BULKA, Reuven P(inchas) 1944-

PERSONAL: Born June 6, 1944, in London, England; son of Jacob (a rabbi) and Ida (Alt) Bulka; married Naomi Jakobovits, September 9, 1967 (died, May 18, 2001); children: Yocheveed Ruth Bulka Shonek, Shmuel Refael, Rena Dvorah Bulka Levy, Efrayim Yechezkel (deceased), Eliezer Menachem, Binyomin David. Ethnicity: "Jewish." Education: Rabbi Jacob Joseph Rabbinical Seminary, Rabbi, 1965; City University of New York, B.A., 1965; University of Ottawa, M.A., 1969, Ph.D., 1971.

ADDRESSES: Home—1747 Featherston Dr., Ottawa, Ontario K1H 6P4, Canada. Offıce—Congregation Machzikei Hadas, 2310 Virginia Dr., Ottawa, Ontario K1H 6S2, Canada; fax: 613-521-0067. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: K'hal Adas Yeshurun, Bronx, NY, associate rabbi, 1965-67; Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, rabbi, 1967—. Center for the Study of Psychology and Judaism, founder, 1976; Family and Marriage Committee, chair and editor, 1976-89; Institute of Logotherapy, member of board of advisors. Carleton University, lecturer, 1979, 1982, 1986, and 1988. Rabbinical Council of America, member of executive committee, 1976-80; Canadian Jewish Congress, national secretary and chair of Religious and Inter-Religious Affairs Committee; Canadian Christian-Jewish Consultation, chair; State of Israel Bonds of Canada, past chair of National Rabbinic Cabinet; United Israel Appeal, president of International Rabbinic Forum of Keren HaYesod. CJOH-Radio, host of Quest, 1974-80, host and producer of About Ourselves, 1980-88; host of television series In Good Faith, 1988—, and the radio program Sunday Night with Rabbi Bulka; guest on various television and radio programs. Ottawa Talmud Torah Board, chair of Hebrew curriculum committee, 1972-74; Council of Adult Education of Ottawa, chair, 1973-76; Committee for Voluntary Probation Services for Ottawa, member, 1975-80; Ottawa World Jewry Committee, cochair, 1984—; Jews in Arab/Moslem Lands Committee, national chair, 1989—; Ottawa Jewish Community Council, member of executive committee; and member of Executive League for Human Rights. National Yes Committee for Canadian Constitutional Renewal, member, 1992. Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, honorary member of board of trustees; Ottawa Regional Cancer Center, member of board of directors; Kidney Foundation of Canada, chair of Organ Donation Committee of Eastern Ontario branch. Royal Canadian Legion, chaplain of Dominion Command.

MEMBER: Clergy for a United Canada (founder), American Psychological Association, Association of Health Clergy.

AWARDS, HONORS: J. I. Segal Award for Jewish Literature, J. I. Segal Foundation for Jewish Culture, 1981, for As a Tree by the Waters—Pirkey Avoth: Psychological and Philosophical Insights; Joseph Tanenbaum Book Award for Excellence in Literature, 1987; William C. Bier Award of Division 36, American Psychological Association, 1989; Canada 125 Medal, 1993; Beryl Plumptre award of Excellence, Eastern Ontario branch, Kidney Foundation of Canada, 1998; Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award, Ottaw Jewish Community, 1999; Ottawa Mayor's Award for Community Service, 1999; National Salute Award, Scouts Canada.

WRITINGS:

The Wit and Wisdom of the Talmud, Peter Pauper Press (New York, NY), 1974.

(Editor, with Joseph Fabry and William Sahakian) Logotherapy in Action, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1979.

(Editor) Mystics and Medics: A Comparison of Mystical and Psychotherapeutic Encounters, Human Sciences Press (New York, NY), 1979.

Sex and the Talmud: Reflections on Human Relations, Peter Pauper Press (New York, NY), 1979.

The Quest for Ultimate Meaning: Principles and Applications of Logotherapy, Philosophical Library (New York, NY), 1979, revised edition published as Work, Love, Suffering and Death: A Jewish/Psychological Perspective through Logotherapy, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1998.

As a Tree by the Waters—Pirkey Avoth: Psychological and Philosophical Insights, Feldheim (New York, NY), 1980, revised editions published as Chapters of the Sages: A Psychological Commentary on Pirkey Avoth, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1993, and Pirkey Avoth: Psychological and Philosophical Insights, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1994.

(Editor) Holocaust Aftermath: Continuing Impact on the Generations, Human Sciences Press (New York, NY), 1981.

(Editor, with Moshe Halevi Spero) A Psychology-Judaism Reader, Charles C. Thomas (Springfield, IL), 1983.

