Harold M. Schulweis
| Harold M. Schulweis | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1925 The Bronx, New York City |
| Died | December 18, 2014 Encino, California |
| Cause of death | heart disease |
| Education |
Yeshiva University Jewish Theological Seminary New York University Pacific School of Religion |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
Harold M. Schulweis (April 14, 1925 – December 18, 2014) was an American rabbi and author. He was the longtime spiritual Leader at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California.
Schulweis was born in Bronx, New York in 1925 to secular parents who respected Zionism and Jewish traditions. His father was an editor of the The Jewish Daily Forward. His early Jewish education was influenced by his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Rezak, who introduced him to the Talmud. In 1945, Schulweis graduated Yeshiva University with a degree in philosophy. Later Schulweis enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he studied under Mordecai Kaplan and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Schulweis also studied philosophy at New York University, where he met his wife Malkah. He received a doctorate in theology from the Pacific School of Religion.
Schulweis's first pulpit was Temple Beth Abraham, a Conservative Jewish congregation in Oakland, California in 1952. Among the innovations he introduced was the inclusion of women in minyanim and bat mitzvah ceremonies for girls. Instead of sermons, he used the allotted time for questions and answers. Schulweis has been criticized by the religious right for his interfaith and conversion programs, and open inclusion of homosexuals. Rabbi Meir Kahane criticized Schulweis for allowing a pro-PLO Arab Knesset member to speak at his synagogue, while refusing to extend the same opportunity to Kahane, who was also a Knesset member at the time.Newsweek magazine called him "the leading Conservative rabbi of his generation" and placed him 13th on their list of the Top 50 Rabbis in America. Though he is affiliated with the Conservative Movement he is considered a leading authority and theologian of Reconstructionist Judaism today.
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