Samuel Schafler
Encyclopedia
Samuel Schafler was a New York-born 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...

, historian, editor and Jewish educator. He was Superintendent of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago and President of Hebrew College
Hebrew College
Hebrew College is an accredited college of Jewish studies in Newton Centre, near Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1921, Hebrew College is committed to Jewish scholarship in a transdenominational academic environment. The president of the college is Rabbi Daniel Lehmann...

 in Brookline
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

Biography

Samuel Schafler was born in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1929. His father, Benjamin Schafler, and mother, Ethel (née Schnapp) owned a grocery store. Schafler studied at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, the Talmudical Academy and the Teachers Institute of Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...

. Schafler grew up in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York. He had one sister, Pearl. In 1951, he married Sara (née Edell) of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, then a student at the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...

 in New York, where Schafler was studying for the rabbinate. They had six children.

In 1950, Schafler graduated with honors from the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

, where he was awarded the Cromwell Medal and the Nelson P. Mead Prize in History. Schafler was ordained as a Conservative rabbi in 1952. He pursued graduate work in Jewish history and education at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

.

Rabbinic career

In 1952-1955, Schafler was rabbi of Knesseth Israel Synagogue in Gloversville, New York
Gloversville, New York
Gloversville is a city in Fulton County, New York, that was once the hub of America's glovemaking industry with over two hundred manufacturers in Gloversville and Johnstown. In 2000, Gloversville had a population of 15,413. Ten years later, the population had increased to 15,665- History :The...

. From 1955 to 1961, he was editor of two magazines, The Synagogue School and Dorenu: Our Age, and the associate editor of The Pedagogic Reporter. He also served as associate director of the United Synagogue
United Synagogue
United Synagogue is an organisation of London Jews that was founded with the sanction of an Act of Parliament, in 1870. , it remains the largest religious grouping within the British Jewish community and indeed in Europe, covering 62 Orthodox Jewish communities...

 Commission on Jewish Education and director of its Educational Placement Service.

In 1961-1976, he was rabbi of Temple Gates of Prayer in Flushing, New York. During that time, he was active in the Flushing community and served as a Fellow in Community Planning for the Board of Jewish Education of New York. He was the educational director of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires
Camp Ramah in the Berkshires
Camp Ramah in the Berkshires in Wingdale, New York, is one of nine overnight summer camps and three day camps affiliated with the Conservative Movement of Judaism and the National Ramah Commission. It is accredited by the American Camp Association...

 in 1964-1966, Camp Ramah in Glen Spey, New York in 1967, and the Ramah Community Program in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 from 1968 to 1976.

Jewish education

As Superintendent of the Chicago Board of Jewish Education from 1976 to 1987, he preached the need for Ahavat Yisrael, love of Jews for one another. He defined Ahavat Yisrael as "learning to love and respect Jews as they are, and not as you would like them to be." The historic sin of the American Jewish education profession, he charged, was its indifference to its own history. One of the failures of American Jewish education was its ignorance of the achievements of its pioneers and inability to chronicle its own successes.

Academic positions

In 1969, Schafler was a visiting professor at the Melton Center of Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

. In 1973, he was awarded a doctorate in Jewish history from the Jewish Theological Seminary for his dissertation on "The Hasmoneans in Jewish Historiography."
In 1974-1976, while serving as a rabbi in Flushing, Schafler was an assistant professor of Jewish History at Queens College, City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...

. In 1982, the Jewish Theological Seminary awarded him a Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa.

In 1987, Schafler was elected president of Hebrew College in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. He was the first pulpit rabbi to become president of a New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

college.He served in that position until his death from cancer in 1991.

Publications

  • "Teaching Conservative Judaism and the Jewish Family" Conservative Judaism, Fall 1979
  • "Observations on the History of Jewish Education in the United States" Jewish Education, New York, Fall 1981
  • "Modern Zionism - An Historic Perspective" Judaism: A Quarterly of Jewish Life and Thought, Winter 1981
  • "The Jewish Family: Perception and Realities - Can They Be Changed?" Journal of Jewish Communal Service, New York, 1983
  • "Enemies or Jew Hater? Reflections on the History of Anti-semitism," Judaism, New York, Summer 1988
  • "God and the Jewish School," Jewish Education, New York, Spring 1989
  • "Lovers of Zion in Japan," Congress Monthly, February 1990
  • "Books Received," Jewish Education, New York, Spring-Summer 1991
  • "Eichmann in My Hands," book review, Hadassah Magazine, October 1990
  • Guide for a Synagogue Religious Committee The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
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