Torah Therapy: Reflections on the Weekly Sedra andSpecial Occasions, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 1983.

(Editor) Dimensions of Orthodox Judaism, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 1983.

Loneliness, Guidance Center, University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1984.

The Coming Cataclysm: The Orthodox-Reform Rift and the Future of the Jewish People, Mosaic Press (Oakville, Ontario, Canada), 1984, 2nd edition, 1986.

The Haggadah for Pesah, with Translation andThematic Commentary, Pri Haaretz Publications (Jerusalem, Israel), 1985.

Jewish Marriage: A Halakhic Ethic, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 1986.

The Jewish Pleasure Principle, Human Sciences Press (New York, NY), 1987, revised edition published as Judaism on Pleasure, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1995.

Individual, Family, Community: Judeo-PsychologicalPerspectives, Mosaic Press (Oakville, Ontario, Canada), 1989.

What You Thought You Knew about Judaism: 341Common Misconceptions about Jewish Life, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1989.

Uncommon Sense for Common Problems, Lugus Productions (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1990.

Jewish Divorce Ethics: The Right Way to Say Goodbye, Ivy League Press (Ogdensburg, NY), 1992.

Critical Psychological Issues: Judaic Perspectives, University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1992.

Pesach: Its Meaning and Purpose, Publications Committee, Rabbinical Council of America (New York, NY), 1992.

More of What You Thought You Knew about Judaism:354 Common Misconceptions about Jewish Life, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1993.

More Torah Therapy: Further Reflections on theWeekly Sidrah and Special Occasions, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 1993.

(Editor, with Joseph B. Fabry and William S. Sahakian) Finding Meaning in Life: Logotherapy, foreword by Viktor E. Frankl, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1995.

One Man, One Woman, One Lifetime: An Argument for Moral Tradition, Huntington House (Lafayette, LA), 1995.

The RCA Lifecycle Madrikh, Mesorah Publications (New York, NY), 1995.

Sermonic Wit, Keren HaYesod (Jerusalem, Israel), 1995.

An Unforgettable Hour: Congregation Machzikei Hadas Receives a Coat of Arms, Congregation Machzikei Hadas (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Tefilah v'Tikvah: Prayer and Hope, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 1997.

Judaism on Illness and Suffering, Jason Aronson (Northvale, NJ), 1998.

Answers to Questions of the Spirit, Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 2000.

More Answers to Questions of the Spirit, Mosaic Press (Oakville, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

Best-Kept Secrets of Judaism, Targum Press (Southfield, MI), 2002.

Modern Folk Judaism: The Problem and the Challenge, Ktav Publishing (Hoboken, NJ), 2003.

Also author of "The Shiv'ah Visit," Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services (New York, NY), 1998. Author of an opinion column in Ottawa Citizen, 1974-78, 1989—. Member of editorial advisory board, Pastoral Counseling Encyclopedia. Contributing editor of "Viewpoints," in Jewish Spectator. Contributor to magazines, including Jewish Digest, Midstream, Jewish Life, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, and Journal of Humanistic Psychology. Founder and editor, Journal of Psychology and Judaism, 1976—; editor, Family and Marriage Newsletter, 1976-89; contributing editor, section editor, Rabbinical Council of America Sermon Manual, 1977-82; member of editorial board, International Forum for Logotherapy, Journal of Religion and Health, Pastoral Psychology, and Tradition.

SIDELIGHTS: Reuven P. Bulka once told CA: "Logotherapy, best described as healing through meaning, is the psychological system of Viktor Frankl. It is a system of thought positing the primariness of the search for meaning as underlining human behavior. The Quest for Ultimate Meaning: Principles and Applications of Logotherapy is a wide-ranging study of this system of thought and how it relates to Judaism. Torah Therapy: Reflections on the Weekly Sedra and Special Occasions is essentially a book of psychological insights explaining incidents and episodes as well as chapters of the Bible.

"The Coming Cataclysm: The Orthodox-Reform Rift and the Future of the Jewish People is an essay on the potential disaster facing the Jewish community because of the split between the various trends, most pointedly between Orthodox and Reform. I attempt to show that the diverging policies of Orthodox and Reform concerning divorce and conversion are leading to a major split of the Jewish community into two separate entities, with the one having nothing to do with the other. The fallout from such an eventuality is little short of disastrous for the future North American Jewish community.

"Writing forces me to put abstract ideas into intelligible form, in a way that others can understand. Writing is sharing. It is always exciting to write from differing vantage points, in my case primarily from psychological and religious (mainly Jewish) perspectives. When ideas meet and can shake hands, one feels a sense of fusion, a radiating of an integral truth about reality which whets the appetite for integration and harmony."