Everett Gendler

Everett Gendler (born August 8, 1928) is an American rabbi, known for his involvement in progressive causes, including the American civil rights movement, Jewish nonviolence, and the egalitarian Jewish Havurah movement. From 1978-1995, he served as the first Jewish Chaplain at Phillips Academy, Andover. He has been described as the "father of Jewish environmentalism".

Gendler was born in Chariton, Iowa in 1928 to a religious Jewish family who moved to Des Moines in 1939. He earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1948 during the heyday of Robert Hutchins’ leadership, and remained at Chicago until 1951 studying with such luminaries as Rudolf Carnap. In 1957, he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gendler served as rabbi to a number of congregations throughout Latin America, including the Beth Israel Community Center in Mexico City, Mexico (1957–59), the Associacao Religiosa Israelita in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1961), and the five congregations of Havana, Cuba (High Holidays and Passover, 1968–69). From 1962-1967, Gendler served as rabbi at the Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gendler, along with his wife Mary Gendler (born 1940) was involved in several alternative residential communities, including Ivan Illich’s Centro Intercultural de Documentación in Cuernavaca, Mexico (1968-69) (alongside Harvey Cox ) and the inter-racial inter-religious living center Packerd Manse in Stoughton, Massachusetts (1969-71).

In 1971, Gendler became rabbi at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley and in 1977, Gendler was appointed by Ted Sizer as the first Jewish chaplain at Phillips Academy, Andover as part of a Catholic-Protestant-Jewish “tri-ministry”. Gendler remained in his position at Phillips Andover, alongside his position at Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley, until his retirement, at the age of 67, in 1995.

...
Wikipedia