Conservative Rabbi Louis Finkelstein On Time Magazine

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Conservative Rabbi Louis Eliezer Finkelstein (left) with Pinchas Hacohen Peli, New York, 1969. In 1910 his family was living in Brooklyn, New York.  He had siblings:  Nathan, Fannie, Esther, Ruth, Morris, and Herman Norman, lawyer, who was born August 1, 1900 and died June 24, 1977 in NY, Reuben, Jonathan, Esther.   His father was Shimon "Samuel" Itzik Finkelstein and mother was Chana 'Hannah" Basha "Bessie" Breger who he married on the 5 March 1922, both from "Russia".    He had a son and a daughter in 1930 and was a teacher, 34 years old then.  Of course, "rabbi" means "teacher."  They lived in the Bronx, New York.  

Another rabbi,  Shmuel Levy ben reb Avraham David Finkelstein, also went by Samuel, and he was born in 1863, died at age 59 in Brooklyn.  So the anglicized first name that was popular if you name was Shmuel or Shimon was Samuel.  This makes a difference in genealogy.  There happened to be many Samuel Finkelsteins, and some of their children's names were the same as my subject's names.  Thank goodness they would have different wives, making a distinction in searches, and ages given.  

"Russia could have meant any of the later countries of the Pale of Settlement.  Catherine the Great of Russia had taken over this large swatch of land and Jews were to live there and not the rest of Russia, which was so huge, anyway, so he could have come from Lithuania or Poland among a few other places.  

Rabbi Louis Finkelstein was born at the turn of the century in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 14, 1895, and died at the end of that century on 29 November,  1991 at the age of 96 in New York. He was born into a rabbinical family. 

Conservatism was an outgrowth from Orthodoxy, and then Reformed.  It was an accepting between the two.  It occurred mainly in the USA.  Solomon Schechter was one of the founders.  Conservative Judaism became a real force in the USA when Solomon Schechter, head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, founded the United Synagogue of America in 1912 by bringing together 22 like-minded synagogues.

They supported Zionism.  Strange to me, but one Finkelstein family of Zionists reported that between 1896 and 1913, they had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. Each of them eventually turned away from religion and became a Socialist-Zionist – several were members of Hashomer Hatsair.  

They oppose extreme changes in traditional observances.  They rejected patrilinear descent as a criterion of Jewishness which was accepted b the Reform Movement, which surprises me!  Right from my Jewish Encyclopedia!   The movement grew out of disputes in the early German Reform movement. The main issues were over whether to use Hebrew or local language in services, and keeping Jewish food laws.

The more traditional reformers felt that Hebrew should be retained for continuity with the past, because it was part of Jewish identity, and because it provided a unifying element for all Jews, wherever they lived. Similar arguments were put forward for keeping kosher.

The wish of these reformers to 'conserve' key elements of the tradition explains why Conservative Judaism came to be so called.                  

                                    Fellow student studying

He moved with his parents to Brooklyn, New York as a youngster and graduated from the City College of New York in 1915.   He received his PhD from Columbia University in 1918.                                       

Upper West Side New York USA Rooftop view to the General Grant National Memorial, the Jewish Theological Seminary and buildings of Columbus University. (Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Then he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) the following year.   He joined the JTS faculty in 1919.  He was a Jewish American scholar, studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he graduated as a rabbi in 1920.  He then taught Talmud and theology.  

Rabbi Louis became provost in 1937 and president in 1940, and chancellor in 1951 of the Seminary, greatly extending its activities and scope.

Finkelstein's major writings were largely in the field of Jewish history and literature in the Mishnaic Period.  In particular he demonstrated the social and economic basis of the dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees.  

      Neveh Shalom, Conservative Synagogue in Portland, Oregon In 1961 Neveh Zedek and Ahavai Sholom voted to merge, despite each congregation’s fears about losing their autonomy and unique character. This decision was not an easy one, nor was the debate about where to locate their new, larger home. These issues had been unsuccessfully raised in the past – twice before the two congregations had considered merging (in 1895 the two did merge but after one year decided to separate again, perhaps due to differences in worship styles), and both congregations had considered moving to the east side at different times before ultimately staying in southwest Portland.

" He positioned JTS as the central institution of Conservative Judaism, which experienced extraordinary growth during those years. Thousands of Jews living in America's cities moved to the suburbs and joined and built Conservative synagogues, and the movement emerged as the branch of Judaism with the largest number of synagogues and members. Finkelstein's leadership led Ari L. Goldman, in his obituary for Finkelstein in the New York Times, to describe Finkelstein as "the dominant leader of Conservative Judaism in the 20th century." During the years of Finkelstein's leadership, the seminary flourished, growing from a small rabbinical school and teacher training program to a major university of Judaism. Finkelstein also established the seminary's Cantor's Institute, the Seminary College of Jewish Music, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (predecessor of the Graduate School), and a West Coast branch of the seminary that later became the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University).                         

My conservative Synagogue, opening in 1911, Neveh Zedek After the merger between the two Conservative Russian congregations, Neveh Zedek Talmud Torah (usually referred to as simply Neveh Zedek) was also in need of a new building large enough to house its growing membership and educational goals. When the cornerstone was laid for a new synagogue in 1911 in Portland, Oregon, the congregation boasted 121 families and 144 students at the Sabbath school, in clear need of the home which would serve them for the next five decades.

Public outreach was among Finkelstein's top priorities. One of his signature programs was a radio and television show called The Eternal Light, which explored Judaism and Jewish holidays. Interfaith dialogue was a particular priority. Finkelstein established the Institute for Religious and Social Studies, which brought together Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish scholars for

theological discussions.  

 

His efforts were considered so significant that an article about him was featured in Time Magazine including his picture on its cover on the edition of October 13, 1951. In 1986, the name of the institute was changed to the Finkelstein Institute in his honor.                                     

            Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974)

Finkelstein's contacts went well beyond the religious community. He was an intimate of leading political and judicial figures and in 1957, enticed Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court to spend a Sabbath at the seminary in the study of the Talmud. Finkelstein served as the official Jewish representative to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's commission on peace, and in 1963 President John F. Kennedy sent him to Rome as part of an American delegation to the installation of Pope Paul VI. He also offered a prayer at the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Finkelstein authored a number of books, including Tradition in the Making, Beliefs and Practices of Judaism, Pre-Maccabean Documents in the Passover Haggadah, Introduction to the Treatises Abot and Abot of Rabbi Nathan (1950, in Hebrew with English summary), Abot of Rabbi Nathan, (a three volume series on The Pharisees), and Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr. He also edited a four volume series entitled The Jews: Their History, Culture and Religion in 1949; in 1971, it was renamed and published as three volumes, The Jews: Their History; The Jews: Their Religion and Culture; and The Jews: Their Role in Civilization. Among his other works were "New Light from the Prophets," published in 1969.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Finkelstein

https://nevehshalom.org/cns150-history/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/conservative_1.shtml#:~:text=Conservative%20Judaism%20became%20a%20real,together%2022%20like%2Dminded%20synagogues.