Rabbi Albert L. Lewis (Hebrew: הרב אברהם אריה בן חיים יוסף ושרה בילא; July 6, 1917 – February 10, 2008) was a leading American Conservative rabbi, scholar, and author; President of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international organization of Conservative rabbis; and vice-president of The World Council of Synagogues. In 2009, the award-winning author, Mitch Albom, wrote about Lewis, his childhood rabbi, as the main character in the non-fiction book, Have a Little Faith.Have a Little Faith: A True Story, Mitch Albom, Hyperion, New York, 2009. The book, hailed as a story of faith that inspires faith in others,The Jewish Daily Forward, Gerald L. Zelizer, "Albom Makes Rabbis Look Good, Again, Jan 21, 2010: "[This book] serves as an accurate portrayal of a man of God who, by modeling his own faith, showed the rest of us how to find ours. concludes with the eulogy that Albom delivered at Lewis's funeral, on February 12, 2008.Albom, op. cit., p. 242. The eulogy includes the words: I didn't want to eulogize you. I was afraid. I felt a congregant could never eulogize his leader. But I realize now that thousands of congregants will eulogize you today, in their car rides home, over the dinner table. A eulogy is no more than a summation of memories, and we will never forget you....
Lewis received a bachelor's degree (A.B.) in education from Yeshiva College (Yeshiva University); a master's degree (M.S.) in education from City College of New York; and a master's degree (M.H.L.) in Hebrew literature, a doctorate (D.H.L., honoris causa) in Rabbinic Studies, and rabbinic ordination, from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). He continued his studies at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, and, well known for the power of his sermons and his skills as an orator, taught homiletics in the JTS rabbinical school for ten years.
Life and works
Synagogue and outreach
A descendant of a number of European rabbis,Lewis's paternal great-grandfather was Rabbi (HaRav HaGaon) Yeshoshua Heschel Yocholowitz, and his great-uncle was Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchak Rosendorf. Lewis grew up in the Bronx, first working as a teacher in New York City, and then as principal at a yeshiva in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. In 1948, while still in rabbinical school, Lewis became the student rabbi and spiritual leader of a 50-family congregation, Temple Beth Sholom, in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, an area that did not allow Jews until after World War II.Joseph McBride, Steven Spielberg: A Biography, Simon and Schuster, 1997, p53. He never left that synagogue, and when he retired in 1992, four years after the synagogue had relocated to Cherry Hill, the congregation had grown under his leadership by a factor of twenty, to include approximately one thousand families. In addition to Mitch Albom, the long list of other students Lewis taught during his almost six decades with the synagogue includes Steven SpielbergMcBride, Op.cit., pages 42, 53, 57, 441, 448, 451, 455, 467. and Eugene Maurice Orowitz, better known by his screen name, Michael Landon.
In New Jersey, Lewis served on the board of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Camden, New Jersey, and as president of the Tri-County Board of Rabbis (TCBOR), a regional group representing Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester counties, composed of rabbis from all movements within Judaism. Together with Rabbi Max Weine, he founded two educational programs that brought together children and young adults from many of the local synagogues: the Inter-Congregation Hebrew High School (ICHHS), and Midrashah, continuing religious education classes for graduates of the ICHHS. Both of these programs continue as collaborative efforts involving a number of rabbis, cantors, and teachers throughout the region, with classes meeting at participating synagogues and other Jewish institutions, helping to strengthen and foster cooperation and closer ties within the larger Jewish community. He was also a strong voice in interfaith affairs, maintaining close ties with the Catholic Diocese of Camden, and pioneering outreach efforts to local church and religious groups, welcoming visiting classes into the synagogue, to learn more about Judaism.Many of these meetings are mentioned in the synagogue bulletins reprinted in his book, So It Isn't Perfect. For example, on pages 14-15, he writes about a synagogue visit by a group of Mennonites, followed by his a lunch conversation with the group's leader. In other bulletin articles, he shares instances with the congregation when he learned from Monsignor McCloskey, "the priest across the street," (p.99), and (pg.57) the fact that it was at an affair honoring Catholic Archbishop Damiano that he learned an important quote from a speaker, Monseignor Adamo, about a Jew(!) -- Albert Einstein: "Man need not see eye to eye, but he can walk arm-in-arm." For fifteen years, he also served as an auxiliary chaplain at the Camden County Mental Hospital.Part of the County's Health and Human Services Department, Lakeland Campus, Blackwood, NJ.
