Baruch Korff
| Baruch Korff | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 4, 1914 |
| Died | July 26, 1995 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
| Known for | "Nixon's rabbi" |
| Spouse(s) | Naomi Ruth Sternburg (div.) Rebecca Marshall (div.) |
Baruch Korff (July 4, 1914 – July 26, 1995) was an Orthodox rabbi and longtime American-Jewish community activist. He was politically close to Richard Nixon, and was known as "Nixon's rabbi."
Korff was born July 4, 1914, in Novograd-Volynsk, Ukraine. He was the second child of Grand Rabbi Jacob Israel Korff and Gittel Goldman Korff. Korff's early life was marked with tragedy. In 1919, when Korff was only 5 years old, Jewish pogroms swept through Eastern Europe. Ukraine was not exempt, and the Korff family found themselves caught in the middle of one such pogrom in 1919. Korff's mother fled her home with an infant in her arms, and three young children following her. Gittel Korff did not survive the 1919 pogrom in Novograd-Volynsk. Young Baruch Korff witnessed her murder, and would forever label himself a coward for not attempting to save her. Korff wrote in his memoirs that "My life ever since has been a quest for redemption from that charge." His father was suspected of committing treason and fled to Poland. Korff later went to Poland as well to be with his father. There he began studying in yeshivas. Korff stayed in Poland for seven years; however, he left to celebrate his bar mitzvah. He emigrated to the United States in 1926.
Korff studied in the Yeshiva Ohr Torah, Yeshiva Torath Chaim, and the Yeshiva Rabbi Isaac Elchanan. In 1934 he was ordained a rabbi, following in the footsteps of his ancestors. He was part of an unbroken line of rabbis that went back 73 generations. He was the headmaster of the Yeshivah Torath Emeth in Brooklyn, New York from 1936 to 1937. He later became the rabbi for the Congregation Hayim Solomon from 1938 to 1940.
Korff became an adviser to the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada. He was also an advisor to the U.S. War Refugee Board. He was also the director of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, and later became an active member of the Political Action Committee for Palestine. Korff was also a Zionist.
Korff was active in the anti-Nazi movement prior to and during World War II. Korff was the director of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People during World War II. Korff was responsible for gathering over 1,000 rabbis in Washington D.C. to march in order for Britain to allow Jewish immigration after the war.
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