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With kavod (honor) to “all whose hearts were stirred to share” (kol asher nasa libam, cf. Exodus 36:2-3), this is a searchable index of all liturgists, translators, transcribers, etc. whose work on Jewish prayer, on prayer books, and on public readings is being shared through the Open Siddur Project. After ten years, the total number of project contributors is nearly 800. A little over half have shared their work either directly with the project with an Open Content license, or indirectly by contributing their work into the Public Domain as a contributor to a government publication. Nearly fifty are institutional copyright stewards (operating or defunct for-profit and non-profit entities). The remaining contributors have had their works transcribed from material that has passed into the Public Domain after their deaths. Some transcribed works shared through the Open Siddur project remain unattributed due to unknown authorship. If you find an uncredited or improperly attributed work, please contact us.
To join this community of contributors, please share your work. Making prayers and related religious works available for creative reuse and republication through Open Content licenses is crucial for keeping Jewish culture cross-pollinating, vital, and relevant under the current climate of denominationally identified silos and proprietary-by-default copyright strictures. Prospective contributors should read our Mission Statement, Terms of Use, and Copyleft Policy. The Open Siddur is a non-prescriptive, non-denominational project and invites participation without prejudice towards ethnic heritage, skin color, nationality, belief or non-belief, sex, gender, sexuality or any other consideration.
A social and educational activist residing in Be'er Sheva, Rabbi Ḥagit Sabag Yisrael is part of the faculty of the Jewish Studies department in Ono Academic College. She facilitates study in batei midrash in the Kolot and Bina organizations and has established a number of batei midrash in development towns around Israel. Ḥagit serves as a consultant to different organizations on the topic of Israeli Judaism, provides spiritual guidance for families and individuals, and creates and leads Jewish life cycle ceremonies. She is one of the founders of the Forum for Jewish Renewal in the Negev, which she currently chairs, and is also a member of an inter-religious initiative in the Negev. Ḥagit's research, study and action all aim at the development of a beit midrash language of study which will assist educators and therapists in their work, with regard to psychology and Judaism, Mizraḥi feminism and the development of Jewish life cycle ceremonies.
Rabbi Ofer Sabath-Beit Halachmi directs AspaklariA (paths for renewing Jewish creativity) and edits the El Halev compendium of original prayers and blessings for lifecycle events.
Rabbi Dr. Sabath Beit-Halachmi is the Inaugural Senior Rabbi at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation in Baltimore, MD. She is an American and Israeli Rabbi, writer, teacher, speaker, mentor. Grateful wife, blessed mother of three amazing kids, ḥevruta, friend. (Find her publications at: https://huc.academia.edu/RachelSabath.)
Yosef Yaaḳov (Yosḳe) Sabatka (Hebrew: הרב יוסף יאסקי) was a Torah scholar, moralist and ḳabbalist; he is often referred to as "Yosef Yosḳe of Dubno" (or "Joseph ben Judah Jeidel"). He was born in Lublin in 1659, son of the Av Beit Din and ḳabbalist, Yehuda Yudel of Kovel. He was known for his piety, and served as rabbi for the region of Minsk, and later, in 1698, became Av Beit Din of Dubno; he died there in 1702. His primary work, Yesod Yosef was eventually published in 1785. Amongst his students was Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kaidanover, author of Kav ha-Yashar (1705).
Rabbi Dr. Jacob "Jack" Sable (1926-2013) was a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi. He received his semikhah from Yeshiva University, served in the US Air Force, and was stationed in San Francisco. In the early 1950s, he founded of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC) and the day school that would become the foundation of the Salanter Riverdale Academy (SAR). In 1964, he became the New York State Commissioner of Human Rights, and the Regional Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Elli Sacks is a poet, translator, husband and father of three, living in Modi’in Israel.
Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks MBE (Hebrew: Yaakov Tsvi, יעקב צבי; 8 March 1948 - 7 November 2020) was a British Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, author and politician. He served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK, he was the Chief Rabbi of those Orthodox synagogues, but was not recognized as the religious authority for the Haredi Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations or for the progressive movements such as Masorti, Reform and Liberal Judaism. As Chief Rabbi, Sacks formally carried the title of Av Beit Din (head) of the London Beth Din. He is now known as the Emeritus Chief Rabbi. Since stepping down as Chief Rabbi, in addition to his international travelling and speaking engagements and prolific writing, Sacks has served as the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University and as the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University. He has also been appointed as Professor of Law, Ethics and the Bible at King's College London. He won the Templeton Prize (awarded for spiritual affirmation) in 2016. He was also a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. (via wikipedia)
רינת צפניה שוורץ נשואה ואם לאחד. גדלה בירושלים ומתגוררת בקיבוץ נען. למדה תואר ראשון פסיכולוגיה באוניברסיטת באר שבע ותואר שני ייעוץ חינוכי בתל אביב. תואר שני נוסף בחינוך יהודי פלורליסטי באוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים. הוסמכה לרבנות בהיברו יונין קולג בירושלים. אשת חינוך וטיפול , רבה מייסדת של קהילה ישראלית שוויונית שוהם. עורכת טקסי מעגל חיים ומלווה זוגות לפני חתונה בתהליך אישי משמעותי אשר שיאו בטקס חתונה מלא בשמחה שוויוני בעיצוב אישי המשלב חידוש ומסורתֿ.
Jeffrey Saks (born March 25, 1969) is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, educator, writer and editor. Saks has published widely on Jewish thought, education, and literature. Born into a secular Jewish family and raised in suburban New Jersey, Saks became interested in religious observance in high school through the influence of a local rabbi and the NCSY youth movement.
Paulina Ruth "Nina" Salaman (née Davis) (פָּאוּלִינָה רוּת ”נִינָה” דֵעוִיס שָׂלָמָן; 1877 – 1925) was a British Jewish poet, translator, and social activist. She is best known for her English translations of medieval Hebrew poetry, especially of the poems of Judah Halevi. Paulina Ruth Davis was born on 15 July 1877 at Friarfield House, Derby, the second of two children of Louisa (née Jonas) and Arthur Davis. Her father's family were secular Jewish precision instrument makers, who had immigrated to England from Bavaria in the early nineteenth century. A civil engineer by trade, Arthur Davis became religiously observant and mastered the Hebrew language, becoming an accomplished Hebraist noted for his study of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. The family moved to Kilburn, London when Nina was six weeks old, later settling in Bayswater. There, Davis gave his daughters an intensive scholarly education in Hebrew and Jewish studies, teaching them himself each morning before breakfast from the age of four, and taking them regularly to the synagogue. The Davises moved in learned Jewish circles, and friends of Nina's parents included the families of Nathan Adler, Simeon Singer, Claude Montefiore, Solomon Schechter, Herbert Bentwich, and Elkan Adler. Arthur Davis was one of the "Kilburn Wanderers"—a group of Anglo-Jewish intellectuals that formed around Solomon Schechter in the 1880s—members of which took an interest in Nina's work and helped her find publication for her writings.
Rosa Emma Collins née Salaman (1815-1898), was a poet and translator of Hebrew and German. Poems, published in 1853, was reportedly the only book accepted by Queen Victoria in the year of mourning following Prince Albert's death in 1861. In the United States, her poetry appeared in Isaac Leeser's Occident and American Jewish Advocate. The daughter of Simeon Kensington Salaman (b.1789) and Alice Cowan, Rosa Emma was one of fourteen siblings in a large and literary Jewish family in London, part of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community. Two sisters, Kate Salaman and Julia Goodman, were painters -- the former of miniatures and the latter, a prolific portraitist. Her brother, Charles Kensington Salaman, was a British composer and pianist. Her husband, Judah Julius Collins, was a warden of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London's West End, and purported to be a descendant of the Baal Shem of London. Their son, Edwin Collins, was a Jewish educator.
Rabbi Samuel Sale (1854-1937), born in St. Louis, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He served Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, Missouri from 1887-1919, and was elected as the vice-president of CCAR.
Rabbi Norman Salit (June 8, 1896 – July 21, 1960), born in Brooklyn, New York, was a lawyer, Conservative rabbi, and community leader who served as the president of the Synagogue Council of America. In 1916, he graduated with a B.A. from City College; in 1919, he graduated with a J.D. from New York University; in 1920, he received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; and in 1922, he graduated with a M.A. from Columbia University. From 1919 to 1924, he served as the rabbi at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx and from 1924 to 1929 as the rabbi at Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Far Rockaway, Queens. From 1933 to 1937, he was head of the Queens County Bar Association Committee on Legislation and Law Reform. In addition to being admitted to practice law in New York, in 1938 he was admitted to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Treasury Department. During World War II he was the executive director of the Wartime Emergency Commission for Conservative Judaism. In 1949, he received a Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 1956, an honorary Doctor of Letters from the same institution. From 1953 to 1955, he served as president of the Synagogue Council of America. In 1957, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters from the Philathea College in Canada. He later served on the board of overseers of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, as president of the Long Island Council of the American Jewish Congress, on the executive council of the New York Board of Rabbis (1951-1958), as counsel for the Rabbinical Assembly of America, and as a member of the executive committee of the Zionist Organization of America.
Gotthold Salomon (November 1, 1784 – November 17, 1862) was a German Reform Jewish rabbi and translator of the TaNaKh into High German.
Herman Prins Salomon (1 March 1930 - 31 January 2021) was a Dutch-American linguist and historian who specialized in the history of the Portuguese Jews, the New Christians, and the Inquisition. Salomon was a professor of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany). He also was editor of the American Sephardi, a scholarly magazine published by Yeshiva University. In June 2011, he was knighted by the Queen of the Netherlands into the Order of Orange-Nassau.
Rachel Salston, Soferet STaM is a current third year student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. This year, her program brings her to study at the Conservative Yeshiva. Rachel is an alumna of Brandeis University, Yeshivat Hadar, and Drisha. She has offered her services as a gabbai'it and leyning/davening coordinator for several independent egalitarian minyanim. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys sewing and quiliting, baking, and scribing.
Rabbi David Saltzman, born in Brooklyn, New York, attended Flatbush Yeshiva High School, and graduated from Brooklyn College. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1965, he served as Navy chaplain in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later with the marines in Vietnam. Besides serving congregations in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and Florida, in 1979 he began as rabbi for the Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center in Florida. (We lack any additional details on Rabbi Saltzman's career. If you know more, please contact us.)
Jessie Sampter (March 22, 1883 – 1938) was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. Born in New York City to Rudolph Sampter, a New York attorney, and Virginia Kohlberg Sampter, she contracted polio at thirteen which prevented her from leaving home. Unable to attend school her family hired tutors. Later she audited courses at Columbia University. In her twenties she joined the Unitarian Church and began writing poetry. Her poems and short stories emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. Around this time, she began spending time in the home of Henrietta Szold and began to appreciate the Eastern European Jews of New York City. She moved into a settlement house on the Lower East Side, then to a Young Women's Hebrew Association. Assuming the role of Hadassah's leading educator, she produced manuals and textbooks and organized lectures and classes, training speakers and leaders for both Hadassah and other Zionist organizations like the Federation of American Zionists (then the Zionist Organization of America). She composed educational manuals with Alice Seligsberg and edited a textbook on Zionism. In 1919 she settled in Palestine where she helped organize the country's first Jewish Scout camp. Sampter developed a strong commitment to assisting Yemenite Jews, founding classes and clubs especially for Yemenite girls and women. She adopted a Yemenite orphan. At the time of her death she had established a vegetarian convalescent home at Kibbutz Givat Brenner.
