Background
Lookstein was born in 1902 in Mogilev, Belarus, then in the Russian Empire, and after emigrating to the United States, attended City College of New York and did graduate work at Columbia University.
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Joseph Lookstein
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Joseph Hyman Lookstein was a Russian-born, American rabbi who served as spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and was a leader in Orthodox Judaism, including his service as president of the Rabbinical Council of America and of the cross-denominational Synagogue Council of America and New York Board of Rabbis.
Education
Columbia University; City College of New New York
Career
He received his Jewish education at Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and received his rabbinic ordination in 1926 from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University. In 1930, he established the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls, now part of Yeshiva University, and served as its principal for ten years. Shortly after the establishment of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, Rabbi Lookstein became the institution"s acting president for nine years, before being named as the school"s chancellor in 1966.
During his tenure, the school grew from a single building with 40 students into a school with an enrollment of thousands.
He was elected as head of the Synagogue Council of America in 1979, was a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America and the New York Board of Rabbis. By the time of his death, the school had an enrollment of 800 students.
He died at age 76 on July 13, 1979 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida.
Membership
Lookstein"s son, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, was a member of the school"s inaugural first grade class.
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Born
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Died
July 13, 1979 (aged 76) -
Nationality
Russian -
Religion
Orthodox Judaism