Twice-named by Newsweek Magazine as one of the ten most influential rabbis in America, Steve Leder is the senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest Synagogue in Los Angeles, California, serving over 2,400 families at three campuses.

Rabbi Leder holds a degree in writing from Northwestern University, where he graduated cum laude. He also studied at Trinity College, Oxford University. He then obtained a Master’s Degree in Hebrew Letters in 1986 and Rabbinical Ordination in 1987 from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Leder taught Homiletics at Hebrew Union College for 13 years.

He has published essays in Reform Judaism, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Beliefnet.com, TIME Magazine, Town and Country, and The Jewish Journal, where his Torah commentaries were read weekly by over 50,000 people; his sermon on capital punishment was included in an award-winning episode of The West Wing.

He is a fellow in the British American Project and was speaker at the prestigious Aspen Ideas Festival, a global gathering of thought leaders from many disciplines who share ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times.

Rabbi Leder initiated a $150 million campaign to expand Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s campus.

He is the author of such critically acclaimed books as,The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things, an Amazon #1 Best Seller, andMore Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul. Described as “a gift” by Forbes, Rabbi Leder’s newest bookMore Beautiful Than Before; How Suffering Transforms Us, became the #6 Best Seller on Amazon in its first week and has received critical acclaim and remarkable media attention. ^[1]

The winner of numerous awards, and the subject of the feature film “Restoring Your Tomorrow,” Steve is the recipient of the Kovler Award for his work in interdenominational and cross-cultural dialogue and a contributor to Charles Barkley’s book, Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man? In it, Rabbi Leder discussed the connections between economics, religion and racism.

Rabbi Leder is a fisherman.

He and his family live in Los Angeles.