Akiva Sanders is a Neubauer Graduate Fellow specializing in Mesopotamian Art and Archaeology. He is interested in mobility during the rise and fall of one of the world’s first urban networks in northern Mesopotamia. Specifically, his research is concerned with mutually transformative interactions on the edges of this network with highland societies of the Kura Araxes Cultural Tradition. Previously, Akiva has worked on genetic diversity in present-day highland Georgia and other regions, and he has published an article on the application of a new methodology for analyzing the sex of ceramic producers to episodes of state-formation at Tell Leilan, Syria. Akiva has excavated in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Georgia.
Honi Sanders is a neuroscience researcher in Massachusetts. His family birkon, Siman l'Vanim, was published by Dimus Parrhesia Press in 2019.
Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow (1906–1975), born in Philadelphia, was a Conservative movement rabbi and communal leader in the United States. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1933. He served pulpits in Portland, Oregon and Cedarhurst, Long Island before becoming entering Academia. He was a teaching fellow at New York University a visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, first of homiletics (1954–56, 1962–63) and later of pastoral psychiatry (1963 onwards). He became president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America (1960–62) and of the New York Board of Rabbis (1966–67) where he served as chairman of the board of governors (1968–70). He was a member of the board of directors of the American Friends of the Hebrew University (1968–1975), an alternate member of the board of governors of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a member of the boards of directors of the Joint Distribution Committee, the Zionist Organization of America, and the National Jewish Welfare Board. He was also chairman of the commission on Jewish chaplaincy of the latter organization. From 1960 he served as chairman of the board of Hadoar. He was co-author of Young Faith, a prayer book with music for children.
David Nathan Saperstein is an American rabbi, lawyer, and Jewish community leader who served as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He previously served as the director and chief legal counsel at the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center for more than 30 years.
Henry “Hank” Sapoznik is an award winning author, record and radio producer and performer of traditional Yiddish and American music.
Founded by Kasriel Tsvi Sarasohn (1835-1905), Sarasohn & Son Publishers were the first Hebrew Press publishers in New York in the 19th century. In 1866, Sarasohn abandoned his preparation for the rabbinate and emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. In 1874, he founded the Jewish Weekly and the Jewish Gazette, and in 1886, the Jewish Daily News. When he began the publication of his journals, there were no other Jewish papers printed in Hebrew in the United States, and he had great difficulty in obtaining the necessary typefaces. Eventually, his newspapers became the most popular in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The kabbalist Fradji Shawat (mid-16th c. till early 17th c.) was born in Fes (פאס), Morocco, and later moved to Béja (באג׳ה), Tunisia. Béja’s locals evidently did not at first care much for him but later grew fond of him. Jews who later wrote Tunisian Judeo-Arabic folk-songs about him yearly visited Shawat’s grave in Testour, Tunisia him. Rabbi Shawat’s songs were forgotten for nearly half a millennium.
Hyman Judah Schachtel (1907–1990) was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of Houston from 1943 to 1975. From 1975-1990 he served as Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel of Houston. He also served the Houston Jewish community as "rabbi-at-large" for the remainder of his life. On January 20, 1965, Rabbi Schachtel delivered the inaugural prayer for President Lyndon B. Johnson in Washington, D.C.. (via wikipedia)
Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
Rabbi Bentzion Schaffran (1937-1996) born in Chicago, was one of the first students to join the ḤaBaD movement in the early 1950s. Although he was accepted to the University of Chicago at the young age of 14, his parents chose to keep him in school with students his own age (at the Lubavitch Hebrew School headed by Rabbi Herschel Shusterman). After high school, he continued his studies at the Lubavitch Yeshivah in Brooklyn. At the instruction of the rebbe of ḤaBaD, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, he studied public speaking. During the early 1960s he became a lecturer at Chabad Houses and events on college campuses. Over the years, with the encouragement and support of his wife, Tzipora Heshkowitz, he took on many innovative projects on behalf of Lubavitch Youth Organization. In the 1970s, he headed a group of local community leaders to open dialogue between the African American and Jewish communities. He spearheaded programs to create job opportunities in the Crown Heights community and increase financial support to the schools and camps. (This short bio draws heavily from "Chabad Pioneer’s 20th Yahrtzeit" by Dovid Zaklikowski.)
Jason Schapera is the Digitizing Specialist at the HUC-JIR Klau Library in Cincinnati.
Ronald Schechter received his B.A. from the University of Michigan (1987), his M.A. from the University of Chicago (1988) and his Ph.D. from Harvard University (1993). His book, Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), won the American Historical Association’s Leo Gershoy Award and the Society for French Historical Studies’ David Pinkney Prize, and it was a finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award in the category of History. Schechter is also the author (with Liz Clarke, illustrator) of Mendoza the Jew: Boxing, Manliness, and Nationalism. A Graphic History (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014). He is the editor of The French Revolution: The Essential Readings (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), and the translator and editor of Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing with Related Documents (Boston and New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004). He is also the editor of Shifting Boundaries, Rethinking Paradigms: The Significance of French Jewish History, a special issue of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 32:1 (Spring 2006). Among the venues of his journal articles have been Past and Present, Representations and Eighteenth-Century Studies. His most recent book is A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2018). Schechter has been a visiting fellow at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies (Princeton University), and the Polonsky Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2019-2020) for his book project, “The Secret Library of Marie Antoinette.”
Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schechter (שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר) (1847 – 1915), born in Focşani, Moldavia (now Romania), British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of American Conservative Judaism.
Rabbi Solomon Schiff has been the Director of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's Community Chaplaincy Service since 1966 and the Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami since 1964; he continues to serve as a Rabbi Emeritus and consultant for both. Ordained by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein of the Mesifta Tifereth Jerusalem Rabbinical Seminary in New York, Rabbi Schiff received a B.A. in Political Science at Brooklyn College, an M.A. in Counseling at the University of Miami, and a Doctorate of Pastoral Counseling at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois.
Mark Schiftan is rabbi of The Temple–Congregation Ohabai Sholom. He came to The Temple in 1999 from Temple Emanu-El, an historic urban congregation in San Jose, California. Having served as rabbi there since 1994, Mark had led another Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, California, serving from 1987 until 1994. Rabbi Schiftan received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from San Francisco State University. Hebrew Union College of Los Angeles awarded Rabbi Schiftan’s Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, and he was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. Schiller grew up in a very religious family and spent much of his youth studying the Bible. In 1789, he was appointed professor of History and Philosophy in Jena. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics, and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches. This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism.
Shloime Mikhelevich (Solomon Mikhailovich; December 23, 1889-1957) born in Moscow, served as rabbi of the Choral Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Moscow, under the Soviet Union (1943-1957) after serving as its secretary and bookkeeper. He is best known for sustaining a synagogue in Moscow during the worst years of Stalinist repression against Jews. As a government appointee, he demonstrated loyalty to Stalin, and denied that there was anti-semitism in the USSR. (The Choral Synagogue's last rabbi, Shmarya Yehuda Leib Medalia was arrested and executed for alleged disloyalty in 1938. At the time, the synagogue was suspected of being a meeting place for Zionists, and was constantly under NKVD surveillance. A year before his appointment, Rabbi Shmuel Leib Levin was appointed. Due to his Chabad affiliation, he was viewed as too extreme, and was replaced with Shleifer.) Rabbi Shleifer died in 1957 while teaching a Torah class.
Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger lives in Alon Shvut, Israel, and is one of the founders of Roots/Shorashim שורשים/Judur جذور, The Palestinian Israeli Grassroots Initiative for Understanding, Nonviolence and Transformation. Currently he serves as its Director of International Relations. He also is the founder of the American Friends of Roots, a multi-faith organization dedicated to supporting the work of Roots/Shorashim/Judur. Rav Hanan frequently speaks in the United States together with one of his Palestinian partner about the amazing work that Roots/Shorashim/Judur is doing in Judea/Palestine. Prior to the founding of Roots, Rav Hanan spent his whole career teaching Jewish studies in various seminaries, colleges and frameworks in the Jerusalem area, among them the Pardes Institute, Beit Midrash Elul, Nishmat and Yeshivat Bat Ayin. He also spent two years as part of the Judaic Fellows Program in Boca Raton Florida and over ten years in Dallas Texas, first as Rosh Kollel of the Community Kollel and later as founder and Executive Director and Community Rabbinic Scholar for the Jewish Studies Initiative of North Texas. He and his Israeli–born wife Ayala have four grown children and ten grandchildren.
Fanny Neuda (1819-1894) was a Jewish German-speaking writer best known for her popular collection of prayers, Stunden Der Andacht. She was born in Lomnice to the family of Rabbi Yehudah Schmiedl (1776-1855). After marrying Abraham Neuda (1812-1854), the couple moved to Loštice to Moravia, where her husband held the position of rabbi. They had three sons: Moritz (1842), Julius (1845) and Gotthold (1846). After her husband's death in 1854 she stayed for some time in Brno and later settled in Vienna . She died at the age of 75 years in the spa town of Merano (present-day Italy).
Rabbi Arthur Schneier (born March 20, 1930) is an Austrian-American rabbi and human rights activist. Rabbi Schneier has served for over 50 years as the Senior Rabbi of New York City’s Park East Synagogue. While being honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bill Clinton in 2001, Rabbi Schneier was described as “a Holocaust survivor who has devoted a lifetime to overcoming forces of hatred and intolerance and set an inspiring example of spiritual leadership by encouraging interfaith dialog and intercultural understanding, as well as promoting the cause of religious freedom around the world.”
Gershom Scholem (Hebrew: גֵרְשׁׂם שָׁלוֹם) (December 5, 1897 – February 21, 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah. He was the first professor of Jewish Mysticism at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His close friends included Walter Benjamin and Leo Strauss, and selected letters from his correspondence with those philosophers have been published. Scholem is best known for his collection of lectures, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941) and for his biography Sabbatai Zevi, the Mystical Messiah (1957). His collected speeches and essays, published as On Kabbalah and its Symbolism (1965), helped to spread knowledge of Jewish mysticism among both Jews and non-Jews.
Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez is a Jewish educator, programmer, and community builder currently serving as the Manager of the Jewish Camp Initiative at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and the Clergy Advisory Chair for MACoM (Metro Atlanta Community Mikvah). She received semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Yeshivat Maharat in 2018 and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois in 2006. She has also learned intensively at Nishmat and Pardes in Jerusalem and worked for JEWISHcolorado, JCC Manhattan, Hillel International, and Global Day of Jewish Learning.
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld is the Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international membership association of Conservative/Masorti rabbis. Rabbi Schonfeld started her career as a congregational rabbi at the historic Society for the Advancement of Judaism on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Prior to being named Executive Vice President, she was Director of Rabbinic Development at the RA, spearheading projects in areas such as public policy, conversion, continuing rabbinic education, professional conduct, mentorship and women’s’ advancement. Rabbi Schonfeld serves on President Obama’s White House Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Newsweek named her one of the 50 most influential Rabbis in America in 2011, 2012 and 2013. She was named by Jewish Women International as a “Woman to Watch” in 2011 and has also been named in the Forward 50. Rabbi Schonfeld is often called upon to represent the Jewish community in national and international settings and is known for her incisive application of Jewish thinking to world events.
Rabbi Dr. Israel Schorr (1906 - 2000) born in what is now part of western Ukraine, was an Orthodox rabbi in the United States. In 1927, he emigrated to the United States where he learned English and went on to study English literature at Columbia, eventually receiving there his Ph.D. From 1938 onward, he served as rabbi of Congregation Beth El-Young Israel in Brooklyn. His obituary in the New York Times notes that "He strongly advocated the interweaving of strict Orthodox learning with contemporary humanist thought." He went on to be recognized as what one American Jewish publication called 'a staggering scholar,' and he studied with Rabbi Meir Arak and other prominent rabbis in Eastern Europe. He was also a past president of the Hapoel Hamizrachi, a Zionist organization, and the Vaad Harabonim of Brooklyn.
