Ismar Schorsch (born November 3, 1935 in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany) is the Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Herman Abramovitz Professor of

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures. Although Judaism as a religion first appears in Greek records during the Hellenisti ...

.Ismar Schorsch
aculty page Jewish Theological Seminary. Retrieved 2016-12-06. Schorsch served as the sixth Chancellor at JTS for approximately 20 years, from March 1986 until his retirement in June 2006. He was succeeded by Arnold Eisen.

Books

*''Jewish Reactions to German Anti-Semitism, 1870–1914''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. *''From Text to Context: The Turn to History in Modern Judaism''. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1994. *''The Sacred Cluster: The Core Values of Conservative Judaism''. New York: The Department of Communications of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1995. (Outlining what he calls the seven clusters of Conservative Judaism.) *''Canon Without Closure: Torah Commentaries''. New York: Aviv Press, 2007. *''Leopold Zunz: Creativity in Adversity''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.

Personal life and education

He is the son of Hanover Rabbi

Emil Schorsch Emil Schorsch (born January 12, 1899 in Hüngheim, Germany; died 1982 in Vineland (New Jersey)) was a German Rabbi. Life Emil was the son of businessman Isaak Schorsch. In 1907 he was placed in an orphanage, and from 1915 to 1920 he trained to ...

. They both experienced the so-called " Reichskristallnacht" in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

a different manner. Schorsch escaped to England in 1938 and emigrated to the United States in 1940. Schorsch graduated from

Ursinus College Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus. History 19th century In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college wh ...

in 1957 and was ordained by JTS in 1962, holds master's degrees from JTS and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He was awarded a PhD in Jewish History from Columbia University in 1969. He and his wife, Sally, have three grown children (Jonathan Schorsch, Rebecca Schorsch, and Naomi Stein) and eleven grandchildren (Ada, Livi, and Nathaniel Moses, Emanuel, Michal, Gedalia, Nava, and Jacob Schorsch, and Eve, Emmett, and Ruthie Stein).

Honors

* Leo Baeck Medal (2015)

References

External links

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by former JTS chancellor Ismar Schorsch 1935 births Living people American Conservative rabbis American people of German-Jewish descent American religion academics Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Columbia University alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America people Ursinus College alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis {{US-academic-administrator-1930s-stub