Jacob B. Agus
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Jacob Bernard Agus (November 8, 1911 – September 26, 1986) was a Polish-born American liberal
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
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 t ...
and
theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
who played a key role in the Conservative
Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...
.


Life

Jacob Agus was a leading thinker of the Conservative movement's liberal wing, heading Rabbinical Assembly committees on the sabbath, prayerbook, and ideology of the Conservative movement. He was also a rabbi of Beth El Congregation in
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, and a promoter of interfaith communication, which he referred to as "dialogue" or "trialogue". Agus (the family name was originally Agushewitz), was born in Poland in 1911 and his family emigrated to the United States in 1927. He attended the Talmudic Academy, New York, graduating in 1929, received his BA from Yeshiva College in 1933, and received
semicha ''Semikhah'' () is the traditional term for rabbiinic ordination in Judaism. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 CE. Si ...
by
Moshe Soloveichik Moshe Soloveichik (1879 – January 21, 1941) was an Orthodox rabbi. He was Rosh Yeshiva at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. Biography He was born in Valozhyn, the middle son of Chaim Soloveitchik and gr ...
at the
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS ) is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University (YU). It is located along Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Named after Yitzchak Elchanan S ...
of
Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.
in 1935. In 1940, he received a PhD in Jewish Thought from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and married Miriam Shore the same year. His elder brother, Irving A. Agus, taught medieval Jewish History at Yeshiva University. Agus's rabbinic career included Congregation Beth Abraham,
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, 1934–1936; Temple Ashkenaz,
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, 1936–1940; Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation,
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, 1940–1942; and Beth Abraham United Synagogue Center,
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, 1942–1950. In 1945, Agus formally affiliated with the Conservative movement by joining the Rabbinical Assembly. In 1950 he became the rabbi of Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, where he remained for thirty years, retiring in 1980. As a member of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly he was active in the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, chaired the Prayer Book Committee (1952–1956) and worked to define Conservative Jewish ideology through a series of conferences, committees and other gatherings, including the Continuing Conference on Conservative Ideology (1956–1963). With Morris Adler and Theodore Friedman, he co-authored the 1950 ''Responsum on the Sabbath'' that allowed Conservative Jews to drive to a synagogue on the Sabbath if there was none within walking distance. He taught at the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) is a Jewish seminary in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. It is the only seminary affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Assoc ...
, St. Mary's Seminary and Ecumenical Institute (where he was also a founder of the Interfaith Roundtable), and at both
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and
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in
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. In 1965, he accepted an invitation to teach at the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamerico in
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. He remained in Argentina for two months, then traveled to Brazil where he spent two weeks lecturing under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee and the Brazilian Institute for Culture and Information. In Latin America, he developed continuing ties with students and colleagues – among them
Marshall Meyer Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (March 25, 1930 – December 29, 1993) was an American Conservative rabbi who became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina from 1958 to 1984, during the period of the "Dirty ...
, then director of the Seminario. These ties are documented by correspondence in this collection. In addition to his rabbinical and scholarly work, Agus adopted the cause of interfaith and interracial relations, dubbing his forays into Jewish/Christian and Jewish/Christian/Muslim relations "dialogue" and "trialogue." He also served on the boards of the Baltimore National Council on Christians and Jews, and the predominantly African-American Morgan State University, also in Baltimore. Professor Steven Katz described him as "a remarkable American Rabbi and scholar, illuminating Agus' commitment to Jewish people everywhere, his profound and unwavering spirituality, his continual reminders of the very real dangers of pseudo-Messianism and misplaced romantic zeal, and his willingness to take politically and religiously unpopular stands."Katz, S.T. (1997) ''American Rabbi: The Life and Thought of Jacob B. Agus'' New York: New York University Press; Katz, S.T. (1997) ''The Essential Agus: The Writings of Jacob B. Agus'', New York: New York University Press; .


Interfaith

Agus was one of the principal theologians of the American Jewish-Christian dialogue. He developed a dual covenant theory based on the thought of
Franz Rosenzweig Franz Rosenzweig (; ; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1929) was a German theologian, philosopher, and translator. Early life and education Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany, to an affluent, minimally observant Jewish family. His fa ...
. He envisioned a symbiosis of the two religions.
Rosenzweig’s view was remarkable, in that, the Christian community was engaged in fulfilling Israel's mission. The people Israel are like the sun; the Christian community was the effluence of Divine rays permeating the nations with the spirit of monotheism. The boundary line between Judaism and Christianity was not along the plane of intellectual thought, since the divine being could only be caught figuratively or symbolically within the meshes of human reason.Agus, ''Dialogue and Tradition; The Challenges of Contemporary Judeo-Christian Thought'', pp. 492–493.


Works

* ''Modern Philosophies of Judaism'' (1941) * ''Banner of Jerusalem'' a biography of Abraham Isaac Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine in the 1930s.(1946) * ''Guideposts in Modern Judaism'' (1954) * ''The Evolution of Jewish Thought'' (1959) * ''The Meaning of Jewish History'' (1963) * ''The vision and the way; an interpretation of Jewish ethics'' * ''Dialogue and Tradition : The Response of Judaism to the Major Challenges of the Contemporary World''


References


Bibliography

* Agus, Jacob Bernard. ''Dialogue and Tradition: The Challenges of Contemporary Judeo-Christian Thought''. Dorley House Books, Inc.; . {{DEFAULTSORT:Agus, Jacob 1911 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American rabbis Agus, Jacob B. Agus, Jacob B. American male non-fiction writers American people of Polish-Jewish descent Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue Conservative poskim Agus, Jacob B. Agus, Jacob B. Jewish American non-fiction writers People from Svislach People in interfaith dialogue Agus, Jacob B. Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients Temple University faculty Agus, Jacob B. Rabbis from Baltimore Polish emigrants to the United States 20th-century Polish Jews