Background
He was born in Sioux City, Iowa.
He was born in Sioux City, Iowa.
Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
In 1952 at Morningside College in Sioux City he earned a Bachelor of Arts, and from there went to New York City to study in the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Here he became ordained as a rabbi in 1959. He soon began work as a liturgist on the Research Associate"s prayerbook committee, working with Rabbi Gershon Hadas on new siddurim (Jewish prayerbooks) for use in Conservative congregations.
Under the editorship of Rabbi Hadas, they succeeded in printing the widely used Weekday Prayer Book in 1961.
He took a greater role by editing and translating the movement"s mahzor (prayerbook for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) which was published in 1972. He soon became the chief liturgist for the Conservative movement, and was the editor in the groundbreaking Siddur Sim Shalom in 1985.
Siddur Sim Shalom became the prototype for an entire family of later Conservative siddurim, including Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Yom Tov, Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays and Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom.