Joshua Trachtenberg (1904–1959) was a reform Rabbi based in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. He had a notable career as a congregational Rabbi and scholarly writer.

Biography

Trachtenberg was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but travelled to America at aged three. He received his rabbinical ordination at

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 ...

(1936), and went on to serve at multiple congregations. He worked in many areas of Jewish scholarship including a survey of religious conditions in Israel (1951–52), which was sponsored by 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 Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Trachtenberg was also active in the field of community work. In Easton he was the president of the Jewish Community Council (1939–46), and as an ardent

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, he was identified with the Labour Zionist movement. His most notable work ''Jewish Magic and Superstition'' (1939, repr. 1961 and again 2004 with a foreword by Moshe Idel) was his Ph.D. dissertation at

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 ...

. From this came another notable work ''The Devil and the Jews'' (1943, repr. 1966), which examines the relationship of the medieval conception of antisemitism to the modern variety. The work contrasted with his earlier pieces, such as ''Consider the Years'' (1944), that was instead a history of the Easton Jewish community he had presided in.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trachtenberg, Joshua 1904 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American rabbis