Irving Miller

Irving Miller (c. 1903 – December 24, 1980) was an American rabbi, Jewish leader, and Zionist.

Early life and education

Miller was born circa 1903 in Kaunas, Russian Empire. Miller emigrated to the United States in 1912, at the age of 9.

Miller was educated at City College of New Yorkand Yeshiva College. He also received a B.S. at Columbia University.

Miller was ordained as a rabbi at Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary and served in congregations such as Temple Emanuel in Youngstown, Ohio (1926-28), Temple Beth-El in Chelsea, Massachusetts (1928-1930) and Congregation Sharaay Tefila in Far Rockaway, New York (1930-1946). He then became a rabbi and spiritual leader at Congregation Sons of Israel in Woodmere, New York.

Jewish leadership activities

While at Temple Emanuel in Ohio, Miller helped find the Ohio Zionist Region and became vice president. Starting in 1936, he served as chairman for the Long Island division of the United Jewish Appeal. He was also on the board of the American Palestine Campaign and a member of the Administrative Committee of the New York Zionist Region.

Miller was the first Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress from 1936 to 1940. He was also elected as a member of the Actions Committee of the World Zionist Committee at their 1939 conference in Geneva. In 1941, he was invited by Stephen Wise and Nahum Goldman to join the Executive of the America Committee

As an American Rabbi during The Holocaust, he often received reports from Nazi-occupied Europe. One such report was that of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, in which he stated that "Nazis rolled through the streets in giant tanks, leveling stores and houses and silencing the feeble guns of the defenders, in the final stage of extermination..." and that "...every living soul was either butchered or uprooted and moved to some other part of the country."

Miller was heavily involved with the process of denazification. He was a part of an interim committee of the American Jewish Congress and specifically oversaw the resettling of Jews in denazified Stuttgart.

On November 14, 1949, Miller was elected as president of the American Jewish Congress, succeeding Stephen Samuel Wise.

In 1953, Miller traveled to Israel, where he interviewed President David Ben-Gurion several times.

On March 1, 1954, Miller was elected as the chairman of the American Zionist Council.

Jewish education

A strong believer in the importance of educating young American Jews, Miller recognized a crisis growing amongst American Jews of his time. “The problem,” said Miller, “was that the children learned that there was a time to be Jewish.” Thus, he founded the Jewish Center School in 1930, now known as the Brandeis Hebrew Academy and part of the Schechter Day School Network. The school was unique in that it was intended to teach a combination of both American and Jewish values and ideals. The school originally only had Kindergarten and first grades, but was expanded upon each year to include K-12. After visiting the Jewish Center School in 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, “I wonder if many racial groups could not take a leaf out of their book, and if the result might not be far-reaching in making us understand other nations and what was drawn from them." The concept of combining Jewish and American values is present in many American Jewish day schools and Hebrew schools to this day.

Retirement and death

Miller died on December 24, 1980, in Woodmere, New York, at the age of 77. A funeral service was held two days later, on December 26.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Irving
1900s births
1980 deaths
American Jewish Congress members
Year of birth uncertain
People from Kaunas
City College of New York alumni
20th-century American rabbis
Lithuanian Zionists
Zionist Organization of America members