Fred Guttman
Greensboro, North Carolina has one of the most vibrant Southern Jewish communities — because of Rabbi Fred Guttman. My adult children, mentored by him, have rock-solid Jewish identities despite a Bible Belt rearing. He is rabbi to our entire community, leading interfaith events, taking clergy to Israel, and holding forums on expanding Medicaid. His leadership inside our temple expands beyond Greensboro. He organized a Jewish program for the official 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama at Temple Mishkan Israel. Keynote speakers included Dr. Susannah Heschel and David Goodman, brother of slain activist Andrew Goodman, among other Jewish leaders. The civil rights movement was a proud moment in American Jewish history, too. Rabbi Guttman will not let that our part in that history die. He knows that issues of civil rights concern all of us and is reminding Jews not to forget it.
— Neil Belenky +3 other nominations
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30