BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, has been named the recipient of the Vanderbilt Divinity School (VDS) 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award, it was announced early this month. Rabbi Fuchs will be presented with his award at a celebration dinner to be held on Oct. 17, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Prior to his service at Beth Israel, Fuchs was senior rabbi at The Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom in Nashville and the first full-time spiritual leader at Temple Isaiah in Columbia, Maryland. Following his retirement from Beth Israel in 2011, he spent a year traveling the world as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Later this month, he will assume the pulpit at Bat Yam Temple of The Islands in Sanibel Island, Florida.

Among his accomplishments, Fuchs was the first rabbi invited to speak in several churches in Germany, in addition to conducting the first Jewish service in the city of Friedrichstadt, Germany since Kristallnacht. He was also the first rabbi to give a sermon at St. Giles Church in Edinburgh, Scotland.

A writer and lecturer, Rabbi Fuchs’ first book, What’s in it for Me? Finding Ourselves in Biblical Narratives, was published in 2014 and translated into German in 2015 and into Russian in 2016. His second book, ToraHighlights, a collection of commentaries on each weekly Torah portion, was published in 2016 and is available in both English and German. The rabbi’s third book, Why the Kof? Getting the Best of Rabbi Fuchs, is a collection of his essays and blog posts.