Prof. Mojżesz Schorr (born May 10, 1874 in Przemyśl, died July 8, 1941 in a labor camp in Posty in Uzbekistan ) - Polish-Jewish historian, Talmudic scholar. Besides being a rabbi and academic, Rabbi Schorr was a political activist and senator in the Polish legislature. He was the vice-president of B'nai B'rith and one of the founders of the historiography of Polish Jews before he was arrested by the Soviet NKVD and sent to a labor camp in Uzbekistan as a socially dangerous element. General Władysław Sikorski, the Vatican, and the Polish embassy in the USSR all unsuccessfully sought his release. He died on 8 July 1941 in an unknown location in the area of the labor camp.
Rabbi Dr. Samuel Schulman (1864 – 1955), born in the Russian Empire, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He came to the United States with his family in 1868, and attended the New York City public schools. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1885 and then went abroad where he studied at the University of Berlin and the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums from 1885 to 1889. At the latter school, he completed the courses he needed to be ordained as a rabbi. Returning to the United States, Schulman was rabbi in Helena, Montana, from 1890 to 1893 (there instrumental in the building of Montana's first synagogue, Temple Emanu-El), and at Kansas City, Missouri, from 1893 to 1899. He then returned to New York City 1899 where he joined Rabbi Kaufman Kohler at Temple Beth-El, succeeding him in 1903. When Temple Beth-El was absorbed by Temple Emanu-El in 1927, he became rabbi of the new congregation, becoming rabbi emeritus in 1934. On 11 June 1924, he offered the invocation at the opening of the second day of the 1924 Republican National Convention. He spoke with appreciation for "the Republican Party's precious heritage of the championship of human rights" and he called for "every form of prejudice and misunderstanding" to be "driven forever out of our land." Speaking of Calvin Coolidge, he praised "the integrity, the wisdom, the fearlessness of our beloved President."
Rabbi Joe Schwartz is the founder of Founder, IDRA Beit Café / Beit Tarbut. He is a David Hartman Center Fellow and served for three years as Rabbi of the Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue, a small, traditional-egalitarian synagogue in Greenwich Village.
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is a Jewish-American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell (1971), Pippin (1972), and Wicked (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Prince of Egypt (1998, music and lyrics), and Enchanted (2007). Schwartz has earned numerous accolades including three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He has received nominations for six Tony Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. He received the Tony Award's Isabelle Stevenson Award in 2015.
Paula Schwebel is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Ryerson University.
Yael Schweid (יעל שביד) born in Jerusalem in 1967, is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, and a member of the Reform congregation Shir Chadash in Tzur Hadassah.
Rabbi Samuel Scolnic (1923-2012), born in Ft. Worth, Texas, was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. After graduating from Roosevelt College, Chicago he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He served as a Chaplain in the Korean War, and at pulpits in Houston and Tyler, Texas. In 1956, he became the first full-time Rabbi of Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County (Maryland). He embraced egalitarianism in women's full participation in synagogue life and rabbinic leadership in the Conservative movement. He served as President of the Washington Board of Rabbis and met with Senators, Congressmen and ambassadors.
Mel Scult, professor emeritus of Jewish thought at Brooklyn College, received his M.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. He has taught at Brandeis, Vassar College and the New School for Social Research. Scult is the author of a biography of Mordecai Kaplan, Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century, The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan and Communings of the Spirit-The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Vol II, 1934-1941. He has co-edited, with Emmanuel Goldsmith, Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai Kaplan and The American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan.
Cantor Amnon Seelig was born in Munich in 1982 and grew up in Israel. He completed his vocal and music theory studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, each with a Bachelor's degree, and his vocal studies with Prof. Donald Litaker at the Karlsruhe University of Music with a Master's degree. Beginning in 2010, a master's degree in Jewish Studies followed at the University of Potsdam, and in 2015 Amnon Seelig was ordained as a synagogue cantor by the Abraham Geiger College. From 2011- 2015, Cantor Amnon Seelig was a regular performer in Berlin synagogues, and from 2015-2017 he was Cantor of the Jewish Community of Düsseldorf. Amnon Seelig is a sought-after baritone and has sung in Israel and in Germany in renowned choirs and vocal ensembles, including the Rundfunk Chor Berlin, the Stuttgarter Kammerchor, the Vokalquintett Berlin, the Vokalensemble Rastatt and the Vokalensemble Berlin. He is a founding member of the trio "Die Drei Kantoren", which has been performing in Jewish communities and various venues throughout Germany since 2013. Since 2017 Amnon Seelig is cantor of the Jewish Community Mannheim.
Hyman Alter Segal (חיים אלטר סג״ל; 1896-1970) was an editor for the Hebrew Publishing Company from the 1920s till the day of his death on 1 January 1970. He was acknowledged by Paltiel Birnbaum among the editors of Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem (1949). Segal arranged the Siddur Tifereth David (1951), containing the first English translation of a "Sefard" (Ḥasidic) prayerbook for American Jewry. In 1955, HPB published the maḥzor he compiled for Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur, Maḥzor Ḳol Yisrael. HPB also published a luaḥ (date calendar) he arranged for the years 1960-2116. Born in Hungary, he made his way sometime in the 1910s to Erets Yisrael where he studied in the yeshivah of Rav Quq and married Sheyna Rabinowitz. In the early 1920s, he came to the United States where he began working for the Hebrew Publishing Company. In 1962, he was assaulted in Crown Heights and left in a coma for five days before recovering. He is remembered with love by his grandchildren. (We would like to know more about Hyman Alter Segal. If you have any more details, please let us know.)
Robert H. Segal was a Jewish baritone singer who recorded Jewish music under the Victor Red Seal Classical Album label. He received his early musical training at the Worden-Jefferson School of Music and pursued advanced studies at the Juilliard School of Music. With Rabbi Sidney Guthman, he published Sabbath Eve Services and Hymns (Hebrew Book Company: 1944). If you know any more about Robert Segal, please help to expand this bio with additional details by contacting us.
Shlomo Segal is rabbi of Kehilat Moshe synagogue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Rabbi Kenneth I. Segel is a Reform movement rabbi in the United State. After graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo, he studied at Hebrew Union College where he was ordained in 1970. He has served historic congregations in the United States and Canada and has built congregations in New Orleans; Fresno, California; and Scottsdale, Arizona. He’s taught at five universities, published three children’s books and two adult books, and has been invited to offer Opening Prayers before the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He currently lectures on cruise ships throughout the world.
Dr. Enrico Segre is a physics researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and a volunteer transcriber with Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. He is the author of dpanalyzer, a postprocessing tool used by Project Gutenberg.
Rabbi Sam Seicol was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 1978 and is a volunteer at the Vilna Shul in Boston. There he offers classes and programs on a wide range of topics such as Understanding Judaism, Aging and Spirituality, Music and Humor as Pathways to Spiritual Well-being, and History and Development of American Jewish Humor. He is part-time Interfaith Chaplain at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston and part-time Rabbi at Temple Israel of Dover, New Hampshire. Rabbi Seicol has served as MIT’s Hillel Community Education & Engagement Director. He previously worked with congregations as an interim rabbi in Hyannis, Pittsfield, and Tampa. Before that he was the Chaplain/Director of Religious Services at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Boston from 1994 through 2003, and has worked in the field of Geriatric Chaplaincy since 1982.
Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Rabbi Joshua Seigel (1846–1910), rabbi. Born in Kitzburg, Poland, Seigel began his career as a Talmud scholar under the direction of Rabbi Leibel Ḥarif of Plotsk and Rabbi Joshua of Kutna, who gave him semikhah. Seigel received a second semikhah from Rabbi Joseph Kara of Vlatzlovak. He inherited his father's pulpit as rabbi of Sierpc, Poland, but not with unanimous consent from the community. Seigel was not a ḥasid, so many of the ḥasidic members of Sierpc resisted his leadership, despite the intervention of Rabbi Joshua of Kutna. Later known as the "Sherpser Rav," Seigel left Europe in 1884 and immigrated to the United States. In New York, he became rabbi of a poor congregation of families divided between ḥasidic and non-ḥasidic traditions. His Polish ancestry set him apart from the Lithuanian rabbis who came to the United States in the late 19th century. Due to this tension, Seigel declined to join the Agudat Harabbonim, a union of mostly Lithuanian-educated rabbis formed in 1902. Seigel negotiated a position as mashgi'aḥ for several New York slaughterhouses and butcher shops, a good way to earn supplementary income to his modest – inadequate – synagogue-pulpit salary. By 1890 almost twenty Galician congregations relied on Seigel for kashrut guidance, and many Galician butchers remained under his rabbinic supervision. Seigel is perhaps best known for his controversial halakhic treatise, Eruv ve-Hoẓa'ah, an interpretation of Jewish law that allowed Jews to carry things on the East Side of Manhattan on the Sabbath. He believed that the island of Manhattan was surrounded by a natural eruv, a stance rejected by most of his rabbinic peers. In 1908, Seigel went to Palestine in hopes of living in Jerusalem, but the harsh climate prevented him from taking up permanent residence there. A year later, he returned to New York. Seigel left a a posthumous work of responsa titled Oznal Yehoshua. (adapted from the Jewish Virtual Library/Encyclopedia Judaica 2008)
Margot is a queer, white, Ashkenazi Jew born and raised in Elgin, IL, where her Great Grandpa arrived three generations ago, and where her parents met at the synagogue her Great Grandpa started. Growing up with more than enough, she believes that we would all – even the 1%! – be better off if everyone had enough, and fights to shift this paradigm. An organizer at heart, she does this through supporting the leadership development of individuals and building collective energy and shared decision-making structures around projects that shift power and resources to those at the frontlines of injustice. Margot sees learning about the impacts of privilege and oppression as well as building tools to support the healing of this impact as crucial to being an effective change maker. She seeks to bring her values, skills, and networks to the Jewish community to thinking about what healing looks like with the complex history as well as expanding our concept of and strengthening our obligation to community. In her free time, Margot enjoys crafting, singing, fiddling, cooking, meditating, biking, and bringing people together. Margot is currently the Ḥazon Transformative Experiences Fellow based out of Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.
Gershom Mendes Seixas (1745–1816) led the Sepharadi Congregation Shearith Israel in New York from 1768 to 1776 and again from 1784 to 1816. Although not an ordained Rabbi, he served as Ḥazzan and was among the first Jewish communal leaders who was born and educated in the United States. He was also the first American Jewish synagogue leader to give a d'var torah (sermon) in English. Seixas was an ardent patriot during the American Revolution. He moved the congregation to Philadelphia's Congregation Mikveh Israel and was the Ḥazzan there for the duration of the war. In 1783, he successfully sought revisions in a constitutional clause newly adopted by the Pennsylvania State Legislature, which required a religious examination for seekers of public office. Seixas was one of the fourteen recognized ministers in New York in 1789 who participated in George Washington's first inauguration at Federal Hall in New York City. He delivered the first Thanksgiving address in an American synagogue following the adoption of the United States Constitution. (via his article in wikipedia)
Dovi Seldowitz, PhD candidate (Sociology), received his BA (Hons) in Sociology and Anthropology at UNSW and rabbinical ordination from the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn. His area of research concerns social change in religion, with close attention to the growth of women's leadership in Orthodox and Hasidic communities.
