Albert L. Lewis
| Rabbi Albert L. Lewis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Religion | Judaism |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
July 6, 1917 New York |
| Died | February 10, 2008 (aged 90) Cherry Hill, New Jersey |
| Religious career | |
| Ordination | Jewish Theological Seminary of America |
| Previous post | Temple Beth Sholom |
Rabbi Albert L. Lewis (July 6, 1917 – February 10, 2008) (Hebrew: הרב אברהם אריה בן חיים יוסף ושרה בילא) was a leading American Conservative rabbi, scholar, and author; President of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international organization of Conservative rabbis; and Vice-President of The World Council of Synagogues. In 2009, the award-winning author, Mitch Albom, wrote about Lewis, his childhood rabbi, as the main character in the non-fiction book, Have a Little Faith. The book, hailed as a story of faith that inspires faith in others, concludes with the eulogy that Albom delivered at Lewis's funeral, on February 12, 2008.
Lewis received a bachelor's degree (A.B.) in education from Yeshiva College (Yeshiva University); a master's degree (M.S.) in education from City College of New York; and a master's degree (M.H.L.) in Hebrew literature, a doctorate (D.H.L., honoris causa) in Rabbinic Studies, and rabbinic ordination, from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). He continued his studies at Dropsie College, now the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, in Philadelphia, and, well known for the power of his sermons and his skills as an orator, taught homiletics in the JTS rabbinical school for ten years.
A descendant of a number of European rabbis, Lewis grew up in the Bronx, first working as a teacher in New York City, and then as principal at a yeshiva in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. In 1948, while still in rabbinical school, Lewis became the student rabbi and spiritual leader of a 50-family congregation, Temple Beth Sholom, in Haddon Heights, New Jersey, an area that did not allow Jews until after World War II. He never left that synagogue, and when he retired in 1992, four years after the synagogue had relocated to Cherry Hill, the congregation had grown under his leadership by a factor of twenty, to include approximately one thousand families. In addition to Mitch Albom, the long list of other students Lewis taught during his almost six decades with the synagogue includes Steven Spielberg and Eugene Maurice Orowitz, better known by his screen name, Michael Landon.
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