Surprised by God

At thirteen, Danya Ruttenberg decided she was an atheist. As a young adult, she immersed herself in the rhinestone-bedazzled wonderland of late 1990s San Francisco-drinking smuggled absinthe with wealthy geeks and plotting the revolution with feminist zinemakers. But she found herself yearning for something she would eventually call God.

Surprised by God is a memoir of a young woman’s spiritual awakening and eventual path to the rabbinate, a story of integrating life on the edge of the twenty-first century into the discipline of traditional Judaism, without sacrificing either. It’s also an unflinchingly honest guide to the kind of work that goes into developing a spiritual practice-and it shows why, perhaps, doing this in today’s world requires more effort than ever.

Author Biography

Rabbi Danya Ruttenbergis the author of Suprised by God- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion and 2016 National Jewish Book Award finalist Nurture the Now- Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting and editor of several books including Yentl’s Revenge- The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism. She has been published in a wide variety of books and periodicals, includingEncyclopedia Judaica,Best Jewish Writing 2002, theSan Francisco Chronicle,Salon,Bitchfest, andThe Women’s Movement Today- An Encyclopedia of Third-Wave Feminism. A contributing editor to bothLilithandWomen in Judaism, Ruttenberg received rabbinic ordination from the Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2008. Find her online at www.danyaruttenberg.net.