From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Joshua Haberman, rabbi and education advocate, dies at 98
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleRabbi Joshua Haberman, rabbi emeritus of the Washington Hebrew Congregation and founder of the Foundation for Jewish Studies, has died.
Haberman, who represented the Jewish community during the memorial service for the victims of 9/11 held at the National Cathedral, died Sunday at his home in Washington, DC, at 98, following a rabbinic career of 72 years.
Haberman, a Vienna native, was enrolled at the Vienna Jewish Theological Seminary when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. An invitation by the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, enabled him to come to the United States, where he received ordination from HUC in 1945. Haberman earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati the same year and went on to earn two doctorates.
He served as clergy in several Reform synagogues before becoming senior rabbi at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in 1969. He retired in 1986, becoming rabbi emeritus, and remained active in the congregation as a teacher and spiritual leader until his death.
In 1983, he created the Foundation for Jewish Studies, a nonsectarian organization offering scholarly lecture series and tours for adult Jews, using startup money donated by an anonymous congregant.
Haberman also was active in interfaith dialogue with Christians and Muslims, and spoke at both the White House and in Congress.
Accepting an award in 1987, Haberman lamented a “spiritual malaise” among American Jews.
“We Jews have an incredible advantage,” he said. “In the Western world we have learned important lessons and gained deep insights in world-saving truths from our historical experience of nearly 4,000 years. But a time such as this, when we could be a light unto the nation, most of our people, so brilliantly educated in all the secular branches of learning, are Jewishly illiterate. We are messengers who have forgotten the message.”
Haberman is survived by his wife of 73 years, Maxine Rudin Haberman, as well as four children, 15 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
— JTA
The Times of Israel Community.