Goetzel (George) Selikovitsch (also, Getsl Zelikovitsh; 1855/1863-1926): A specialist in linguistics and hieroglyphics. Born in Retovo, Kovno (Lithuania), he was known at an early age as a boy wonder in Hebrew and the Talmud. Son of Rabbi David Selikovitsch and Rachel Sundelevitz. Educated in the yeshivot of Karlin, Mir, and Tauroggen. After completing linquistic studies at the École des Hautes Études in Paris in 1884, he went on to become Chief Interpreter to Lord Wolseley in Khartoum and studied languages in Africa and the Middle East. In 1887, he was a lecturer in hieroglyphs and Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. Literary editor of the Ha-Melitz and Ha-Magid for three years; member of Athénée Oriental, Paris. Author: Le Schéol des Hébreux, la division mystique du temps chez les Sémites et les Egyptiens, 1881-1882; Dawn of Egyptian Civilization, 1887; also several Yiddish novels. Contributed numerous articles, poems, and dissertations to Hebrew and English periodicals and to L'Univers and L'lntransigeant.
Julie Seltzer is a Torah Scribe and Educator living in the Hudson Valley, New York. She was trained by Jen Taylor Friedman.
The Septuagint (from the Latin: septuaginta, lit. 'seventy'; often abbreviated 70; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Koine Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible, various biblical apocrypha, and deuterocanonical books. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch, were translated in the mid-3rd century BCE; they did not survive as original-translation texts, however, except as rare fragments. The remaining books of the Septuagint are presumably translations of the 2nd century BCE. The full title (Ancient Greek: Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα, lit. 'The Translation of the Seventy') derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas that the Torah was translated into Greek at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) by 70 Jewish scholars or, according to later tradition, 72: six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, who independently produced identical translations. The miraculous character of the Aristeas legend might indicate the esteem and disdain in which the translation was held at the time; Greek translations of Hebrew scriptures were in circulation among the Alexandrian Jews. Egyptian papyri from the period have led most scholars to view as probable Aristeas's dating of the translation of the Pentateuch to the third century BCE. Whatever share the Ptolemaic court may have had in the translation, it satisfied a need felt by the Jewish community (in whom the knowledge of Hebrew was waning).
Lawrence Sernovitz is the rabbi/executive director of Nafshenu in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Rabbi Sernovitz founded Nafshenu with the understanding that Judaism must be reimagined to remain relevant and meaningful in today’s world. With this in mind, Rabbi Sernovitz set out to create a model of Judaism and Jewish life in Southern New Jersey that would be bold, courageous, and transformative. Assembling a core team of families who also believed in this vision, Nafshenu was created with a foundation that Jewish life first and foremost is about people, about their hopes and dreams. Rabbi Sernovitz has been focused on areas in his rabbinate that include education, interfaith matters, prayer and spirituality, and social justice. He is on the Statewide Clergy Caucus of Faith in New Jersey and received their Faith in Love award in 2018 for his justice work. He also is the recipient of Camden County’s MLK Freedom Medal for his community and justice work. Rabbi Sernovitz also serves as a Chaplain for the Cherry Hill and Maple Shade Police Departments. In April of 2016, Rabbi Sernovitz received the Ambassador Award from the New Jersey Governor’s Council on Mental Health Stigma. Prior to coming to Cherry Hill, he served Old York Road Temple-Beth Am in Abington, Pennsylvania, where he was honored to serve as Vice-Chair of the Montgomery County Advisory Council of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and received its Trailblazer Award in 2013 at the annual Civil Rights Luncheon. Rabbi Sernovitz is also passionate about Jewish Genetic Disease Awareness and has spoken around the country, advocating for testing among those of child bearing age.
Rabbi Shalom ben Yosef ben Avigad Shabazi of the family of Mashtā (1619 – c. 1720), also Abba Sholem Shabazi or Saalem al-Shabazi (Hebrew: שלום שבזי, Arabic: سالم الشبزي), was a Jewish poet who lived in 17th century Yemen. He is now considered the 'Poet of Yemen'.
Rabbi Dahlia Shaham from Haifa holds a LL.B degree in Law and Latin American Studies from the Hebrew University (2003) and a MA.L.D in International Political Economy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (2009). Between 2005-2017 Dahlia worked in policy research and advocacy, strategic planning and programming with some of the leading civil society organizations working to promote a shared, thriving and democratic society in Israel and the Middle East. During the summer war of 2014, as the land was burning, Dahlia began to convene and lead song circles for women in Hebrew and Arabic, and she joined the cantorial team in the Reform synagogue in Ra’anana. Her rabbinic thesis: “Spiritual Feminism in the Promised Land: Journey with D’vorah the Prophetess” presents her insights on the roots of the conflict in our country, and the road to peace and partnership between the genders, tribes and peoples who live in it. She is a member of congregation Ohel Avraham and enjoys working with all Progressive Jewish communities in Haifa.
Founded by Arthur Waskow, the Shalom Center equips activists and spiritual leaders with awareness and skills needed to lead in shaping a transformed and transformative Judaism that can help create a world of peace, justice, healing for the earth, and respect for the interconnectedness of all life.
Kalonimus Kalman Szapiro (English: Kalonymus Kalman Shapira or Klonimus Kalmish Szapiro) (20 May 1889–3 November 1943), was the Grand Rabbi of Piaseczno, Poland, who authored a number of works and was murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
David Shapiro was a Conservative movement rabbi who led Temple Sinai (Hollywood, Florida) from 1953-1981. Alas, we have been unable to gather much more information on Rabbi Shapiro. If you can help us fill out this short biography, please contact us.
Rabbi Max A. Shapiro (1917-2009) born in Massachusetts, was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States. After graduating from Clark University, he earned a masters degree in education from Boston Teacher’s College. He served as a chaplain at Lawson General Hospital, in Atlanta, Georgia., during World War II, an experience that motivated him to enter the rabbinate. From 1944-1946, Shapiro served in the Middle East, and contributed to the writing of a history of the U.S. Air Force. In 1950, Shapiro was admitted to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following his ordination, in 1955, he took the post of assistant rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, and in 1963, its senior rabbi. In Minnesota, he became the first adjunct professor of Jewish Studies at United Theological Seminary in New Brighton. Rabbi Shapiro was also a visiting professor for more than 20 years at Hamline University’s Department of Religion and Philosophy. He was awarded a doctorate in education from University of Cincinnati in 1960. In the larger Minneapolis, Rabbi Shapiro co-founded the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas. He also served as the center’s director until his retirement in 1996.
Rabbi Morris Shapiro (1920-2010), born in Goraj, a village near Lublin, Poland, was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. He studied at the Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin and was ordained in Poland before World War II. Hidden for two years by Polish Christians and later hiding in the woods, he survived the Holocaust, but most of his family perished. In 1948, he came to the United States. In the 18 years that followed, he led congregations in Berlin, NH; Greenport, NY; Grand Forks, ND; Waco, TX; and Toms River, NJ. While in North Dakota, he also acquired two degrees -- a bachelor's in education and a master's in clinical psychology from the University of North Dakota. In 1966, he became the Rabbi of the South Huntington (New York) Jewish Center, a position he held for 23 years. Not long after his retirement, Rabbi Shapiro served as Interim Rabbi for two other Conservative synagogues in Suffolk County, Long Island -- the North Shore Jewish Center in East Setauket (1990-1991) and the Dix Hills Jewish Center (1992). He later held weekly Torah study sessions with members of the South Huntington/Dix Hills community, who lovingly referred to themselves as "Rabbi Shapiro's groupies." Rabbi Shapiro was also Past President of the Rabbinical Assembly of Nassau-Suffolk, a former member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Conservative movement, and a teacher and mentor to many students at the Bet Midrash at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He was the author of the influential paper, "Cremation in the Jewish Tradition" whose recommendations were adopted by the CJLS in 1986.
Rabbi Shlomo Dov (Solomon Bernard) Shapiro (1922-2011), born in Kishinev, Moldova (then Romania), was an Orthodox rabbi, chaplain, and mashgiaḥ in the United States. He emigrated to America with his parents and studied at Mesifta Talmudical Seminary. He was the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Religious Director for Germany after WWII who helped in the printing of the Talmud of the Shearith Hapletah. In Brooklyn, Rabbi Shapiro served Congregation B'nai Abraham in East Flatbush (and later, Kew Gardens) and as chaplain at King County Hospital.
Rabbi Shalom Ḥayyim Sharabi, (רבי שלום חיים שרעבי) was born 1872/1873 in the city of Kubir, in the Sharab district of Yemen to the family of the rabbi and kabbalist, Rabbi Ḥayyim U'ar Sharabi (חיים עואר שרעבי). At the age of 18, he received his smicha. For twenty-three years, he studied at the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Yosef Sa'adia Darhami Cohen. Together with his father, he emigrated to Erets Yisrael (then Ottoman Palestine) in 1912. According to his obituary in the newspaper HaTsefah on 20 Feb 1946, "His exodus from Sharab made a tremendous impression, and consequently, the Jews of Sharab began to prepare for aliyah. For nearly ten years he worked in Israel in agriculture and construction and lived a life of poverty and sorrow. With all the difficult crises and the difficult physical work, he continued his holy work, and the words of Torah and Mystery did not escape his mouth even during the work of the hoe. When he was fifty years old, he left the physical work and continued on as a kosher slaughterer." He died on 9 Jan 1946 (7 Shvat 5706).
Rabba Dr. Anat Sharbat serves as part of the clergy team at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. She is a CLI fellow. Dr. Sharbat graduated from Bar-Ilan University with an M.A. cum laude and a Ph.D. in Talmud from Bar Ilan University, focusing on questions of sexuality and holiness in rabbinic literature. Rabba Sharbat received her ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and served on the rabbinic faculty of Hebrew Institute of Riverdale - The Bayit. After eleven years in New York, she returned to Tel Aviv with her family and is currently founding "Shalom Aleichem - Kehila Ivrit" - a community based in central Tel Aviv. She is one of the Community Coordinators at Hadar in Israel.
Moshe Sharett (משה שרת, born Moshe Chertok (משה שרתוק) 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1954–55), serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurion's two terms. He continued as Foreign Minister (1955–56) in the Mapai government.
Cape Town born Richard Shavei-Tzion (ריצ'רד שביציון) is an autodidact in all his fields of creative activity. At age 18 he was invited to conduct the Pine Street Shul Choir in Johannesburg. Since then he has directed choral ensembles in both South Africa and Israel. For the past 20 years he has directed the Ramatayim Men’s Choir, Jerusalem which has grown from an ad hoc group of 4 friends into an internationally renowned ensemble consisting of 40 singers. He has conducted High Holidays services for the past 35 years in South Africa, Israel, the U.S.A. and Canada and is often invited to lead communal events, singing and playing guitar. He also composes and arranges Jewish music, mainly for the RMC. His poetry has been published widely over decades. In 2015 the Municipal Art Gallery of Jerusalem displayed his photographic works in a solo exhibition which received popular and critical praise. He is the author of the "Prayer for the Preservation of the Environment" which has been read in synagogues of all denominations and other venues around the world and he writes articles of social and cultural interest. He is a regular contributor to the Jerusalem Post.
Andrew Shaw is a Jewish spiritual seeker. He currently lives in Raleigh, NC.
Eliyahu Yosef She'ar Yashuv Cohen (אליהו יוסף שאר ישוב כהן; November 4, 1927 – September 5, 2016) was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Ḥaifa, Israel and the President of its rabbinical courts (1975–2011).
