Walter Jacob (rabbi)

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Walter Jacob (born March 13, 1930 in Augsburg ) is an important rabbi of American Reform Judaism . He was rabbi of the Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh / Pennsylvania for 40 years , is an expert on the interpretation of Jewish religious law, the Halacha , and a central figure in the re-establishment of liberal Judaism in Germany since the mid-1990s.

Live and act

Walter Jacob was born into a German rabbi family. He represents the 16th generation in a row. His father Ernst I. Jacob was a rabbi in Augsburg, his grandfather Benno Jacob (1862–1945) in Göttingen and Dortmund. Benno Jacob is considered to be one of the great Bible commentators on liberal Judaism in Germany.

In 1939 Walter Jacob and his family fled to the United States via England. In 1950, after his undergraduate studies (BA) in Springfield, Missouri, at Drury College, he studied in Cincinnati , Ohio at the Hebrew Union College and received a Master of Hebrew Letters and ordination as a rabbi. In 1961 he received his doctorate from the Hebrew Union College, followed by an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew Union College in 1975, and a second from Drury College in 1990.

From 1955 to 1957 Jacob was military rabbi of the US Air Force and from 1957 to 1997 rabbi of the Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh - first as assistant rabbi (until 1967), then as chief community rabbi. Since 1997 he has worked as a rabbi emeritus. In 1997 he was introduced to Munich as an honorary chief rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Community of Munich Beth Shalom. In 1999, together with Rabbi Walter Homolka, he founded the Abraham Geiger College , a rabbinical seminar geared towards both academic and community practice . It is the first of its kind after the closure of the College of Jewish Studies in Berlin by the Nazis in 1942. Today it is as an affiliated institute of the University of Potsdam connected. Since then he has been president of this college. Its first three graduates received their semichah on September 13, 2006 and were ordained by Rabbi Jacob. This included Toma Kucera , whom the Liberal Jewish Congregation Munich Beth Shalom has since employed as a community rabbi.

Walter Jacob held numerous offices in the course of his rabbi career. From 1976 to 1990 he was chairman of the responses committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), from 1992 to 1994 president of the CCAR. From 1990 to 1994 Jacob was Vice President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism . Since 1989 he has been President of the international Solomon B. Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakhah . It develops statements and basic texts on Jewish religious law from a reform Jewish perspective and publishes responses .

Rabbi Jacob has published numerous books and texts. Among the most important are those from the Studies in Progressive Halakhah series , which he edited together with the Israeli rabbi Moshe Zemer ( Tel Aviv ) until 2007 .

Awards

  • Pope John Paul II honored him in 2005 with the Papal Commander of the Order of Gregory .
  • In 2005 the State of Brandenburg appointed Walter Jacob professor.
  • In 2016 he received the "Pursuer of Peace Award" from the Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh PA.

literature

  • Jacob, Walter / Schwartz, Frederick C. / Kavaler, Vigdor W. (Eds): Essays in Honor of Solomon B. Freehof , Rodef Shalom Congregation Pittsburgh PA 1964.
  • Jacob, Walter: Christianity Through Jewish Eyes. The Quest for Common Ground , Hebrew Union College Press 1974, ISBN 0-87068-257-1 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): American Reform Responsa. Jewish Questions, Rabbinic Answers , Central Conference of American Rabbis New York 1983, ISBN 0-916694-83-6 .
  • Jacob, Walter: The Changing World of Reform Judaism: The Pittsburgh Platform in Retrorespect , Rodef Shalom Congregation Pittsburgh PA 1985, ISBN 0-915138-79-4 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): Contemporary American Responsa , Central Conference of American Rabbis New York 1987, ISBN 0-88123-003-0 .
  • Jacob, Walter: Questions and Reform Jewish Answers. New American Reform Responsa , Central Conference of American Rabbis New York 1992, ISBN 0-88123-035-9 .
  • Jacob, Irene / Jacob, Walter: Gardens of North America and Hawaii. A Traveler's Guide , Timber Press Portland OR 1985, ISBN 0-88192-017-7 .
  • Jacob, Irene / Jacob, Walter (Eds): The Healing Past. Pharmaeuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic World , EJBrill Leiden-New York-Cologne 1993, ISBN 90-04-096434 .
  • Knobel, Peter S. / Staitman, Mark N. (Eds): An American Rabbinate - A Festschrift for Walter Jacob , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2000, ISBN 0-929699-11-4 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Jürgensen, Almuth (ed.): Exegesis has the first word - Contributions to the life and work of Benno Jacobs , Dt. / Engl., Calwer-Verlag Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7668-3745-1 .
  • Homolka, Walter / Jacob, Walter / Ben Chorin, Tovia (ed.): The teachings of Judaism according to the sources . 3 volumes, JVB 2000, ISBN 3-934658-02-4 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): Liberal Judaism and Halakhah , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1988, ISBN 0-929699-00-9 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Eds): Dynamic Jewish Law. Progressive Halakhah - Essence and Application . Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1991, ISBN 0-929699-03-3 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Rabbinic-Lay Relations in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1993, ISBN 0-929699-04-1 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Conversion to Judaism in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1994, ISBN 0-929699-05-X .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Death and Euthanasia in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1995, ISBN 0-929699-06-8 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): The Fetus and Fertility in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1995, ISBN 0-929699-07-6 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Israel and the Diaspora in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1997, ISBN 0-929699-09-2 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Aging and the Aged in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1998, ISBN 0-929699-08-4 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Crime and Punishment in Jewish Law , Berghahn Books New York - Oxford 1999, ISBN 1-57181-197-4 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Marriage and its Obstacles in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 1999, ISBN 0-929699-10-6 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Gender Issues in Jewish Law. Essays and Responsa , Berghahn Books New York - Oxford 2001, ISBN 1-57181-239-3 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Re-Examining Progressive Halakhah , Berghahn Books New York - Oxford 2002, ISBN 1-57181-404-3 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): The Environment in Jewish Law , Berghahn Books New York - Oxford 2003, ISBN 1-57181-431-0 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): Beyond the Letter of the Law - Essays on Diversity in the Halakhah , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2004, ISBN 0-929699-16-5 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Sexual Issues in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2006, ISBN 0-929699-17-3 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Poverty and Tzedakah in Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2006, ISBN 0-929699-18-1 .
  • Jacob, Walter / Zemer, Moshe (Eds): Napoleon's Influence on Jewish Law - The Sanhedrin of 1807 and Its Modern Consequences , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2007, ISBN 0-929699-19-X .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): Only in America - The Open Society and Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2009, ISBN 0-929699-21-1 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): War and Terrorism in Jewish Law - Essays and Responsa , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2010, ISBN 0-929699-22-X .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): Medical Frontiers and Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2012, ISBN 0-929699-24-6 .
  • Jacob, Walter (Ed): The Internet Revolution and Jewish Law , Rodef Shalom Press Pittsburgh PA 2014, ISBN 0-929699-25-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jewish newspaper v. October 2006: This day is a new beginning ( Memento from November 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ (Doctor of Hebrew Letters)
  3. ↑ ( DD )
  4. ↑ ( DLitt )
  5. ^ Conference program The Torah in Jewish Interpretation , October 16, 1999
  6. ↑ https://www.pnn.de/kultur/rabbiner-walter-jacob-vom-papst-geehre/22398432.html

Video

personal data
SURNAME Jacob, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH augsburg