Spero, Shubert

Rabbi of Young Israel of Cleveland, Co-Chairman of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of Cleveland, and trustee of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. He and his wife, Iris, emigrated to Israel in 1983.

Rabbi Shubert Spero (b. 1923) was a leader of the Orthodox Jewish community in Cleveland, Ohio, and a professor of philosophy who directed Young Israel of Cleveland for thirty-two years. Born in New York City, Spero was educated at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath where he was ordained in 1947. He then served as rabbi of Young Israel of Brookline, Massachusetts, until 1950 when he became rabbi and director of Young Israel of Cleveland. During Spero's tenure, Young Israel grew from 80 families to more than 370 families in 1982. In 1958 Young Israel dedicated a new synagogue and youth center on Cedar Road in South Euclid, Ohio. Upon his arrival in Cleveland, Spero became secretary of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council (Merchaz Harabonim) of Cleveland. When Rabbi Israel Porath died in 1974, Spero became co-chairman of the Council, and also became chairman of the Vaad Hachinuch (educational committee) of Yeshivath Adath B'nai Israel; he continued to fill both positions through 1982. He was also a chairman of Hebrew Academy's Vaad Hachinuch, and a founder of the Cleveland Mikveh, completed in 1954. Spero served on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community Federation and on many of its committees. An active Zionist, he was president of the American Zionist Federation of Cleveland from 1976 to 1980, and encouraged a number of his congregants to immigrate to Israel. In 1946 Spero received a Bachelor of Social Science degree from City College of New York. He received his M.A. from Western Reserve University in 1960 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Case Western Reserve University in 1971. For eighteen years he was a professor of liberal arts at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and taught philosophy at many area colleges. Among his numerous publications are the books God in All Seasons (1967) and Morality, Halakha and the Jewish Tradition (1983). In 1983 Spero and his wife Iris immigrated to Israel, where he took the Irving I. Stone Chair of Basic Jewish Thought at Bar Ilan University.