Israel Friedlander

Israel Friedlander, also spelled Friedlaender (8 September 1876 – 5 July 1920), was a rabbi, educator, translator, and biblical scholar. Together with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, he was a founding adviser to a lecture series that became the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Friedlander was born in Włodawa, Poland to Pinchas Friedlander, a cattle dealer, and his wife Gittel, who was 16 years old at the time of his birth. He was the eldest of four children. As a boy, he attended cheder in Warsaw. From 1896 to 1900 he attended Berlin University and the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, where he received his rabbinic ordination. He received his PhD from the University of Strasbourg in 1901.

His first position was as a privatdozent in Semitic languages at the University of Strasbourg from 1902 to 1903. In October 1903 he came to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the Sabato Morais Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, a position he held until his death. He also served as a history instructor at the Teacher's Institute of the Seminary.

A translator and Arabist, Friedlander was fluent in Yiddish, Russian, Babylonian and Assyrian. As his command of English was initially poor, he taught in German during his early years at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He authored, edited and translated numerous works.

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