Steve Leder serves as the Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a prestigious synagogue in Los Angeles with three campuses and 2,700 families.
In addition to his many duties at the Temple, Rabbi Leder is a regular contributor and guest on The Today Show, writes regularly for TIME, Foxnews.com, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, contributed a chapter to Charles Barkley’s book Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man?, and has published essays in Town and Country, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal where his Torah commentaries were read weekly by over 50,000 people. He has just released his 4th book, The Beauty of What Remains; How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift was published by Penguin Random House in January 2021. Newsweek Magazine twice named him one of the ten most influential rabbis in America but most important to Steve is being Betsy’s husband and Aaron and Hannah’s dad. He is also a Jew who likes to fish. Go figure.
In this episode we discuss:
- How his new book dives into the art of living learned through death
- Why anxiety is for the living and peace is for the dying
- How his father’s death changed his perspective on all things
- How this intense work has affected him
- What grief looks like
- Why tough conversations are imperative to healing
- How he has dealt with suicide in the Jewish community
- The struggle between Steve the son, Steve the Rabbi, and Steve the human
- What people should know who are grieving or going through a loss
Connect with Rabbi Steve:
Instagram @rabbisteveleder
Connect with Ashley:
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com
Instagram: @ashleydrivard