Avraham Shlonsky (March 6, 1900 – May 18, 1973; Hebrew: אברהם שלונסקי; Russian: Авраам Шлёнский) was a Ukrainian Jew born in the Russian Empire who became a significant and dynamic Israeli poet. He was influential in the development of modern Hebrew and its literature in Israel through his many acclaimed translations of literary classics, particularly from Russian, as well as his own original Hebrew children's classics. Known for his humor, Shlonsky earned the nickname "Lashonsky" from the wisecrackers of his generation (lashon means "tongue", i.e., "language") for his unusually clever and astute innovations in the newly evolving Hebrew language.
Dr. Avi Shmidman is a Senior Lecturer in the Hebrew Literature department at Bar-Ilan University, and the head of research and development at DICTA: The Israel Center for Text Analysis. His publications focus upon: liturgical piyyutim from the Cairo Genizah; the textual development of birkat ha-mazon; the writings of S. Y. Agnon; and algorithms for computational processing of Hebrew texts.
Rabbi Morris Shmidman was executive director of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Borough Park, and later on president of the World Council of Orthodox Jewish Communities.
Shlomo Shmulevitz (also Shmulevitsh [a/k/a Small], 1868 – 1943) was a songwriter, lyricist, bard, actor, badkhn (wedding entertainer), balladeer, and early recording singer. He was born in Minsk, Belarus, and immigrated to the United States in 1889. He was one of the most prolific and talented of the early Yiddish composers who fashioned a type of Yiddish counterpart to American popular song around the turn of the 19th–20th century and in the immediately ensuing years. He wrote a profusion of songs (words and music) and many lyrics for other songwriters. His subject matter ranged from immigrant families, labor conditions, biblical vignettes, Judaic observances, Jewish historical incidents, nostalgia, immigration obstacles, and current topical subjects to wedding celebration songs. In the last decade of his life—when, to eke out a basic subsistence, he toured the United States and traveled across Canada from Halifax to Calgary and Winnipeg, entertaining local Jewish audiences with his own and similar songs—he mused on man’s course through life in his song Man shpilt teater (Mankind Plays in a Theater): “We act as if we were all on the stage, each one acting out his little life to a script written and directed by Almighty God.” Throughout the first two decades of the 20th century Shmulevitz recorded his songs in many of the earliest recording studios on a regular basis. Thereafter he continued to turn out melodies and lyrics for others to sing. His legacy comprises about 150 known or traceable songs and song lyrics—of which "A brivele der mamen" is now unquestionably his most famous—although in a letter to the press he once referred to twice that number with his own tunes, in addition to 200 sets of words to melodies by others. (by Neil W. Levin from the Milken Archive of Jewish Music)
Rabbi Abraham Shusterman (1907-1995), born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, was a rabbi in the American Reform movement, best known for his ecumenical work. He was a 1929 graduate of the University of Cincinnati and a 1931 graduate of the Hebrew Union College, where he later earned a doctorate. He also did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University. After his ordination in 1931, he served the congregation Children of Israel in Athens, Georgia and was the first director of the Jewish Student Union at the University of Georgia. He also served at Temple Israel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before coming to Baltimore. He led Baltimore’s Har Sinai Congregation from 1941 to 1972. From 1955 until 1968, Rabbi Shusterman appeared weekly with a priest and a minister on “To Promote Good Will,” a television discussion program. He had been a volunteer chaplain at Fort Meade and a chaplain aboard cruise ships. From 1977 to 1983, he was the rabbi of Temple Sholom in Naples, Fla., where he spent winters. He was also a former chairman of the advisory council of the Maryland Department of Employment Security, a committee to study possible revisions of the unemployment compensation laws. He was chairman of the Special Committee on Life Preservation, which recommended that the state require each hospital and nursing home to appoint a committee to make ethical judgments on the artificial prolonging of patients’ lives. In addition, he helped start the Maryland Food Committee. Distressed at a 1966 City Council meeting when Cardinal Lawrence Shehan was jeered for advocating open housing for all, he wept publicy, news of which was taken to heart by many. Cardinal Shehan later presented him with the Cardinal Gibbons Medal for his work for brotherhood. He was an adjunct professor of theology at Loyola College and served on the advisory board of St. Mary’s University and Ecumenical Institute. He also had been co-chairman of the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Baltimore and had served on the board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He had also headed the Clergy Brotherhood of Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Reform Rabbis, the Baltimore Council of Reform Rabbis, the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis and the Baltimore Jewish Council. Rabbi Shusterman also wrote a column for the News American, frequently spoke to organizations and wrote a history of the Har Sinai Congregation, the oldest surviving congregation in the nation that has been continuously affiliated with the Reform branch of Judaism. The history was published in 1967, when Har Sinai celebrated its 125th anniversary.
A graduate of Hiram College, Rabbi Siegel was ordained in 1982 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he received his Master of Hebrew Letters. Rabbi Siegel came to Anshe Emet in 1982 as Assistant Rabbi and was named Senior Rabbi in 1990. Rabbi Siegel serves on the Executive Council of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Jewish Theological Seminary's Chancellor's Rabbinic Cabinet and the Executive Board of MAZON: A Jewish Resource to Hunger. Rabbi Siegel is also a board member of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, on the Advisory Board of JLJS – The DePaul University College of Law Center for Jewish Law & Judaic Studies, a past President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and active leader in the Florence G. Heller Jewish Community Center. Rabbi Siegel is the national Co-Chair of the Heksher Tzedek Commission. Through the use of the Magen Tzedek, the ethical Kosher seal, Heksher Tzedek promises to have a powerful impact on kashrut in particular and American Jewry as a whole. More recently Rabbi Siegel helped to form the Hayom Coalition, an organization of synagogues committed to the transformation of institutions, and a re-envisioning of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Siegel has been an avid supporter of AIPAC and a leader in the creation of their Synagogue Initiative. In the past few years, Rabbi Siegel has represented the synagogue at the White House on a number of occasions including the United States Honorary Delegation commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Israel's Statehood.
Seymour Siegel (September 12, 1927 - February 24, 1988), often referred to as "an architect of Conservative Jewish theology," was an American Conservative rabbi, a Professor of Ethics and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), the 1983-1984 Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,"[1] and an advisor to three American Presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. Siegel was associated with JTS for 41 years, first as a student and later as an instructor, holding the Ralph Simon Professor of Ethics and Theology chair, succeeding his friend and mentor, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in that position. He was an outspoken champion of political conservatism, delivering a prayer at the 1973 second term inauguration of President Richard Nixon, but just as strong a champion of religious causes sometimes associated with liberalism, such as the ordination of female rabbis. In his obituary, New York Times religion writer, Ari L. Goldman, wrote that the writings of Seymour Siegel "helped open the door for the ordination of female rabbis" in the Conservative movement.
Noam Sienna is a Hebrew calligrapher, scholar, and manuscript artist, with degrees in religion, anthropology, education, and history from Brandeis University, the University of Toronto, and currently in progress at the University of Minnesota. His work explores the relationship between text, image, colour, and light, inspired by the tradition of Jewish books throughout the centuries, and with a particular focus on Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. He has taught about Hebrew calligraphy and Jewish manuscript illumination to groups and individuals of all ages in both academic and hands-on settings. His graduate work in Jewish History and Museum Studies provides his art with deep roots and a commitment to seeing the past come alive again in the process.
David Silber is the founder and dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York and Israel. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011) and For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz. They have eight children and live in New York City.
Born in the Midwest, Rabbi Silberschein attended Columbia University, Jewish Theological Seminary and the Hebrew University. Ordained in 1981, he made Aliyah to Israel the following year. He teaches piyut, liturgy and classical rabbinic literature to undergraduate and graduate students in Jerusalem and abroad. Throughout his teaching career, Rabbi Silberschein has also served congregations as both rabbi and cantor in such diverse locales as Tokyo, Japan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and most recently, Savannah Georgia.
Dr. Rabbi Paul Silton served as rabbi of Temple Israel, the largest conservative synagogue in northeast New York. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Boston University, an M.A. in Hebrew Literature and Rabbinical Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970, and a Doctor of Divinity in 1996. At his graduation from the Jewish Theological Seminary, he was awarded the top prize in Pastoral Counseling. While at the Seminary, he studied at the Meir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and taught at religious schools in Fort Lee, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; and Rumson, New Jersey. He also served as Gabbai of the Seminary Synagogue under the supervision of Dr. Rabbi Saul Lieberman and Dr. Rabbi Louis Finkelstein. Prior to his move to Albany, New York, Rabbi Silton spent 6 years as a teacher and Education Director at Camps Ramah in Glen Spey, New York and in Palmer, Massachusetts. Rabbi Silton arrived in Albany after serving as Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, Massachusetts. While in North Adams, Rabbi Silton taught at Williams College and served as prison chaplain.
Born Abraham Silver in Naumiestis, in the Suwałki Governorate of Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), Abba Hillel Silver (January 28, 1893 – November 28, 1963) was an American Rabbi and Zionist leader. He was a key figure in the mobilization of American support for the founding of the State of Israel. In 1917, at age twenty-four, he became rabbi of The Temple in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the nation's largest and best-known Reform congregations, where he served for forty-six years. Abba Hillel Silver was an early champion of rights for labor, for worker's compensation and civil liberties, though his highest priorities were to advance respect for and support of Zionism. Silver was a keynote speaker in the Allied Jewish Campaign to raise funds jointly for Zionist projects in Palestine and for European Jewry. Silver was one of the chief Zionist spokesmen appearing before the United Nations in the Palestine hearings of 2 October 1947. (from Wikipedia)
Rabbi Joseph Silverman (1860 – 1930), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi and author in the United States. He attended the University of Cincinnati and received a Doctor of Divinity from the Hebrew Union College in 1887, from which he received his rabbinic ordination three years earlier. He was Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, Texas, September 1884 to June 1885; rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel, Galveston, Texas July, 1885 to February 20, 1888. While in Texas he was a circuit preacher to the Jewish communities in the vicinity of Dallas and Galveston, and aided in organizing many Sabbath schools and congregations. At the beginning of 1888, Silverman received an offer from Temple Emanu-El in New York City to serve as a rabbi of the leading Reform congregation in America. Silverman started at Temple Emanu-El on March 1, 1888, succeeding rabbi Gustav Gottheil. He was the first American born rabbi to serve in New York City. During the years of his career in New York, 1888-1922 he was also president (1900–1903) of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Eastern Council 1918- and was founder and president of the Emanu-El Brotherhood. He helped organize the Religious Congress of the World's Fair in Chicago, 1893, where his address on this occasion was titled, "The Popular Errors About the Jews." Silverman published many articles and books, including A Catechism on Judaism (1886) and The Renaissance of Judaism (1918). He was consulting editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia (Funk & Wagnalls). An article from The New York Times on April 21, 1912, quoted Silverman at a memorial service for victims of the RMS Titanic disaster as saying "Not God was responsible for this great disaster but the imperfection of human knowledge and judgment."
Rabbi Morris Silverman (1894–1972) was a Conservative rabbi as well as an editor and writer of Jewish prayer books. In 1939, he edited the High Holiday Prayer Book, popularly known as the "Silverman Machzor" which became the official prayer book for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for the United Synagogue of America of the Conservative Movement for over half a century.Likewise, his manuscript for a siddur became the basis of the Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book (Seder Tefilot Yisrael), the official prayer book for the Conservative movement. Silverman served as rabbi for The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Rabbi Robert Silvers serves as Senior Rabbi for Congregation B’nai Israel, a URJ affiliated Reform congregation, in Boca Raton, Florida. He is a graduate of the Rabbinical program at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic seminary preparing rabbis and cantors to serve Klal Yisrael – the entire Jewish people. Rabbi Silvers holds the unique distinction of receiving semicha (ordination) from a Beit Din consisting of both Reform and Conservative rabbis.
