Rabbi Shaul Praver
Rabbi Dr. Shaul Marshall Praver was the former congregational rabbi in Newtown, Connecticut who served as a first responder at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012. Newsweek recognized him as one of the 50 most influential Rabbis in America that year. His voice was and continues to be a voice of hope and resilience.
Rabbi Praver was ordained by the Jerusalem Rabbinate in 1989, earned his Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary in 2019, and is a senior fellow at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute in Washington D.C. He is a clinically trained chaplain spiritual care provider with Norwalk Hospital and works for the Connecticut Department of Correction at facilities in Cheshire and Newtown.
Rabbi Praver recently published The Love Zap and has several other manuscripts following, including his account of the Newtown shooting, detailing what happened, why it happened and how we can stop it from happening. Rabbi Praver was awarded Letter Writer of the Year by C.A.M.A.R.A in 2005, and received the prestigious Yuval award from the Cantors Assembly and the Samaritan Medal of Peace and Humanitarian Accomplishments in 2013.
Rabbi Praver is determined that Newtown be remembered as a bridge to a new and kinder world. He believes humanity can birth a culture of peace and that we all have a lot more to learn about Love. He insists that Love is a real power like thunder and lightning and that humanity will eventually learn to harness it to favorably transform our world.
Listen to our interview with Rabbi Praver