Jonathan V. Plaut
Encyclopedia
Jonathan V. Plaut, is a Reform
rabbi
and author. Plaut is the rabbi of Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
in Jackson, MI.
He was born in Chicago
, Illinois
. Dr. Plaut is the son of Gunther Plaut
, an internationally renowned Jewish scholar, living in Toronto, Canada.
Since the first of October 2000, Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut has served as the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
. Prior to this, he served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, San Jose, California from 1985 to 1993 and Congregation Beth El in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from 1970 to 1984 where he spearheaded the synagogue’s growth of more than a hundred percent. In addition, he held part-time positions at Temple Beth El (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) as Visiting Rabbinic Scholar and for five years at Congregation Beth El in Traverse City, Michigan before becoming Rabbi Emeritus in August 2004.
A 1964 graduate of Macalester College
in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was ordained in 1970 from the Hebrew Union College
, Cincinnati, Ohio
. Rabbi Plaut earned a Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree in 1977 and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1995 from the Hebrew Union College. In 2009, he received a Doctor of Laws Degree (honoris causa) from Assumption University which is in federation with the University of Windsor.
For eight years, Dr. Plaut was Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University
, San Jose, California
. From 2001 to 2008, he taught a one semester graduate course at University of Detroit Mercy
. In Windsor Ontario, he taught for twelve years at Assumption College School
. For more than a decade, he hosted a weekly religious news program on CBET-TV television and CKWW radio in Windsor.
He was the Editor of the "Journal of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society" from 1977 to 1984, and Through the Sound of Many Voices: Writings Contributed on the Occasion of the 70th Birthday of W. Gunther Plaut. For nearly nine years, he wrote a monthly article for the "San Jose Jewish Community News". In 2007, he authored The Jews of Windsor 1790-1990: A Historical Chronicle. In 2007, he also edited One Voice: The Selected Sermons of W. Gunther Plaut and The Plaut Family: Tracing the Legacy and in 2008 wrote the introduction for Eight Decades: The Selected Writings of W. Gunther Plaut.
All of Rabbi Plaut's papers spanning a career of nearly 40 years are housed at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Included in this collection are the research materials, newspaper articles, interviews and photographs of the Windsor Jewish Community from 1790 to 2000.
Rabbi Plaut has held many civic and religious posts and was the youngest person to receive Windsor Jewry's highest communal honor in 1985, becoming the Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner honoree. Active in a variety of communal activities, Rabbi Plaut headed the Jewish National Fund
, United Jewish Appeal of Windsor, State of Israel Bonds, Credit Counseling Service of Metropolitan Windsor, Counsel of Agency Executives and Rabbis in San Jose, and was the Chaplain for both the San Jose Fire and Police Departments.
Rabbi Plaut and his wife, Carol, have two children, a son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Amy who live in Jacksonville, Florida; and a daughter and son-in-law, Deborah and David who have two sons, Steven and Jeffrey who live in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Dr. Plaut is the son of Rabbi Dr. W. Gunther Plaut, an internationally renowned Jewish scholar, living in Toronto, Canada.
Edited:
Introduction/Preface:
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and author. Plaut is the rabbi of Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
Temple Beth Israel is a Reform synagogue located at 801 West Michigan Avenue in Jackson, Michigan. Formed in 1862 by Jews of German background, it grew out of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, which had been organized in 1858, and was the second Reform congregation in Michigan.Dr. Jonathan V. Plaut,...
in Jackson, MI.
He was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Dr. Plaut is the son of Gunther Plaut
Gunther Plaut
Wolf Gunther Plaut, CC, O.Ont is a Reform rabbi and author. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 is its Senior Scholar....
, an internationally renowned Jewish scholar, living in Toronto, Canada.
Since the first of October 2000, Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut has served as the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan)
Temple Beth Israel is a Reform synagogue located at 801 West Michigan Avenue in Jackson, Michigan. Formed in 1862 by Jews of German background, it grew out of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, which had been organized in 1858, and was the second Reform congregation in Michigan.Dr. Jonathan V. Plaut,...
