Pretend You Believe, Noa Kushner
Pretend You Believe, Noa Kushner
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Pretend You Believe
How to Enter Religion

Author: Noa Kushner

Narrator: Noa Kushner

Unabridged: TBD

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/13/2026

Synopsis

From one of the country’s most visionary rabbis, a rediscovery of the potential for religious experience to transform contemporary life

Many of us long for spiritual belonging and connection, only to run up against our confusion and discomfort with organized religion. Noa Kushner understands this well. As the founding rabbi of The Kitchen, a groundbreaking Jewish congregation in San Francisco, she has helped thousands of people into a relationship with religion they never thought they would or could experience.

In this concise, soul-stirring book, Kushner offers a picture of religion not as something we design or consume, but as something we enter, just as we are. What if we temporarily set aside statements of belief and instead approach religion as something we do? Kushner proposes we can then pursue the profound questions this perspective reveals. How is prayer supposed to work? Which comes first, religion or ethics? Why should we be religious? Through imaginative storytelling and a plainspoken, accessible teaching of Jewish sources, as well as hard-won lessons from her own rabbinate, Kushner creates an elegant, thoughtful guide for anyone who has wondered about the limits of today’s secular worldview and is curious about what religion might have to offer. Written in a Jewish idiom but open to readers of all backgrounds, Pretend You Believe is a powerful meditation on God and humanity, responsibility and forgiveness, love and doubt, progress and justice. With this book, Kushner has captured the wonder of religious feeling and inscribed an invitation to readers everywhere.

About The Author

NOA KUSHNER is the founding rabbi of The Kitchen, a synagogue and institute in San Francisco whose approach to religion has become a model for communities worldwide. Devoted to religious access for all and committed to the beauty and depth of the tradition, The Kitchen is widely regarded as a way forward for Jewish and religious life today. Called a “measure of hope” in Haaretz and a “rabbi to watch” in Newsweek, Kushner has translated religious experiences and ideas for tens of thousands across the United States, Israel, and Paris. She is married to Rabbi Michael Lezak, and together they have three grown daughters, Zella, Bluma, and Minna.

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Quotes

“Pretend You Believe offers an invitation into faith and ritual practice that both skeptics and seekers didn’t know they needed. Noa Kushner is such a brilliant and funny storyteller that I almost didn’t notice how she was challenging the way I think about the deepest questions of religious belief and practice. I loved this book and found wisdom on every page.” —Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, New York Times bestselling author of Heart of a Stranger

“A tour de force. It is rare to read a book that is so contemporary and at the same time so unwaveringly true to the complex demands of Jewish tradition. The way Rabbi Kushner transfigures philosophical and theological ideas into the immediacy of her narrative is extraordinary. Her voice, full of energy and movement, becomes the vehicle for profundity. Witty and lyrical, blunt and tender, often spiritually evocative, this voice takes one on a journey into a vivid world of texts and traditions. Here, the individual, the community, and God lend life to one another. Irresistible reading, highly recommended.” —Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, author of The Murmuring Deep

“Insightful, wise, and inviting, Pretend You Believe teaches that belief, like love, has to be experienced to be understood. Rabbi Kushner helps us ‘try on’ a religious worldview, to see through the eyes of our ancestors and reorient away from competition and toward the ultimate, unknowable mystery of God. Let yourself be surprised by what you discover with Rabbi Kushner as your guide.” —Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual

“Pretend You Believe is the door for those who wonder if religion might be calling them. Rabbi Kushner's humane approach emphasizes immersion, practice, and honest, personal questions—not intellectual distance but something richer, deeper, and braver. She playfully guides even the most hardened skeptics to the ancient, beautiful, imperfect wisdom of religion.” —Elizabeth Oldfield, author of Fully Alive

“Pretend You Believe is a vibrant challenge to the all-too-easy assumptions of our time, and a potent, personal exploration of faith. Rabbi Noa Kushner reminds us our lives are a precious gift, and we can choose to live in awe in response. Drink up her wisdom, and ask your deepest questions alongside hers as you read.” —Tara Mohr, author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead

“In a time of widespread institutional decline, including the failure of so many religious organizations, Pretend You Believe is a vital antidote. For institutions to survive over the long-term, they must be animated by a compelling vision and ethos. Pretend You Believe is a stunning articulation of just such a vision, written by one of the most inspiring religious leaders of our era.” —Eric Ries, New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible

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