Louis Finkelstein
Louis Finkelstein was a prominent figure in Jewish scholarship and leadership, known for his efforts to bridge the gap between Jewish traditions and broader societal contexts. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an immigrant Lithuanian rabbi, Finkelstein was raised in the Orthodox Jewish community of Brownsville, Brooklyn, an area rich in Jewish culture and history. He dedicated his early life to Torah study and later pursued advanced education at the City College of New York and Columbia University, ultimately becoming a rabbi and a significant scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS).
Finkelstein's scholarly work was extensive, focusing on Jewish history and philosophy, and he authored several important texts, including *Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages* and *The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith*. His leadership as president of the JTS and later as its first chancellor allowed him to advocate for interfaith dialogue and understanding, highlighted by his co-founding of the Institute for Religious Social Studies and his editorial work on *The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion*.
Finkelstein's contributions were particularly significant in the post-World War II era, as he worked to increase the visibility of Jewish culture and foster connections with other faiths, exemplified by the popular television program *The Eternal Light*. His legacy includes a revitalization of the Conservative Jewish movement in America, particularly during the crucial years surrounding the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel, reflecting his evolving views on these pivotal issues. He passed away in 1991, leaving behind a substantial impact on Jewish education and interfaith relations.
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Subject Terms
Louis Finkelstein
Rabbi, religious leader, scholar
- Born: June 14, 1895
- Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Died: November 29, 1991
- Place of death: New York, New York
Overseeing one of the most tumultuous periods in Jewish American history, Louis Finkelstein, a rabbi, was long a leader of the Conservative movement. Interested in reminding Jews of their scholarly heritage, he became a prolific writer on a variety of Jewish subjects.
Early Life
Finkelstein (FIHNK-ehl-stin) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an immigrant Lithuanian rabbi, Simon, and his wife, Hannah. The family moved when Finkelstein was young to the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was then a major Jewish settlement. So many Jewish congregations existed in Brownsville that it was called the American Jerusalem, and Finkelstein’s father was the minister of one of its most devout synagogues. Finkelstein was raised in a strongly Orthodox tradition. He awoke every day, hours before dawn, to study the Torah, a practice he would continue all his life. He learned about the great Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages Maimonides, whom Finkelstein came to respect greatly, and he read the Talmud.
The unique environment of Brownsville had a strong effect on the future rabbi. Brownsville had arisen from empty land in only a few years in the late nineteenth century, and the Jewish immigrants from Europe were the first inhabitants. Heavily industrialized, the area was made up of small apartments, and those who settled there mostly worked in the garment industry. The Jewish community of Brownsville was isolated from the German Jews of the rest of New York, and at the same time it faced many of the same industrial-age problems. Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in Brownsville in 1916, and the labor movement took a socialist character. English was rarely spoken in private; instead debates over religious and secular teachings took place in Yiddish and in Russian. There were many secular debates over Zionism, revolution, and labor in Brownsville.
The young Finkelstein was bothered by all this secularism, and he became passionate at an early age about returning Jews to the synagogue. As a child, he would create study groups and give speeches to other children. He graduated from the City College of New York and Columbia University. At the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), he impressed his teachers, especially Solomon Schechter, with his knowledge of Torah. Finkelstein became rabbi of Congregation Kehillath Israel in 1919 and married Carmel Bentwich in 1922. Throughout his ministry, the problem of how to reengage assimilated Jews puzzled him, and he rejoined the JTS to look for answers.
Life’s Work
At the JTS, Finkelstein pursued his scholarly interests in Jewish history. While he grappled with contemporary problems, his historical research went far back in time. In 1924, Finkelstein published Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages. His investigation used primary sources and documented major legislation from the medieval synods. That same year Finkelstein became the Solomon Schechter Lecturer in Theology. Schechter had died in 1915, after having been president of the theological seminary, a post Finkelstein would one day inherit. Working this job, Finkelstein wrote an analysis of the great rabbi David Kimchi’s commentaries on Isaiah. Kimchi was a medieval French grammarian who came from a family of distinguished rabbis, and Finkelstein was no doubt familiar with him from his research on medieval Judaism.