During his tenure at Temple Beth Sholom, he served in a number of positions for major organizations of Conservative Judaism, including service on the Rabbinic Placement Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly, on the Education Commission of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), and five years as chairman of the National Youth Commission for the USCJ. In 1956, he led the first United Synagogue Youth (USY) pilgrimage to Europe and IsraelAlbert L. Lewis, So It Isn't Perfect, Huntington Printing Corporation, Camden, New Jersey:1967., p.v.—a group of eleven students that launched a program that now counts thousands of students among its past participants --The Israel Pilgrimage (IP) is conducted annually by USY in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, Youth and Hechalutz Department. continuing to lead pilgrimages for students and for adults to Israel, Europe, and Russia for many years thereafter.Albert L. Lewis, What's Your Glory?, 1984, book jacket. In 1967, shortly following the Six-Day War, he took a year-long sabbatical in Israel, visiting Egypt to retrace the route of the Biblical Exodus, writing a series of articles for Christian readers, in addition to the synagogue bulletins he wrote for his congregation, and teaching at Oranim Academic College.Cherry Hill Courier-Post, Barbara Rothschild, Feb 11, 2008.
In 1963, Lewis accepted the invitation of JTS Chancellor Louis Finkelstein to serve in the newly created post of Rabbinic Tutor to participants in The Institute for Religious and Social Studies (IRSS). Established in 1938, the IRSS was an early, ground-breaking interfaith effort that brought together scholars and leaders in areas that spanned religion, economics, government, business, and science—across faith lines—for weekly sessions of discussion and study. Because of the importance of this program, Finkelstein had decided that rabbis who could best explain "the philosophy and beliefs" of Judaism should be hand-picked to participate. Lewis's responsibilities, as outlined in the letters he received from JTS and the RA, would include "making pertinent comments...asking helpful questions...[and]serving as a resource person," both during the sessions and during the meals, where he would be seated "at a strategic place," so that all could "take full advantage of...[his] presence."Lewis, Op.cit., pp116-117.
Throughout his career, he remained a strong supporter of JTS, voting against the admission of the first female applicant to the Rabbinical Assembly in 1984—despite his strong support for the ordination and equal rights of women in Judaism—because he ultimately decided to side with the rabbis who felt that the first woman rabbi to be admitted to the RA should be one who was ordained by JTS.Area Woman Fails to Gain Rabbinical Assembly Place, Schenectady Gazette, May 17, 1984
Rabbinical Assembly While serving as President of the Rabbinical Assembly from 1988 to 1990, Lewis oversaw a major expansion of RA efforts to train Conservative rabbis to support religious ritual needs, such as the preparation of gittin, religious divorce decrees.Washington Post, Marjorie Hyer, Conservative Rabbis Split, April 1, 1989. Additionally, classes were begun for religiously committed doctors within the movement, training them to perform Brit milah, ritual circumcision, and efforts were initiated to support synagogues considering the addition of a mikva, a ritual bath. These moves were seen as important steps to strengthen the Conservative movement on a national scale, diminishing the community's reliance on Orthodox rabbis, especially at a time, according to Lewis, when the gap between movements was growing, and Orthodox rabbis were becoming more reluctant to support the needs of non-Orthodox Jews.New York Times, Ari Goldman, Rabbinical Group to Widen its Role, April 1, 1989. Lewis referred to these initiatives as part of the "maturing" of the Conservative movement,Ibid. and said that, while there were some communities where Modern Orthodox rabbis still offered their "full cooperation" in matters of life-cycle rituals, the situation had been exacerbated by the Who is a Jew? controversy in Israel, where Orthodox rabbis were refusing to accept anyone converted under non-Orthodox auspices as Jewish.Developing New Ritual, David E. Anderson (UPI Religion Writer), Ellensburg Daily Record, Apr 1, 1989.
Another major change in the RA Lewis oversaw as president was the inclusion of Hungarian and Czechoslovak rabbis in the organization.Orlando Sentinel, July 29, 1989. Lewis hailed this expansion as a move "in the spirit of glasnost," saying it presaged a new resurgency of Eastern European Jewry decimated at the hands of Nazism.Ibid. The inclusion of these Eastern European rabbis, which included an exchange of educational materials and teachers, would lead to a dramatic transformation of the group into a truly international organization, which today includes rabbis from Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America, Israel, Australia, and Asia.The Rabbinical Assembly Membership Directory, 5768/2008, an annual publication of the Rabbinical Assembly, New York.
Additionally, on the national level, the RA became one of the few religious organizations of that time to take strong positions on government ethics, passing a resolution in 1989 to support a "significant pay increase" for members of the Senate and House of Representatives, contingent on the passage of a prohibition of speaking fees or other honoraria for congressional members.The Ellensburg Daily Record, Scandals Hurt, David E. Anderson, UPI Religion Writer, June 3, 1989.
Journalism and writing