Blind rabbi Dennis Shulman garnered support from Bergen County Democrats in his mission to unseat Republican Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in the 5th Congressional District.
The rabbi and clinical psychologist of Demarest won the party line endorsement by a vote of 245-73 in a nomination convention at the Hackensack Middle School. His opponent was Camille Abate of Glen Rock.
Shulman, 57, declared his candidacy last fall after what he labeled a "misrepresentation of the district on a wide variety of issues."
Touting "sensible leadership for the 5th District," Shulman accuses the third-term Republican of supporting oil drilling off the New Jersey shore and voting down aid to Hurricane Katrina victims.
Shulman supports a phased redeployment of soldiers from Iraq, development of renewable sources of energy and stem cell research.
He has lived in the 5th district, which covers Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties, for 25 years with his wife Pamela and two adult daughters named Holly and Julie.
Although he lost his eyesight as a child, he managed to beat the odds by graduating from Worcester Academy in Massachusetts on full scholarship. Shulman graduated at the top of his class in 1972 from Brandeis University, then graduated from Harvard University with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and public practice.
Ordained in 2003 as a rabbi, he has published a book titled "The Genius of Genesis: A Pyschoanalyst and Rabbi Examines the First Book of the Bible."
In a past interview with the Suburbanite, Shulman said, "Challenges get me excited. So far I have never lost anything I have set my heart on, and I’m not going to start now."