. Prior to this, he served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, San Jose, California from 1985 to 1993 and Congregation Beth El in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from 1970 to 1984 where he spearheaded the synagogue’s growth of more than a hundred percent. In addition, he held part-time positions at Temple Beth El (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) as Visiting Rabbinic Scholar and for five years at Congregation Beth El in Traverse City, Michigan before becoming Rabbi Emeritus in August 2004.
A 1964 graduate of Macalester College
Macalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was ordained in 1970 from the Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
, Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. Rabbi Plaut earned a Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree in 1977 and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1995 from the Hebrew Union College. In 2009, he received a Doctor of Laws Degree (honoris causa) from Assumption University which is in federation with the University of Windsor.
For eight years, Dr. Plaut was Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
, San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. From 2001 to 2008, he taught a one semester graduate course at University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy is a private, Roman Catholic co-educational university in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with the Society of Jesus and the Sisters of Mercy. Antoine M. Garibaldi is the president. With origins dating from 1877, it is the largest Roman Catholic university...
. In Windsor Ontario, he taught for twelve years at Assumption College School
Assumption College School
Assumption College Catholic High School is an International Baccalaureate authorized catholic high school in Windsor, Ontario.- History :Assumption was founded by the Basilian Fathers in 1870 as part of Assumption University, which is now part of the University of Windsor...
. For more than a decade, he hosted a weekly religious news program on CBET-TV television and CKWW radio in Windsor.
He was the Editor of the "Journal of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society" from 1977 to 1984, and Through the Sound of Many Voices: Writings Contributed on the Occasion of the 70th Birthday of W. Gunther Plaut. For nearly nine years, he wrote a monthly article for the "San Jose Jewish Community News". In 2007, he authored The Jews of Windsor 1790-1990: A Historical Chronicle. In 2007, he also edited One Voice: The Selected Sermons of W. Gunther Plaut and The Plaut Family: Tracing the Legacy and in 2008 wrote the introduction for Eight Decades: The Selected Writings of W. Gunther Plaut.
All of Rabbi Plaut's papers spanning a career of nearly 40 years are housed at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Included in this collection are the research materials, newspaper articles, interviews and photographs of the Windsor Jewish Community from 1790 to 2000.
Rabbi Plaut has held many civic and religious posts and was the youngest person to receive Windsor Jewry's highest communal honor in 1985, becoming the Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner honoree. Active in a variety of communal activities, Rabbi Plaut headed the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, United Jewish Appeal of Windsor, State of Israel Bonds, Credit Counseling Service of Metropolitan Windsor, Counsel of Agency Executives and Rabbis in San Jose, and was the Chaplain for both the San Jose Fire and Police Departments.
Rabbi Plaut and his wife, Carol, have two children, a son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Amy who live in Jacksonville, Florida; and a daughter and son-in-law, Deborah and David who have two sons, Steven and Jeffrey who live in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Dr. Plaut is the son of Rabbi Dr. W. Gunther Plaut, an internationally renowned Jewish scholar, living in Toronto, Canada.
Selected works
Authored:- The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990: A Historical Chronicle (2007), ISBN 9781550027068
Edited:
- Through the sound of many voices : writings contributed on the occasion of the 70th birthday of W. Gunther Plaut (1982), ISBN 0886190304
- One Voice: The Selected Sermons of W. Gunther Plaut (2007), ISBN 9781550027396
- Journal of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society
- The Plaut Family: Tracing the Legacy (2007), ISBN 9781886223349
Introduction/Preface:
- On Sunday Observance 1906, Compiled by David Rome with Preface Jonathan V. Plaut, (Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1979)
- On the Early Harts, Compiled by David Rome with Preface Jonathan V. Plaut (Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1980)
- On the Early Harts—Their Contemporaries, Compiled by David Rome with Preface Jonathan V. Plaut, (Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1981–1982)
- Introduction, Plaut, W. Gunther, Eight Decades: The Selected Writings of W. Gunther Plaut, (Dundurn Press, 2008)