Isaac Landman (October 24, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was an American Reform

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 o ...

, author and

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

activist. He was editor of the ten volume '' Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''.

Biography

Landman was born in Russia on October 4, 1880, to Ada and Louis Landman. He emigrated to the United States in 1890. He graduated from the Reform

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. In 1911, with the assistance of Jacob Schiff, Julius Rosenwald, and Simon Bamberger, he founded a Jewish farm colony in Utah. In 1913 he married Beatrice Eschner. During World War I he was "said to be the first Jewish

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

in the United States Army to serve on foreign soil". He was a leader in Jewish–Christian ecumenism. He was editor of ''

American Hebrew Magazine ''The American Hebrew'' was a weekly Jewish magazine published in New York City. History It began publication on November 21, 1879, in New York City. It was founded by Frederick de Sola Mendes and its publisher was Philip Cowen. The weekly's pu ...

'' from 1918, served as the delegate of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to the

1919 Paris Peace Conference Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

. Landman had also been a prominent opponent of Zionism: when, in 1922, the United States Congress was considering the Lodge–Fish resolution in support of the

Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman regio ...

, Landman and Rabbi

David Philipson David Philipson (August 9, 1862 – June 29, 1949) was an American Reform rabbi, orator, and author. The son of German-Jewish immigrants, he was a member of the first graduating class of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. As an adult, h ...

had presented the Reform movement's (then)

position to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Landman also printed many opinions against the resolution and Zionism in his ''American Hebrew Magazine''.Cohen, Naomi W. ''The Americanization of Zionism, 1897-1948'', University Press of New England, 2003, p. 68. The bill was eventually unanimously supported by both houses of Congress,Reich, Bernard, "The United States and Israel: The Nature of a Special Relationship", in Lesch, David W. ''The Middle East and the United States: A Historical and Political Reassessment'' (Fourth edition), Westview Press, 2007, p. 206. and approved by President

Harding Harding may refer to: People *Harding (surname) *Maureen Harding Clark (born 1946), Irish jurist Places Australia * Harding River Iran * Harding, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province South Africa * Harding, KwaZulu-Natal United Sta ...

. He became rabbi of Brooklyn's Congregation Beth Elohim in 1931. Three years later he began editing the '' Universal Jewish Encyclopedia'', which was published in ten volumes in the 1940s. He died on September 4, 1946. Landman was also a playwright. With his brother, physician Michael Lewis Landman, he authored the play ''A Man of Honor.'' Michael Landman's daughter was the architecture critic

Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Landman, Isaac 1880 births 1946 deaths Jewish American military personnel American Reform rabbis Jewish American writers Rabbis in the military United States Army chaplains