- Dennis Shulman
-
Dennis G. Shulman (born May 19, 1950) is an American clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, author, teacher, and ordained rabbi who was the Democratic nominee for the United States Congress in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District. After winning the primary with 61% of the vote in a three-way race, Shulman gained significant national press coverage[1][2] and endorsements from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Times, among others, as he sought to unseat incumbent arch conservative Republican Scott Garrett in 2008.[3] If he were elected, he would have been the first rabbi in Congress, as well as the first blind congressperson since 1935.[4] On November 4, 2008, Garrett defeated Shulman.[5]
Contents
Background
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Shulman was the second of three children of Israel and Helene Shulman. His father was a pharmacist. (Williamson, 2007) Dennis began losing his sight at an early age, from a degenerative nerve disorder (Hesse, 2008), but neither he nor his parents accepted that his disability would keep him from succeeding in life. He excelled in his studies and, midway through high school, he sought and won an unprecedented full scholarship to Worcester Academy. He graduated from the Academy third in his class in 1968.[citation needed]
Education
By then totally blind, Shulman gained admission to Brandeis University, a liberal arts college in Waltham, Massachusetts. With the support of readers supplied by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, whom he trained in the use of the university library, he managed a full course load. He graduated in the class of 1972 magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. That same year Shulman’s volunteer activities, primarily involving the developmentally disabled, earned him a Special White House Commendation for Outstanding Humanitarian Service and The David Aranow Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Welfare.
Shulman next attended Harvard University where he began work toward a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Public Practice. Just two years into the program Shulman won a Training Fellowship from the National Institute for Mental Health and married his college sweetheart, medical student Pamela Tropper. Also in that period, he began what has become an extended series of teaching positions, professional publications, postdoctoral studies and speaking engagements.
Career
In 1979 Shulman was licensed by New York State and opened his practice in psychoanalysis in New York City. Two years later, he moved to New Jersey, first Harrington Park and then Demarest, and received his license to practice in NJ in 1982. In 1990-91 he served as senior content designer and on-air lecturer in the nationally-televised PBS series The World of Abnormal Psychology.
In 1997 he was the founding director of the National Training Program in Contemporary Psychoanalysis at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies,[6] at which he continues to serve. The National Training Program was Shulman’s and Dr. James Fosshage's creation. It is unique in the world of psychoanalytic training institutes, attracting students (psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) for full postgraduate psychoanalytic training from all over the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe.
Meanwhile, in the mid 1990s Shulman began to explore the connections between psychology and religion, discovering wisdom in the Bible that can inform contemporary life—“Taking the Bible not literally, but seriously” he explains. Ultimately, Shulman felt a strong calling and took up study for the rabbinate. Shulman received his rabbinic ordination from a panel of rabbis in 2003, the same year that saw the publication of his book, The Genius of Genesis: A Psychoanalyst and Rabbi Examines the First Book of the Bible. He presently serves as Rabbi at the Northern Valley Center for Adult Jewish Learning.
2008 Congressional campaign
On June 3, 2008, Dennis Shulman defeated challengers Camille Abate and Roger Bacon in the New Jersey Fifth District Congressional Democratic Primary.
Shulman garnered significant national and local attention and was endorsed by the New York Times, the Bergen Record, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governors David Paterson and Jon Corzine, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Russ Feingold, among many others, and targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Despite the national attention, Shulman was defeated by Garrett on November 4, 2008.
Personal life
Shulman has lived in Demarest, New Jersey[7] since 1984 with Dr. Pamela Tropper, his wife since 1974, an Attending Physician and Director of Global Women's Health at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. The couple has two daughters: Holly, who graduated from Vassar in 2005, is Communications Director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party; and Juliana, who graduated from the University of Chicago in 2009, is a National Campaign Organizer for the Boston-based non-profit Corporate Accountability International.
Recent Articles, Sermons, and Speeches
To listen to the Rosh Hashanah sermon Rabbi Shulman gave at Brandeis University, September 9, 2010, go to [2]
To listen to the graduation speech Rabbi Dr. Shulman gave at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA, June 18, 2010, go to [3]
For Rabbi Dr. Shulman's complete Curriculum Vitae, go to www.DennisShulman.com [4]
Shulman, D.G. (2008). Jonah: His story, our story; His struggle, our struggle: Commentary on paper by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 18:3, 329-364.
Shulman, D.G. (2008). A psychoanalytic perspective on Abraham, Isaac and the altar: Implications for who we are and how we change. Journal of Synagogue Music, 33: 23-43.
Shulman, D.G. (2007). What Hillel and Freud both see when gazing into Moses’ face: A response. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 4: 95-100.
Shulman, DG. (2005). The analyst's equilibrium, countertransference management and the action of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Review, 92, 469-479.
Notes
- ^ Time
- ^ New Yorker
- ^ "Shulman for Congress". http://shulmanforcongress.wordpress.com/bio/. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
- ^ Thomas D. Schall
- ^ [1]
- ^ NIP National Training Program * Faculty
- ^ Carmiel, Oshrat. "Shulman to run against Garrett", The Record (Bergen County), February 29, 2008. Accessed March 6, 2008.
References
Monica Hesse. "Rabbi on the Roof: N.J. Candidate Gets Taste of Washington." Washington Post August 2, 2008, p. C1.
Dianne Williamson. "Time to Take a Stand, And Friends Join In." Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, December 4, 2007, p. B1.
External links
- Shulman for Congress official campaign website
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Dennis Shulman professional website
- Profile at Sourcewatch Congresspedia
- Shulman, Dennis The Genius of Genesis
- Toobin, Jeffrey First Timer New Yorker, July 28, 2008
- Goodman, Adam A Rabbi in Congress? Time, July 18, 2008
Categories:- Living people
- 1950 births
- American Reform rabbis
- Worcester Academy alumni
- Brandeis University alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- People from Demarest, New Jersey
- People from Harrington Park, New Jersey
- Blind people
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