Joshua Bloch (December 9, 1890 – September 26, 1957) was a Lithuanian-born American
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
librarian
A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
Kovno Governorate
Kovno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kovno (Kaunas). It was formed on 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas I from the western part of Vilna Govern ...
, the son of Baer-Moses Bloch and Necha Stoch.
Bloch immigrated to America in 1907 and got his secondary education in
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...
. He then attended
Hebrew Union College
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...
from 1911 to 1916, the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
from 1912 to 1916,
Dropsie College
Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...
from 1913 to 1914,
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
Union Theological Seminary
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...
from 1914 to 1915, and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
from 1914 to 1918. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. from the latter university and was its lecturer in Semitic languages and literature. He was a faculty member of the
Jewish Institute of Religion
The Jewish Institute of Religion was an educational establishment created by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in 1922 in New York City. While generally incorporating Reform Judaism, it was separate from the previously established Hebrew Union College. It ...
from 1922 to 1923. He was a faculty member in New York University from 1919 to 1928. He was also chaplain of the
New York State Department of Mental Hygiene
The New York State Department of Mental Hygiene is a pro forma department of the New York state government and may refer to one of several autonomous agencies:
*the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS)
*the Office of Mental Heal ...
from 1922 until his death.
Bloch served as head of the Jewish Division of the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
from 1923 to 1956. Under him, the Library developed one of the major Judaica collections in the United States. He arranged a number of exhibitions on Judaica at the Library. His bibliographical research into the history of Hebrew was published by the Library's ''Bulletin of the New York Public Library'' on multiple occasions. He founded the quarterly ''Journal of Jewish Bibliography'' in 1938 and served as its editor until 1943. He was appointed to the publication committee of the
Jewish Publication Society
The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by Reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...
in 1940, and in 1941 he was appointed to the editorial board of the Jewish Apocryphal Literature Series. He wrote ''On the Apocalyptic in Judaism'' in 1952, ''Of Making Many Books'' (an annotated list of books published by the Jewish Publication Society from 1890 to 1952) in 1953, and ''The People and the Book'' (a 300-year history of Jewish-American life) in 1954. His bibliography was collected by Dora Steinglass's 1960 book ''A Bibliography of the Writings of Joshua Bloch (1910–1958)''.
In 1935, when pamphleteers Raymond J. Healey and Ernest F. Elmhurst claimed the
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
commanded Jews to kill Christians for ritual purposes, Bloch discredited the
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
accusation in the resulting trial by providing authoritative testimony that refuted the accusation. He served as rabbi in
Rockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated Village (New York), village located in the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long ...
, and
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the county seat, parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles (Louisiana), Lake Char ...
. He was trustee of the Union Free School District No. 5 in Nassau County for six years and of the Central High School District No. 2 for five years. From 1934 to 1937, he was president of the latter high school district. By the end of his life, he was living in
New Hyde Park
New Hyde Park is a village in the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the anchor community of the Greater New Hyde Park area. The population was 10,257 at the time of the ...
,
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
.
Bloch contributed to the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', the ''
Harvard Theological Review
The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and rel ...
'', ''
The Jewish Quarterly Review
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Jewish studies. It is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of ...
Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Isaac Landman (October 24, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was an American Reform rabbi, author and anti-Zionist activist. He was editor of the ten-volume ''The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''.
Biography
Landman was born in Russia on October 4, 1880, t ...
''. He also edited the latter's department of literature. He served on the American Jewish Historical Society's Executive Council and as its vice-president and Publications Committee Chairman. He was a fellow of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Science and a member of the
Jewish Book Council
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of quali ...
, the
New York Board of Rabbis The New York Board of Rabbis is an organization of Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis in New York State and the surrounding portions of Connecticut and New Jersey.
The roots of the New York Board of Rabbis date to 1881 wi ...
, the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. ...
, and the national committee of the
National Jewish Welfare Board
The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany, in order to support Jewish soldiers in the U.S. military during World War I. The impetus for creating the organization ...
. In 1915, he married Frieda R. Sandel. They had one child, Nehama.
Bloch died from a heart attack at Creedmoor State Hospital in
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose, Queens and Elmont, Nassau County to the ...
, where he was delivering a
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...
sermon as a chaplain of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene that operated the hospital, on September 26, 1957.