3,000 Jews, Christians Turn Out to Hear Rabbi

He has become America’s best-known rabbi.

More evidence of the popularity of Rabbi Harold S. Kushner came in late October when about 3,000 Christians and Jews overflowed Temple Israel here to hear the best-selling author talk about “Who Needs God,” the title of his latest book. Scores more were turned away.

Kushner told the throng that he wrote “Who Needs God” for Phil Donahue, the television talk show host, who “represents good, decent, caring and committed individuals who have only scorn for organized religion.”

His talk was sponsored by the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, in cooperation with the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Its thesis was that in contemporary society people “have become so sophisticated, modern and intellectual that they don’t have room for a faith commitment. They don’t realize what they’ve given up.

“We think we can do everything and there is no room for a power greater than us,” the rabbi said. Yet, he said, “without spiritual nourishment our souls remain stunted and undeveloped.”