Spiritualigiousness.
(Without the baggage.)
ROTB is a community exploring meaning & connection.
Focused on ❤️, not belief or dogma.
Who? + What?
Rabbi Brian (rB) never thought he’d become a rabbi. He was a rational, New York City kid who didn’t believe in God. Later, he went to rabbinical school, left organized religion to teach high school math, and somewhere along the way, he started Religion Outside The Box.
Religion Outside The Box is for people who are looking for spiritualigious goodness without the usual baggage. The community is a mix of Jews, non-Jews, ex-Mormons, and a bunch of Canadians (who are great).
Why I use the term “spiritualigious”:
- Because the word spiritual has connotations
- Because the word religious has connotations
- Because I want to talk about the things the two wprds point at without you being distracted by too many connotations.
Rabbi Brian is an exciting presence, alert and sensitive to everything and everyone around him. He is able to flow with the group and, at the same time, use a tiny gesture or quiet word to change another person’s world. Amazing. – Jeannine Bramwell (Colorado Springs, CO)
He speaks like a man discovering his own sermon as he goes, theology not a creed to recite but an adventure unfolding in real time—no guile, no pretense, just the sheer delight of thinking out loud. By the end, you couldn’t tell if he had preached or merely existed so transparently that the gospel had no choice but to preach itself. — Brienne Cornish (Colorado Springs, CO)
O.U.2. Caregiver Support Group
EMAIL: rotb.ou2@gmail.com
Religion Outside The Box
The quality of being Spiritual + Religious
Without the baggage
A modern, unorthodox guide to compassion, kindness, and love.
ROTB + rB + Links
A different way of thinking about religion.
Empowering you to be the authority of and to have agency over your spiritualigious life.
A community of Jews, non-Jews, Catholics, ex-Mormons, a bunch of Canadians, an occasional friend in Africa, Europe, & New Zealand who feel dissatisfied with or somewhat chaffed by organized religion.
Using the G.O.D. word to refer to (the) God (of your understanding). Nothing more. Nothing less.
Few answers. Many questions.
A worldwide, internet-based congregation of over 1,000’s of members seeking spiritualigious provisions without the baggage of mono-dox affiliation.
rB grew up on the very small island of Manhattan where they were brought up exceedingly rational — never believing in God in any traditional way.
But, asking the question why led them to rabbinical school and subsequently to work as a congregational rabbi.
Dissatisfied with the limits of organized religion (and the noxious feeling he was being paid to promote only one path) rB became a high school mathematics teacher, where they learned the importance of patience, positivity, compassion, and having someone believe in you. (All the things they thought religion was supposed to be about.)
Incorporating these lessons with wicked amounts of honesty, Rabbi Brian started a blog The 77% Weekly Newsletter — helping thousand of readers, 40/52 weeks a year to prioritize their spiritualigious lives.
They enjoy writing books, articles, and small bios, making stained glass lamps, and gaining mastery on the French horn. They live in Portland, Oregon and are thinking a lot about pronouns these days.
77% Weekly Newsletter
40/52 weeks a year of Rabbi Brian in your inbox.

Deleted Scenes from the Book of Jonah.
A few weeks ago, in writing to you about the High Holy Day services, I referenced stopping the telling the story of the fish-dwelling prophet,

Liar, Liar, Pants on fire
Text Late May 2020, and I’m talking to Phil, my beloved father-in-law. I’ve returned home from yet another protest that “Black Lives Matter” — and

Jonah in the Dog Park
Ten minutes before I begin leading High Holy Days services, a large dog leaps up and takes a softball-sized bite from the bottom of the
spiritualigiousNESS Delivered
40/52 week-a-year newsletter
+ Zoom Service link
THE SATURDAY SERVICE
Watch Live (below).
rotB LIVE
Saturday Service: 8am PT / 11am ET
Weekday Meditation: 2pm PT / 5pm ET
CONTACT rB