Rabbi David Zaslow moved to Ashland, Oregon in 1970, where he completed his Master’s degree with a focus on creative writing and education. In the early 1970s, he worked as a poet-in-the-schools funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, writing and editing books of poetry, textbooks, and recording children’s poetry albums. He received an American Book Award in 1988 for educational materials associated with his album Shakin’ Loose with Mother Goose.
Seeking a deeper personal connection to God, he pursued rabbinic studies and was ordained in 1995 by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in the Jewish Renewal movement. Since then, he has served as the spiritual leader of Havurah Shir Hadash Synagogue in Ashland and has led interfaith workshops nationwide. Rabbi Zaslow is the author of Jesus: First-Century Rabbi (awarded Book of the Year by the Church Synagogue Library Association) and Reimagining Exodus. He is currently working on a book exploring how metaphors of God shape our understanding of divinity.
