alma_mater = | occupation = Rabbi, psychologist, writer and editor | years_active = | era = | employer = ''Lilith'' magazine | organization = | agent =  | known_for = | notable_works =  | style = | height =  | television = | title =  | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | parents =  | mother =  | father =  | relatives = | family = | callsign = | awards = Best Children's Books of the Year list, Bank Street College of Education, 2011, for ''Tashlich at Turtle Rock'' | website =  | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }} '''Susan Schnur''' (born April 21, 1951) is an American rabbi, psychologist, editor, and writer of children's books. Schnur was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1982, making her among the first 12 Reconstructionist rabbis and among the first 61 female rabbis in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 21, 1982|title=12 Women to Be Ordained As Reform and 2 As Reconstructionist Rabbis|url=https://www.jta.org/1982/05/21/archive/12-women-to-be-ordained-as-reform-and-2-as-reconstructionist-rabbis|access-date=August 12, 2019|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}</ref> She received a master's degree in Creative Writing from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and a Doctorate in Psychology from Rutgers University.<ref>{{Cite web |last=audreycamp |title=Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars |url=https://writingpostmasters.wordpress.com/tag/johns-hopkins-writing-seminars/ |access-date=February 12, 2022 |website=The Postmasters Podcast |date=7 April 2014 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX3670900072|series= Something About the Author|volume=322|date=2018 |editor1-last=Stock |editor1-first=Jennifer |title=Schnur, Susan|publisher=Gale Academic OneFile |id={{Gale|CX3670900072}}}}</ref>

Schnur has written for many publications, and formerly wrote a weekly column for the ''New York Times''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=July 25, 1985 |title=Hers; Susan Schnur |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/25/garden/hers-susan-schnur.html |access-date=August 12, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Susan Schnur |url=https://openroadmedia.com/contributor/susan-schnur |access-date=August 12, 2019 |website=Open Road}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Anisfeld, Sharon Cohen, 1960– Mohr, Tara, 1968– Spector, Catherine, 1978– |title=The women's seder sourcebook : rituals & readings for use at the Passover seder |date=2003 |publisher=Jewish Lights |isbn=1580232329 |pages=321}}</ref> She has served as editor of ''Lilith'' since 1995.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Endres |first1=Kathleen L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHNlZkqY6w4C |title=Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues |last2=Lueck |first2=Therese L. |date=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313286322 |language=en}}</ref> She has described herself as a "recovering rabbi" for whom ''Lilith'' is a "paper pulpit" from which she preaches Jewish feminism.<ref name=":2" /> Through ''Lilith'', she has said, she and her co-editors "helped to transform Judaism into something beautiful and plausible for thousands of Jewish women."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/sisterhood/368910/celebrating-40-years-of-lilith-magazine-in-print/|title=Celebrating 40 Years of Lilith Magazine in Print|website=The Forward|date=13 April 2017 |access-date=August 12, 2019}}</ref>

Schnur has been widely noted for her writings on forgiveness, which show how gender matters in discussions of forgiveness<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sazIAgAAQBAJ|title=Sex, Lies, and Rabbis: Breaking a Sacred Trust|last=Schwab|first=Charlotte Rolnick|year=2003|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781403338044|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Claussen |first=Geoffrey D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4H5dEAAAQBAJ |title=Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought |date=2022 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8276-1888-6 |language=en}}</ref> and which breaks down rigid distinctions between forgiving and not forgiving.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mek1LaUk4B0C|title=How Can I Forgive You?: The Courage to Forgive, The Freedom Not To|last=Spring|first=Janis A.|year=2009|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780061865299|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.valfarmer.com/article.ec?DocID=833|title=What Do You Do When There Is No Apology?|website=valfarmer.com|access-date=August 12, 2019}}</ref> Geoffrey Claussen identifies Schnur as a contributor to modern musar literature.<ref name=":3" />

== ''Tashlich at Turtle Rock'' == Schnur is known for her book titled ''Tashlich at Turtle Rock''. The book is about a family's special tradition of taking a hike on Rosh Hashanah to perform the ceremony of Tashlich.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tashlich at Turtle Rock|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-schnur/tashlich-turtle-rock/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

== Publications == *"Analyze This"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Analyze This|url=https://www.lilith.org/articles/analyze-this/|access-date=September 11, 2019|website=Lilith Magazine|date=7 January 2013 }}</ref> *"A Woman's Tashlich: Walking Along the Water's Edge with Liturgist Marcia Falk & Rabbi Susan Schnur"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnur|first=Susan|year=2014|title=A Woman's Tashlich: Walking Along the Water's Edge with Liturgist Marcia Falk & Rabbi Susan Schnur|journal=Lilith|volume=39|pages=36–39}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2025}} *"Celebrating 35 Years of Jewish Women's Stories"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnur|first=Susan|year=2011|title=Celebrating 35 Years of Jewish Women's Stories|journal=Lilith|volume=39|pages=17–22}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2025}} *"Hers"<ref name=":1" /> *"How Being a Jew & Being a Feminist Collide, Co-Evolve, Cohabit in 7 Women's Lives"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnur|first=Susan|year=2012|title=How Being a Jew & Being a Feminist Collide, Co-Evolve, Cohabit in 7 Women's Lives|journal=Lilith|volume=37|pages=33–39}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2025}} *"Is Our Suffering Transformative?"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnur|first=Susan|year=1997|title=Is Our Suffering Transformative?|journal=Lilith|volume=21|pages=12}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2025}} *"Losing a Child: How Grief Has Fueled Three Mothers' Activism"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnur|first=Susan|date=2006–2007|title=Losing a Child: How Grief Has Fueled Three Mothers' Activism|journal=Lilith|volume=34|pages=18}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=April 2025}}

== References == {{reflist}} {{Women rabbis}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnur, Susan}} Category:American editors Category:Jewish ethicists Category:Reconstructionist Rabbinical College alumni Category:Reconstructionist women rabbis Category:Living people Category:1951 births Category:American Reconstructionist rabbis Category:Reconstructionist Jewish feminists Category:American feminists Category:21st-century American rabbis