Adele Katzenstein Ginzberg (May 11, 1886 – May 10, 1980) was an American leader in

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations ...

. Born Adele Katzenstein in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Ginzberg was the daughter of Michael and Sophie Katzenstein; she was the eldest of three, with one brother, Max, and one sister, Martha. At eight she moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

after her mother died suddenly. She received a basic education, but was unable to study nursing, which was her desire; instead, she took a position in her father's real estate office. In 1909 she married

Louis Ginzberg Louis Ginzberg (, ''Levy Gintzburg''; , ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, contributing editor to numerous articles of '' The Jewis ...

and moved with him to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The couple had two children, Sophie (later Gould) and

Eli Eli most commonly refers to: * Eli (name), a given name, nickname and surname * Eli (biblical figure) Eli or ELI may also refer to: Film * ''Eli'' (2015 film), a Tamil film * ''Eli'' (2019 film), an American horror film Music * ''Eli'' (Jan ...

. Adele Ginzberg was for many years a monthly columnist for ''Outlook'', the magazine of the

National Women's League National Women's League may refer to: * National Women's League (Canada), a women's rugby union league in Canada * National Women's League (Ghana), a women's football league in Ghana * National Women's League (New Zealand), a women's football le ...

; it was she who initiated creation of what later became the Menorah Award badge for the

Girl Scouts Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of The Girl Guides ...

. She was a vocal supporter of women's equal participation in the ritual of the synagogue. With her husband, she took on the unofficial post of "Mr. and Mrs. Seminary" at the Jewish Theological Seminary, succeeding

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

and

Mathilde Roth Schechter Mathilde Roth Schechter (also Matilda; December 16, 1859 – August 27, 1924) was the American founder of the U.S. National Women's League of Conservative Judaism in 1918. Biography Schechter was born in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Polan ...

; in this capacity the couple hosted open houses on Shabbat and on holidays. Ginzberg received numerous awards during her career; in 1966 she was named New York State Mother of the Year, and ten years later she was made a member of the Seminary's Honorary Society of Fellows. In 1980 she was posthumously awarded the Mathilde Schechter Award for her accomplishments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginzberg, Adele 1886 births 1980 deaths American Conservative Jews German emigrants to the United States Jewish American activists