Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (Jewish Denominations in America)

432 Pages·1988·23.17 MB·English

by  Pamela S. Nadell

Conservative Judaism
in America
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Conservative Judaism
in America
A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
AND
SOURCEBOOK
Pamela S. Nadell
Marc Lee Raphael
SERIES EDITOR
Jewish Denominations in America
Greenwood Press
New York • Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nadell, Pamela Susan.
Conservative Judaism in America : a biographical dictionary and
sourcebook / Pamela S. Nadell.
p. cm. — (Jewish denominations in America)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-313-24205-4 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
1. Conservative Judaism—United States. 2. Jews—United States—
Biography—Dictionaries. 3. Jewish Theological Seminary of
America. 4. Rabbinical Assembly. 5. United Synagogue of America.
I. Title. II. Series.
BM750.N33 1988
296.8'342'0922-Klcl9
[B] 87-31782
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1988 by Pamela S. Nadell
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 87-31782
ISBN: 0-313-24205-4
First published in 1988
Greenwood Press, Inc.
88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
P
In order to keep this title in print and available to the academic community, this edition
was produced using digital reprint technology in a relatively short print run. This would
not have been attainable using traditional methods. Although the cover has been changed
from its original appearance, the text remains the same and all materials and methods
used still conform to the highest book-making standards.
For Ed
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
Biographical Dictionary 25
The Fountainhead of a Movement: The Jewish Theological Seminary
of America 263
Conservative Rabbis in America: The Rabbinical Assembly 295
A Union of Conservative Congregations: The United Synagogue of
America 325
APPENDICES
1. Jewish Theological Seminary of America 357
2. The Rabbinical Assembly 359
3. The Cantors Assembly 361
4. Jewish Educators Assembly 362
5. The United Synagogue of America 363
6. World Council of Synagogues 365
7. MERCAZ: The Movement to Reaffirm Conservative Zionism 366
8. Foundation for Conservative (Masorti) Judaism in Israel 367
9. Women's League for Conservative Judaism 368
10. The Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs 369
vill CONTENTS
11. United Synagogue Youth 370
12. Reconstructionist Organizations 372
Glossary 373
Bibliography 377
Index 393
PREFACE
Since its early years, the leaders of the Conservative movement have struggled
to define those facets of the movement upon which all its members can agree.1
In almost every case, the effort to formulate principles of unity has provoked
dissension. Yet it is likely that there is accord on what Max Routtenberg, former
executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the union of Con
servative rabbis, wrote in 1960: "Much of the strength of our movement lies
not in the central institutions but in the lives and careers of individual men. . .
as they pour their energies and strength, their devotion and love, their idealism
and their learning into the fabric of Jewish life."2
Surely one of the great strengths of Conservatism has been its leaders, its
rabbis, both those who have spent their lives guiding local congregations and
those who, standing at the helms of its central institutions—Conservatism's
fountainhead, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (established 1886);
the Rabbinical Assembly (1901); and the congregational body, the United Syn
agogue of America (1913)—have set the policies and directions of the larger
movement. Together these men have shaped Conservatism as an American re
ligious movement.
Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook
provides the first extensive documentation of the lives and careers of the most
important leaders in Conservatism's first century as well as a brief history of the
movement and its central institutions. The bulk of this volume consists of bio
graphical sketches of some 130 key Conservative leaders, the overwhelming
majority of them rabbis. Each entry contains essential biographical data and
provides an evaluation of the figure's most important contributions to the de
velopment of American Conservatism, its institutions, guiding policies, ideology,
and/or literature. Each portrait concludes with a bibliography of the individual's
major writings in chronological order followed by works he edited or translated
and then by references about him arranged alphabetically. Following the preface,