Daniel Raphael Silverstein is a rabbi, educator, meditation teacher and MC/poet. He lives in Israel with his family, where he directs Applied Jewish Spirituality, an online portal which makes the transformative spiritual wisdom of our tradition accessible to all who seek it.
The former director of the Teva Learning Center, Nili Simhai is a leader of the Jewish environmental education movement. She has trained and counseled hundreds of educators in the pedagogy of Jewish environmental education and has put environmental sensibilities and programs squarely in the middle of Jewish educational programming and outreach. In 2009 she was the recipient of the Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education. In addition, she is proud of her role in the creation of Teva’s Shomrei Ḥayyot, Yitziah, and “Bringing It Back to Our Schools” programs, as well as her contribution to the development of several Teva curricula.Passionate about all of Creation, Nili’s background includes study and work in ecological concerns ranging from wildlife conservation, wetland remediation, and entomology (Ohio State University) to ornithology (International Birdwatching Center in Eilat, Smithsonian Institute) and natural history (Natural History Museum of Cleveland). She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with her husband Yosh and her little boy, Tal.
Abram Simon (1872–1938), was a rabbi and leader in the Reform movement in the early 20th century. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he was educated at the University of Cincinnati where he earned his B.A. in 1894, the same year he was ordained by Hebrew Union College. Upon ordination he served as rabbi of B'nai Israel Congregation in Sacramento and then as rabbi of Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska (1899–1904). In 1903 he was elected as the first rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C.. In Washington, Simon became a communal leader. In addition to the Board of Education he was a trustee and later president of the Columbia Hospital for Women and also president of the Public Library of Washington. Rabbi Simon was a member of the Red Cross during World War I, broadcast radio lectures, and was president of both the Board of Education in Washington as well as the Conference of Christians and Jews. He was a founding member of the Reform movement's Committee on Jewish Education. Simon launched the National Committee on Religion, which boosted synagogue attendance and set up Hebrew schools. In 1917, Simon earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University, writing on the "The Constructive Character and Function of Religious Progress." He was president of the Central Conference of American Rabbi from 1923 to 1925, a founder and later president of the Synagogue Council of America. He was an early enthusiast of women's participation in the synagogue. Fay Sonnenreich recalled that in 1920, with his permission, she and another young girl sat in the pulpit, held the Torah and read from it. "I still remember the shocked expressions on the faces of the congregation," she recalled many years later. "Dr. Simon told us afterwards that the board of trustees was angry with him for permitting girls to participate in what traditionally belonged to the men. But he believed in developing the potential of each individual, and his encouragement made a lasting impact upon our lives."
Rabbi Howard A. Simon is a Reform movement rabbi in the United States. A graduate of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Prior to assuming leadership of Temple Emanu-El Congregation (Sarasota, Florida), he served congregations in Baltimore, Atlantic City, Cincinnati, and Knoxville. He is vice president of the Sarasota Ministerial Association, and writes a monthly column for The Jewish News (Sarasota/Manatee).
Dr. Alex Sinclair is the Director of Programs in Israel Education at JTS. He has published numerous articles on Israel education, as well as the book, Loving the Real Israel: An Educational Agenda for Liberal Zionism (2013) by Ben Yehuda Press.
Peri Sinclair is TALI’s Director of Professional Development. She received her doctorate in Midrash from the Jewish Theological Seminary and her MA in Jewish Education from JTS’s Davidson School of Education. Peri is a graduate of the TALI School in Hod Hasharon and a proud alumna of NOAM (the Masorti Movement’s youth movement). She has spent 15 summers in senior staff positions at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. She is married to Dr. Alex Sinclair and together they are raising three inquisitive kids in Modi’in.
Isaac Bashevis Singer (יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help of editors and collaborators. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978. A leading figure in the Yiddish literary movement, he was awarded two U.S. National Book Awards, one in Children's Literature for his memoir A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (1970) and one in Fiction for his collection A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories (1974).
Simeon Singer (1846–1906) was an English rabbi, preacher, lecturer and public worker. He is best known for his English translation of the Siddur, the Authorized Daily Prayer Book, informally known as the "Singer's Siddur". Singer's most famous work was his new edition and English translation of the Authorized Daily Prayer Book (published in 1890). The Siddur was expanded in 1917 under Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. In 1915 the Bloch Publishing Company published an American version, The Standard Prayer Book, which was widely used until the introduction of Philip Birnbaum's Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem in 1949.
Joseph David Sinẓheim (also, Sintzheim and Zinsheimer, 1745 – November 11, 1812 in Paris) was the chief rabbi of Strasbourg. Sinẓheim was the most learned and prominent member of the Assembly of Notables convened by Napoleon I on May 30, 1806. The task of answering the questions laid before the assembly by the imperial commissioner was entrusted to Sinẓheim, who fulfilled his duties (July 30-August 3, 1806) to the satisfaction of the assembly as well as of the commissioner and even of Napoleon himself. The German sermon which he delivered in the synagogue of Paris in honor of the emperor's birthday, on August 15, also strengthened Napoleon's favorable opinion of the Jews, who received the imperial promise that their rights as French citizens should not be withdrawn. On February 9, 1807, four days after the Assembly of Notables was dissolved, the Grand Sanhedrin was convened; its chairman (nasi), appointed by the minister of the interior, was Sinẓheim, who had probably suggested the assembly, having been frequently consulted by the imperial commissioner. The consistorial constitution, provided by the decree of March 17, 1808, opened a new field of activity for Sinẓheim, who was elected chairman of the Central Consistory of France. He was regarded as the foremost French Talmudist of his time, and was the author of the Yad David. He was son of Rabbi Isaac Sinẓheim of Treves, and brother-in-law of Herz Cerfbeer.
Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin is the founder and director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh. He is the author of several works on the interface between Judaism and the natural sciences, including the Challenge Of Creation and The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom.
Rabbi Levi Slonim is the codirector for Chabad Downtown in Binghamton, New York and the director of development at the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University. He grew up at the Chabad house of his parents in Vestal, New York (just outside Binghamton) and since returning to Binghamton in 2008, he has initiated impactful programs like the Binghamton Jewish Greek Council Shabbat, the Listen Up mental health fellowship, and has led over 800 students on birthright trips to the State of Israel.
Robert B. Slosberg is a Conservative rabbi in the United States. A cum laude graduate of Columbia University, he earned a BA, MA, Rabbinic Ordination, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Louisville, Kentucky, having served there since his rabbinic ordination in 1981. In 2012, Rabbi Slosberg was appointed the national chairman of the Masorti Rabbinic Cabinet. He also serves on the board of the National Council of Synagogues, a national Jewish Interfaith organization. From 2008 until 2012, Rabbi Slosberg was a driving force as chairman of Conservative Judaism's Outreach to Interfaith Couples Committee. Rabbi Slosberg is also a past Chairman of the Board of the Seminary's Albert A. List College in New York. Rabbi Slosberg is a fervent supporter of the State of Israel, having led over 25 missions to Israel, and has served on several national organizations benefiting the State of Israel. He is a founding member of the Louisville AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) Council.
Rabbi Dr. Israel Wolf Slotki (1884–1973), scholar and educator, was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to England in 1906, living first in London and later in Manchester. There he served as principal of the Talmud Torah school (1911–50) and later as director of Jewish education for Manchester (1946–50). He organized the first conference of religious Zionists in England (1918) and was secretary of the Mizrachi Center of the United Kingdom (1926–28). His publications include studies of ancient Hebrew poetry, annotated translations of 16 tractates of the Talmud (Soncino Press), commentaries and introductions to three books of the Bible, books on local Jewish history, and many contributions to scholarly periodicals.
Rabbi Harold P. Smith (1913-2011) of Chicago, was a former vice president of Hebrew Theological College. Ordained as a rabbi in 1940, he went on to serve as the Midwest Regional Director of Religious Zionists of America. At Hebrew Theological College for three decades, he created the Practical Rabbinical Program. Rabbi Smith served as president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and as national vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America. He was active in Jewish Federation and served on its Public Affairs Committee; was involved with the Rabbinical Advisory Committee of Combined Jewish Appeal; and was awarded "Clergyman of the Year" by the Chicago Tribune, for which he often wrote columns about Judaism and Israel. Rabbi Smith authored A Treasure Hunt in Jerusalem, a children's book about Judaism.
Samuel Francis Smith (October 21, 1808 – November 16, 1895) was an American Baptist minister, journalist, and author. He is best known for having written the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (sung to the tune of "God Save The Queen", which he entitled "America".
Rabbi Moshe Smolkin is the senior rabbi at Adath Israel (Cincinnati, Ohio). He grew up in Texas and New Mexico and holds a B.A. from Brandeis and a M.A.T. in Mathematics Education from Tufts. He taught high school math in Boston, before attending the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at American Jewish University (AJU) in Los Angeles. While in rabbinical school, he interned as an interfaith chaplain, studied in Jerusalem, and served at Mishkon Tephilo in Venice, California. Rabbi Smolkin was ordained AJU in 2009, having twice received awards for his excellence in Talmud. He then served for 10 years as the rabbi at Ohavay Zion Synagogue in Lexington, Kentucky.
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, DTD, ED, PC, KC, FRS (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948.
Leonard Victor Snowman (1900-1976) was one of Anglo-Jewry's most esteemed physicians and mohelim who contributed a lifetime of service to the community in many educational fields. Snowman followed in the footsteps of his father, Dr Jacob Snowman, in his zeal for communal work. Jacob had had the honour of being mohel to the Royal family and Leonard was accorded a like distinction. He served the Initiation Society as medical officer for some 45 years and trained large numbers of future mohelim in their sacred calling. He was surgeon-mohel to the London Jewish Hospital and Bearsted Memorial Hospital from 1931 to 1970 and also served for many years as honorary medical officer to Jews' College. Allied to medical expertise was a profound love and knowledge of Hebrew literature and Dr Snowman wrote extensively on the subject in the Jewish Chronicle and other journals. He translated and published several Hebrew poets into English, specialising in Bialik and Tchernichovsky. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Hampstead Synagogue, where he was a regular worshipper, he wrote a Hebrew ode. Dr. Snowman was president of the Union of Hebrew and Religion Classes, one of the forerunners of the London Board of Jewish Religious Education, and was for many years chairman of the education committee of the LBJRE.
Rabbi Herman Eliot Snyder (1901-1992), born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati and a degree in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1926 after which he was ordained 1928. He served student and summer pulpits in Wausau, Wisconsin; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Owensboro, Kentucky; Binghamton, New York; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; nd Dallas, Texas. In 1928, he accepted the pulpit of Congregation B'rith Sholom in Springfield, Illinois. During the 1930s Snyder was chairman of the local Joint Distribution Committee to raise relief funds. Snyder actively promoted Jewish-Christian relations; he was the first Rabbi elected president of the Springfield Ministerial Association His active interest in promoting equality in human relations led to his appointment to the Illinois State Committee on Naturalization and Americanization (a committee concerning race relations) by the Governor and to seeking equal employment practices for African Americans. In March of 1944, Snyder was commissioned a Chaplain (Lieutenant) in the US Naval eserve. After completion of Chaplain's Training School in Virginia, he was assigned to the arine Corps at Camp Joseph Pendleton in Oceanside, California. In addition to his regular duties as Chaplain, Snyder conducted services at San Diego area military bases and at Santa argarita Naval Hospital. Snyder was discharged from active duty in March of 1946, but continued to serve as an instructor at the Naval Reserve Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois. After 1946, Rabbi Snyder came to Temple Sinai in Springfield, Massachusetts where he spent the remainder of his career. He was discharged from the Naval Reserve in 1954, but served as a parttime chaplain for the US Air Force from 1957-1967 at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts and led a Torah Convocation (sponsored by the National Jewish Welfare Board) in 1954 for Jewish airmen in the Azores. He was founder and first President of the New England Region group of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He traded or shared pulpits with Christian clergy in Springfield to promote better Jewish-Christian relations. During the 1950s and 1960s Sinai Temple and the Trinity United Methodist Church held joint "Brotherhood Week" services.
