Ely Emanuel Pilchik

Rabbi Ely Emanuel Pilchik (1913-2003) was an American Jewish Reform rabbi, Born in Baranowiz, Poland, he emigrated in 1920 to the United States. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1935, he was ordained by HUC in 1939 and soon joined the faculty of the University of Maryland while serving as assistant rabbi at Har Sinai Temple in Baltimore until 1942. World War II interrupted his appointment as rabbi for Temple Israel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he became a rabbi chaplain for the US Navy. After the war, he became rabbi of temple B'nai Jeshurun on Newark, New Jersey until 1981. Through the 1950s, he served on the Essex County Synagogue Council and the NJ Board of Rabbis, the Association of Reform Rabbis of New York, the executive board of CCAR, and as president of the Jewish Book Council of America. He served on the Board of Governors of HUC-JIR, and from 1977-1979, as president of CCAR. A scholar, he authored a number of books including Hillel (1951), Maimonides' Creed (1952), and Duties of the Heart (1953).