Roland Bertram Gittelsohn

Background

Gittelsohn, Roland Bertram was born on May 13, 1910 in Cleveland. Son of Reuben and Anna (Manheim) Gittelsohn.

Education

Bachelor, Western Reserve University, 1931. BH, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 1934. Doctor of Divinity, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 1961.

Doctor of Science, Lowell (Massachusetts) Technology Institute, 1961.

Career

GITTELSOHN, ROLAND BERTRAM, U.S. rabbi. After serving as rabbi from 1936 to 1953 at the Central Synagogue of Nassau County in Long Island, he was appointed rabbi of Temple Israel, Boston, Mass. in 1953 and served there for the remainder of his career. Gittelsohn served as a U.S. Navy chaplain from 1943 to 1946 where he was the first Jewish chaplain in U.S. history assigned to the Marine Corps. He received three ribbons for his role in the Iwo Jima campaign and preached the address of dedication of the Jewish section of the Iwo Jima cemetery. He was a prominent communal leader serving on President Harry S. Truman's Committee on Civil Rights in 1947 and on the Governor's Commission in Massachusetts, including the Governor's Commission on Abolition of the Death Penalty (1957–58), the Governor's Committee on Migratory Labor (1960–62) and the Governor's Committee to Survey Operations of Massachusetts Prisoners (1961–62). Long active in Reform movement affairs, in 1968 he was elected president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He was also president of the Association of Reform Zionists of America and was a member of the Zionist General Council of the World Zionist Organization. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he repeatedly called on the American Jewish community to adopt a more activist position on social and political issues, particularly in opposition to the war in Vietnam. Gittelsohn wrote Modern Jewish Problems (1935), Little Lower than the Angels (1955), Man's Best Hope (1961), My Beloved Is Mine (1969) on the Jewish view of marriage; and Fire in My Bones (1969).

Achievements

• Roland Bertram Gittelsohn has been listed as a notable Rabbi, writer by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Modern Jewish Problems and Jewish Youth Groups: A Textbook for High School Classes

    (There is a definite tendency in the Jewish Religions Scho...)

  • Little Lower Than the Angels

    (COVER HAS WRITING AND SHELFWEAR AND THE BOOK ITSELF IS VE...)

  • The modern meaning of Judaism

    (spiritual inspiration)

  • Modern Jewish problems, a textbook for high school classes and Jewish youth groups,
  • Wings of the Morning
  • The modern meaning of Judaism
  • My beloved is mine;: Judaism and marriage,
  • Love, sex and marriage: A Jewish view
  • Little Lower Than The Angels
  • Consecrated unto me: A Jewish view of love and marriage
  • Little lower than the angels (Union graded series)
  • Little lower than the angels
  • Consecrated Unto Me; A Jewish View of Love and Marriage
  • The extra dimension: A Jewish view of marriage

Membership

Member Truman Committee Civil Rights, 1947, Governor Massachusetts Commission to Survey Court Justices, 1955, Massachusetts Comn. Abolition Death Penalty, 1957-1958, Governor Massachusetts Committee Migratory Labor, 1960-1962, Governor Massachusetts Committee to Survey Operations in Prison,1961-1962. Member Association Reform Zionists (founding president since 1977).

Connections

He was married to Ruth Freyer (deceased - September 25, 1932). Children: David, Judith Fales.

He was married to Hulda Tishler in August 19, 1979.

Father:

Reuben Gittelsohn

Mother:

Anna (Manheim) Gittelsohn

Spouse:

Hulda Tishler

Spouse:

Ruth Freyer

child:

Judith Fales Gittelsohn

child:

David Gittelsohn