Eliran Sobel is a first-year rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is a graduate of Rutgers University, majoring in Linguistics with a minor in Jewish Studies, and has spent time learning at the Hadar Institute and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. He has had internships with institutions such as the Jewish English Lexicon and Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy. He is passionate about veganism, Yiddish, and has a casual interest in food science for the home kitchen. He is particularly interested in the variety of nusḥa'ot and studying Tana'ch and liturgy.
Beverly Socher-Lerner is the Assistant Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Beth Sholom. She has a soft spot for chocolate chip cookies and beautiful mountains. When she is not at Temple Beth Sholom, she loves to pick vegetables at her CSA, enjoy and protect nature, craft, and especially bake. She is one of the organizers of Minyan Tikvah, an egalitarian, full liturgy community in Center City Philadelphia.
Naomi Socher-Lerner is a librarian and knowledge-seeker. She is a volunteer reader for the Public Domain LibriVox Recordings project and serves on the working group for Heymish Philly. She lives in Philadelphia with her spouse Beverly and enjoys slacklining, quilting, ancient philosophy, woodworking, making music, and reading.
Ruth H Sohn is a rabbi, teacher, spiritual director, and writer. She co-directs the Yedidya Center for Jewish Spiritual Direction and the Morei Derekh Jewish Spiritual Direction Training Program, and she also serves as Director of the Aronoff Rabbinic Mentoring Program and Rabbi of the Lainer Beit Midrash at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles.
Rabbi Alan Mayor Sokobin (1926-2020), born in Newark, New Jersey, was a Reform movement rabbi in Toledo, Ohio. of Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim. At the onset of World War II, at age 15, he left home to join the Navy. He saw action in the European Theater and was on a vessel escorting troop ships for the occupation of Japan at war's end. Through the benefits of the GI Bill, he attended Syracuse University, from which he received a bachelor's degree in history. His father's interest in their Jewish faith and tradition inspired him to pursue rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College. Ordained in 1955 and served as a student assistant in 1953-54 to Rabbi Leon Feuer in Toledo. In 1972, he returned to Toledo to become co-rabbi, with Rabbi Feuer, of the Collingwood Avenue Temple. He attained a doctor of theology degree from Burton College and served on the board of HUC-JIR. In Toledo he became chairman of the Labor Management Citizens Committee. After his retirement from Shomer Emunim in 1992, he went to law school at the University of Toledo, graduating in 1996. He became a lecturer at the university and spoke on Jewish law and took part in panels on the legal and moral aspects of end-of-life decisions. In retirement as well, he served as the executive director of the Medical Mission Hall of Fame Foundation at UT. In 1999, he received the Rabbi Morton Goldberg Community Service Award, named for the late charter member of L-M-C, which was formed decades earlier to bring labor peace to Toledo. Rabbi Sokobin and former Mayor Harry Kessler led a study committee on improving Toledo Municipal Court, and the the rabbi was on a Toledo Hospital ethics panel.
Rabbi Hyman Solomon (1890-1930) from Springfield, Massachusetts, was rabbi of Beth Israel Temple, Vineland New Jersey and served as secretary of the Rabbinical Assembly.
Rabbi Avraham Soltes (1917-1983) was a Reform Jewish rabbi, the Jewish chaplain at the United States Military Academy in West Point, an author and a leading figure in Jewish cultural affairs. He was born in New York City. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1937 and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1938. After being ordained in 1942 by the Jewish Institute of Religion (now HUC-JIR), he served as chaplain at Cornell and McGill Universities and then was assistant rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan from 1946 to 1949. He subsequently served as rabbi at Temple Sharey Tefilo in East Orange and Temple Emanuel in Great Neck. He began his service at West Point as a voluntary chaplain in 1963 and was made a permanent member of the staff in 1981. His interests also took him into commerce, and from 1969 to 1974, he was vice president for community affairs of the Glen Alden Corporation, which in 1972 was merged into the Rapid America Corporation. From 1974 to 1977, he was assistant to the president of Tel Aviv University. He was credited with a key role in the establishment of the New York medical division at the university. In 1981, Rabbi Soltes received the Jabotinsky Award from Prime Minister Menachim Begin for his service to Israel. From 1977 until his death Rabbi Soltes had been the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chavairuth of Bergen County, in Tenafly, N.J. He participated in many cultural and educational activities that interpreted Jewish art, music and literature. He was chairman of the National Jewish Music Council from 1963 to 1969 and a member of the board of the National Jewish Book Council from 1967 to 1972. Rabbi Soltes, a commentator on Jewish music for American listeners, was the host of a radio program, ''The Music of Israel,'' on WQXR from 1974-1983. Among his writings were Palestine in Poetry and Song of the Jewish Diaspora (Master's thesis HUC-JIR 1942) and Off The Willows: The Rebirth of Modern Jewish Music (1970).
Tzvi Hirsch (Hartog) Sommerhausen (צבי הירש זומרהויזן, 22 October 1781 – 5 March 1853) was a German-born Dutch Jewish writer, poet, and translator. He was a central figure of the Haskalah movement in Holland.
Josh Soref is a long-time participant of the National Havurah Committee, a Toronto-based DevOps Engineer, and a contributor to open-source projects (including the Open Siddur Project).
Mendel Spalter is the director of development for the Jewish Children's Museum.
Virginia Avniel Spatz lives and writes in DC, with a focus on Torah and justice, and works with We Act Radio and Charnice Milton Community Bookstore (CMCB) in Historic Anacostia. Her book, Rereading Exodus Along the Anacostia, supports the literacy programs of CMCB while highlighting the need for new perspectives on race, Jews, and power. She is also active in Tzedek Chicago, Hill Havurah (DC), SVARA, and a variety of other communities. Her journalism has appeared on We Act Radio and Capital Community News, and her fiction and nonfiction appears in variety of publications.
Rabbi Efry Spectre (1934-2010), born in Buffalo, New York, was a Conservative movement rabbi and playwright in the United States. He graduated Columbia University and was ordained at JTS in 1963. He served pulpits Har Zion Temple in Philadelphia before founding Nes Ami Penn Valley Congregation in 1971. In 1978, he came to Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Daniel Sperber (Hebrew: דניאל שפרבר) is a British-born Israeli academic and rabbi. He is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education and Talmudic studies. Sperber is the author of Minhagei Yisrael: Origins and History on the character and evolution of Jewish customs. He has written extensively on many issues regarding how Jewish law can and has evolved. This includes a call for a greater inclusion of women in certain ritual services, including ordination. In 1992, Sperber won the Israel Prize, for Jewish studies. (via wikipedia)
Rabbi Irving Spielman, ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In the 1960s he was rabbi of Beth Hillel Synagogue in Bloomfield, Connecticut. In the 1980s and 1990s, he led the JCC of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Rabbi Spielman served on the boards of the Jewish National Fund of New Jersey, the Bergen County Board of Rabbis, and the Rabbinical Assembly of New Jersey, and as a as a member of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of Israel Bonds.
Rabbi William (Zeév) Spigelman (1917-1994) was an Orthodox rabbi in the United States. After graduating from Yeshiva College, he became rabbi of the Woodside Jewish Center in Queens, New York in 1939, Later he served Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles, California. In 1961, he was elected president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.
Rabbi Hannah Spiro is the rabbi of the Hill Ḥavurah and a June 2017 Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Reconstructing Judaism) graduate.
Rabbi Ben-Tzion Spitz (born 1969, Queens, New York) was the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. In May 2013 he was appointed as Chief Rabbi of Uruguay, a position he held until October 2016.
Rabbi Spitz serves Congregation B'nai Israel, Tustin, California. He served as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly Committee of Law and Standards (1994-2004; 2008-2016) and as a Global Justice Fellow for the American Jewish World Service (2016-2017). A graduate of The Jewish Theological Seminary and Boston University School of Law, Rabbi Spitz is the author of three books and many articles dealing with spirituality and Jewish law. He has taught the philosophy of Jewish law at the American Jewish University and taught at the Wilkinson College, Religious Studies Department at Chapman University.
Pesach Dahvid Stadlin is an individuated soul in a flesh colored spacesuit, clinging to a wet mutant life-pulsating mud heap, hurling through time and space, getting hip to what’s going on. When he is not directing spirits at Eden Village Camp, he is a rabbinical student at the Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisroel, just outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem.
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia.
Rabbi Samuel (Shmuel, Seymour) Stauber (1927-2013) was an Orthodox rabbi in the United States. He graduated from Ner Israel Yeshiva and Loyola College and began serving as a rabbi and educational director in Easton and Randallstown, Maryland. In the 1970s he served Congregation Bnai Torah in Toronto, Canada. Rabbi Stauber was listed as having been given semikhah by Shlomo Carlebach, and representing the House of Love and Prayer's Achdut Group. In the 1990s, he became a director of the Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals. Later in his career, became an Imago Relationship Therapist. We know very little else about Rabbi Stauber. If you can add any more details about his life and career, please contact us.
Eli Steier is an avid fan of the often-libeled bird, the pigeon. This may have been the natural result of being born and raised in Queens. A graduate of SUNY Stony Brook, he has studied at Pardes in Israel, and is a former board member of the Wandering Jews of Astoria.
Joseph Stein (May 30, 1912 – October 24, 2010) was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba. Born in New York City to Jewish parents, Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had immigrated from Poland, Stein grew up in the Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from CCNY, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree from Columbia University in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side. A chance encounter with Zero Mostel led him to start writing for radio personalities, including Henry Morgan, Hildegarde, Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, and Jackie Gleason. He later started working in television for Sid Caesar when he joined the writing team of Your Show of Shows that included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon.
Leopold Stein (1810-1882) was a German Reform Movement rabbi and writer.
Milton Steinberg (November 25, 1903 – March 20, 1950) was an American rabbi, philosopher, theologian and author. Born in Rochester, New York, he was raised with the combination of his grandparents' traditional Jewish piety and his father's modernist socialism. He graduated as valedictorian of his class at DeWitt Clinton High School and then majored in Classics at City College of New York which he graduated from summa cum laude in 1924. Steinberg received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University in 1928 and then entered the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was ordained. In seminary, he was strongly influenced by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983), the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. After five years in a pulpit in Indiana, he was invited by the Seminary to assume the pulpit of Manhattan's Park Avenue Synagogue, then a small congregation with a Reform orientation. In his sixteen years at the congregation, he grew it from 120 to 750 families. In 1943 he had a near fatal heart attack. While a disciple of Kaplan who considered himself a Reconstructionist, Steinberg was critical of Kaplan's dismissal of metaphysics. Steinberg's works included Basic Judaism, The Making of the Modern Jew, A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem, and As A Driven Leaf, a historical novel revolving around the talmudic characters Elisha ben Abuyah and Rabbi Akiva. In his final years, he began writing a series of theological essays. This project, which he had hoped would conclude in a book of theology, was cut short by his death at age 46. An unfinished second novel, The Prophet's Wife, about the Tanakh characters Hosea and Gomer, was published in March 2010. (via his entry in Wikipedia)
Rabbi Dr. Oren Z. Steinitz is the spiritual leader of Congregation Kol Ami in Elmira, NY. He was ordained in 2014 at the Mesifta Adas Wolkowisk Rabbinical Academy, and is a member of OHALAH Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal. The same year he completed his doctorate at the University of Calgary‘s Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (Religious Studies, Communications and Israel Studies), researching the attitude towards the “Other” in Jewish and Islamic legal websites. Rabbi Oren holds BA and MA degrees from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). His fields of expertise include the history of Jewish-Muslim relations; modern Jewish fundamentalism; Jewish and Islamic Law; and the religious online world.Before assuming his current position, Rabbi Oren served for five years as the University of Calgary’s Jewish Chaplain, taught at Mount Royal University in Calgary, and worked for the Masorti Movement in Israel.