RaDaK, as Kimchi had been known, was popular with both Jews and Christians, and this may have influenced Finkelstein to seek closer relations with Christians.
In 1931, Finkelstein joined the administrative staff of the JTS, and in 1934 he became the assistant to the president. In this role, Finkelstein wrote his Commentary on Deuteronomy in 1936 and 1937. With the second part of his commentary came his elevation to provost. In 1936, Finkelstein published his biographical work: Akiba, Scholar, Saint, and Martyr. The ancient rabbi Akiba was one of the founders of rabbinical study, but to the Conservative (or Masorti) Finkelstein, Akiba had deeper significance.
Akiba was the inventor of a new method of interpreting scripture, in which every marking in every word carries its own meaning. From this, Akiba derived alleged scriptural authority for innovations he wished to make to Judaism. In a way, this paralleled the hope of Finkelstein and of the Conservative movement to maintain Jewish traditions while integrating. Finkelstein’s discovery of the antiquity of this practice added to the legitimacy of the Conservative doctrine.
Continuing his interest in ancient Judea, Finkelstein published in 1938 The Pharisees, the Sociological Background of Their Faith. In this massive work, Finkelstein attempted to rehabilitate the Pharisees from the millennia of scorn they had endured in mainstream Western culture. In the foreword, Finkelstein attributes modern understandings of equality, human rights, and freedom to the Pharisees, claiming they had a profound impact on the development of the Christian and Islamic worlds before the English and American Puritans put their democratic ideals into practice.
Following the death of Cyrus Adler in 1940, Finkelstein was elevated to president of the JTS. Finkelstein made it his mission to reach out to other faiths and the rest of the nation. During the pivotal years of 1940 to 1945, he served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s adviser on Jewish affairs. In 1938, he had cofounded the seminary’s Institute for Religious Social Studies. He extended this work to cowriting Faith for Today (1941) and Religions of Democracy (1941). Honoring Finkelstein’s scholarship, the seminary made him the first chancellor in 1951, allowing him to do more study than administrative work. His editing of The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion (1949) was a triumph that united his wish to both study and reach out to Christians. The book was a massive three-volume work written by Jews and Christians. Finkelstein continued his scholarly work even after retiring in 1972. He died of Parkinson’s disease in 1991.
Significance
Finkelstein’s long scholarly career contributed to the increased visibility of Jews in the post-World War II world. His wish to join with those of other faiths led to new projects celebrating the cultural legacies of different religions. One of the best examples of this is the television show The Eternal Light. Broadcasting from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, this show was created by the Jewish Theological Seminary to showcase Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant culture for a mainstream American audience. The Eternal Light was both popular and critically esteemed, earning Peabody and Emmy Awards.
The Eternal Light was just one part of Finkelstein’s successful attempts to return apostate Jewish Americans to their ancestral faith. The numbers in the Conservative movement exploded during Finkelstein’s administration, as the Holocaust and the creation of Israel awakened a desire in Jewish Americans to take pride in their culture. Finkelstein was originally wary of support for Israel, but as the nation resisted the initial opposition of its neighbors, Finkelstein reconsidered, leading to a unification of American support for Israel.
Bibliography
Finkelstein, Louis. The Pharisees, the Sociological Background of Their Faith. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1938. An example of Finkelstein’s scholarship.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗, ed. The Jews: Their History, Culture, and Religion. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1949. Finkelstein edited this collection of thirty-eight articles by Christians and Jews. It was the most comprehensive source of its time.
Greenbaum, Michael B. Louis Finkelstein and the Conservative Movement: Conflict and Growth. New York: JTS Press, 2009. Greenbaum, a vice chancellor of the JTS, was a student of Finkelstein. In this biography, he chronicles the opposition Finkelstein overcame from within the Conservative movement.
Wertheimer, Jack. Jews in the Center: Conservative Synagogues and Their Members. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002. An investigation into the laity of the Conservative movement following Finkelstein’s death.