Rabbi Gil Steinlauf serves as rabbi at Congregation Kol Shalom in Rockville, Maryland and formerly served as senior rabbi at Adas Israel Congregation, Washington, DC. He is the co-creator of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s “Innovation Labs” for synagogue renewal. He is the first senior rabbi of a large, historic, conservative congregation to come out as openly gay, and has sought to create an atmosphere of constructive dialogue on the issues facing modern culture and Judaism. Along with Adas clergy and staff, Rabbi Steinlauf co-founded three nationally recognized projects now operating out of Adas Israel: YP@AI for Jewish Young Professionals, MakomDC for 21st century experiential learning, and the Jewish Mindfulness Center of Washington for meditation, yoga, and contemplative Jewish practices. Rabbi Steinlauf had previously been the rabbi of Temple Israel in New Jersey, is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, studied at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, earned an MHL from the University of Judaism, and received rabbinic ordination and an MA at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Currently, Rabbi Steinlauf is on the boards of the Washington Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, A Wider Bridge, and ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He also sits on the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion Council, and on the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee of JTS. He is an alumnus of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, a member of the Center for Jewish Learning and Leadership’s Rabbis Without Borders program, and is on the current GLEAN cohort of spiritual entrepreneurs.
Dr. Devora Steinmetz serves on the leadership team for special programs at Drisha Institute in the United States and Israel. She has taught Talmud and Rabbinics at Drisha, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshivat Hadar, and Havruta: a Beit Midrash at Hebrew University. Dr. Steinmetz is the founder of Beit Rabban, a Jewish day school profiled in Daniel Pekarsky’s Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban. She is the author of scholarly articles on Talmud, Midrash, and Bible as well as of two books: From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis and Punishment and Freedom: The Rabbinic Construction of Criminal Law. Dr. Steinmetz consults for the Mandel Foundation and works at Gould Farm, a therapeutic community for individuals struggling with mental illness.
Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (11 July 1937 – 7 August 2020) (עדין אבן-ישראל שטיינזלץ) was an Israeli ḤaBaD Ḥasidic rabbi, teacher, philosopher, social critic, author, translator and publisher. His Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud was originally published in modern Hebrew, with a running commentary to facilitate learning, and has also been translated into English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Beginning in 1989, Steinsaltz published several tractates in Hebrew and English of the Babylonian (Bavli) Talmud in an English-Hebrew edition. The first volume of a new English-Hebrew edition, the Koren Talmud Bavli, was released in May 2012, and has since been brought to completion. Steinsaltz was a recipient of the Israel Prize for Jewish Studies (1988), the President's Medal (2012), and the Yakir Yerushalayim prize (2017).
Joseph Frederick Stern (1865-1934) was appointed Preacher, Reader and Secretary of the East London United Synagogue, Rectory Square, Stepney Green in 1887, and took full charge after the removal of his predecessor Victor Rosenstein after a series of scandals, serving until 1928. Sometimes dubbed the 'Jewish Bishop of Stepney' for his social work, he reformed the liturgy, introduced children's services, a mixed voluntary choir (under Bernard Cousins) and an 8' mahogany pulpit, and offered cheap marriage ceremonies. He is said to have chanted the prayers, in Hebrew and English, in a manner akin to Anglican clergy, and with a marked English accent! Although his innovations did not prevent the Chief Rabbis of the period (Dr. Hertz and Sir Israel Brodie) from visiting, traditionalist immigrants rejected the United Synagogue approach, and established Stepney Orthodox Synagogue, afiliated to the Federation of Synagogues. Charles Booth had interviewed Stern, and commented, "Mr. Stern would defy the foreign prejudice and carry and umbrella (on the Sabbath) if he needed one, but not a walking stick ... Mr. Stern preached on the preceding Sabbath on Gladstone's death. The congregation accepted it. In a ḥevra they would have said 'who is this William Ewart Gladstone?' Mr. Stern would like to go further than he is free to do so. He breaks the din [Jewish law] every day (according to the Interviewer) but has to be wary of offending the foreigner. He would abandon the annual cycle (of Sabbath readings from the Pentateuch, presumably in favour of the triennial cycle); use more English in the Service. He objects to Zionism and praying for the restoration of sacrifices ... although thought a little too much of an innovator by one, he is much respected and his energy and devotion are very great. On the whole, he is a good specimen of the Jew, full of his religion and filled with loyal English sympathies." His obituary in the Times said but for the wisdom, sympathy and unflagging courage of men like Canon Barnett, H.S. Lewis and J.F. Stern, the process of absorbing and digesting that great influx of foreign Jews would have caused a far more serious social upheaval than it in fact did. Marc Michaels in The East London Synagogue: Outpost of Another World (Kulmus 2008) comments that, although unpopular with most first generation immigrants, it paved a way for their descendants, but that anglicisation proved to be the victim of its own success, encouraging greater social mobility and the suburbanisation of the Jewish community. He was later honored as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). (via this choice bit of oral history)
Rabbi Louis Stern (1847-1920 from Landkreis Kassel, Hessen, Germany served as the first rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation in D.C. He came to Washington Hebrew in 1872 as “Chazen and Leader in Hebrew and Jewish Religion.” He guided the Congregation through the construction of its first building in 1897, the acquisition of a cemetery, and the development of Reform liturgy and rituals.
Max Emanuel Stern (9 November 1811 – 9 February 1873), also known as Mendel b'ri Stern (Yiddish: מענדל בר״י שטערן), was a Hungarian-born Hebraist, writer, poet, and translator.
Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman is the founder of Rimon: Resource Center for Jewish Spirituality, where she served as Executive Director and Spiritual Leader from 2012–2016. She is dedicated to the development of meaningful Jewish community rooted in Jewish wisdom traditions and focused on the contemporary needs for Tikkun Olam—repairing the world. Ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion, a non-denominational, pluralistic seminary in Yonkers, in 2011, she also holds a BA in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work from New York University. Rabba Kaya is a Fellow of Rabbis Without Borders and a graduate of the Clergy Leadership Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Prior to work in the Jewish community, Rabba Kaya worked as a clinical social worker and as a professional Feng Shui Consultant. In 2015, Rabba Kaya was recognized by The Forward as one of America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis.
Nathan of Bratslav (January 22, 1780 – December 20, 1844), also known as Reb Noson, born Nathan Sternhartz in Nemyriv, was the chief disciple and scribe of Rebbe Naḥman of Bratslav, founder of the Bratslav stream of Ḥasidut. Reb Noson is credited with preserving, promoting and expanding the Breslov movement after the Rebbe's death. Rebbe Naḥman himself said, "Were it not for Reb Noson, not a page of my writings would have remained." (from his entry in Wikipedia)
Adlai Ewing Stevenson Ⅱ (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956, losing both elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Stevenson was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president of the United States.
Ella Stiniguță is a freelance Romanian translator.
Rose Harriet Pastor Stokes (née Wieslander; July 18, 1879 – June 20, 1933) was an American socialist activist, writer, birth control advocate, and feminist. She was a figure of some public notoriety after her 1905 marriage to Episcopalian millionaire J. G. Phelps Stokes, a member of elite New York society, who supported the settlements in New York. Together they joined the Socialist Party. Pastor Stokes continued to be active in labor politics and women's issues, including promoting access to birth control, which was highly controversial at the time. In 1919, Pastor Stokes was a founding member of the Communist Party of America and helped develop it into the 1930s. In addition to her writing on politics, she wrote poetry and plays; one was produced in 1916 by the Washington Square Players. She started her autobiography in 1924 but had not completed it at her death; it was published in 1992.
Ohad Stolarz was born in Tel Aviv in 1989. His family comes from Germany and Argentina. Stolarz has lived in Berlin since 2013. In 2014, Stolarz founded the Hebrew Choir Berlin (e.V.), a German-Israeli amateur choir, which he conducted until 2017 and to which he dedicated several compositions. Since 2016, Stolarz has been studying choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin with Prof. Jörg-Peter Weigle, and since 2018 with Prof. Justin Doyle.
Based in mid-Hudson Valley, New York, Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit is a working artist, peacemaker, and a weaver of blessings (through poem, prayer, and song).
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David Stromberg is a writer, translator, and literary scholar based in Jerusalem. His nonfiction has appeared in The American Scholar, Literary Matters, and Speculative Nonfiction, and his fiction in The Woven Tale Press, Atticus Review, and the UK's Ambit. His most recent book is A Short Inquiry into the End of the World (2021) and Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer from Princeton University Press (2022).
In June 2006 Alan Jay Sufrin released his first solo EP, Folky American Pop, and has since been making music and honing his craft as a singer/songwriter/producer. His latest project, a duo with acclaimed singer-songwriter Miriam Brosseau known as “Stereo Sinai,” is lending renewed relevance to ancient Jewish texts by taking original Hebrew, Yiddish, and Aramaic verses and mixing them with synthesized pop arrangements they call “Biblegum Pop.” Learn more about Stereo Sinai at stereosinai.com.
Born in 1970 and raised in Argentina, Rabbi Gustavo Surazski was ordained at the "Latin American Rabbinical Seminary" in Buenos Aires in 1998, where he taught halacha and rabbinic literature. Rabbi Gustavo earned a B.A. in Jewish Scripture and Philosophy from the University of Haifa and an M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Jerusalem. He is also a cantor and Torah scribe, having written Sifrei Torah for congregations in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Israel. In Argentina, he served as rabbi of the Beit Chai Community of the Natán Gesang Day School. He made aliyah to Ra'anana in 2002, where he served as rabbi of the local Masorti congregation, Kehillat Amitai. Since 2004, he has been serving as rabbi of Kehillat Netzach Israel in Ashkelon.
Benjamin Szold (November 15, 1829 in Nemeskürt, Nyitra County, Kingdom of Hungary, (today Slovakia) – July 31, 1902 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia) was an American rabbi and scholar. Szold studied under Rabbis Jacob Fischer of Shalgaw, Wolf Kollin of Werbau, and Benjamin Wolf at the Pressburg Yeshiva, and received the rabbinical authorization from Judah Assod of Bur and Simon Sidon of Tyrnau. In 1848, he studied in Vienna, but when the revolution of that year broke out he went to Pressburg. From 1849 to 1855 he tutored in private families in Hungary, and in the latter year entered the University of Breslau, where he remained until 1858. While a student he officiated during the holy days at Brieg, Silesia (1857), and at Stockholm, Sweden (1858). In 1859, he accepted a call from the Temple Oheb Shalom (Baltimore, Maryland) in whose service he remained until his death, first as rabbi and later (after 1892) as rabbi emeritus. Under his guidance it grew rapidly, and, actuated by his example, it became widely known for its strict observance of Shabbat. Before Szold's arrival the congregation had adopted for use in its Shabbat service the Minhag America, (which was the new prayer-book written by Isaac Meyer Wise, a Reform rabbi) on the great fall holy days it reverted to the Minhag Ashkenaz; after much discussion with his congregation Szold introduced a new prayer-book, Abodat Yisrael, which closely followed traditional lines.
Henrietta Szold (December 21, 1860 – February 13, 1945) was an American-born Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.
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