Shinedling, Abraham I. (Abraham Isaac), 1897-1982

Rabbi, historian, New York City editor and historian for the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and staff member of the American Jewish Archives; d. 1982.

Rabbi, of Albuquerque, N.M.; d. 1982.

Abraham Isaac Shinedling was born in 1897 in Michigan. His studies took him to Ohio, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Cincinnati, and to Columbia University, where he earned his Masters degree. He became a rabbi at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1920. Later in his career, in 1959, he was made an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.

Shinedling is known for his service as a rabbi to numerous communities and congregations in Georgia, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, and West Virginia. He also served in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods, the Rotary Club, the National Council of Jewish Chaplains in Penal Institutes (of which he was on the executive board from 1937-1943), the staff of the American Jewish Archives, as a member of the Jewish Chautauqua Society of New York, and as translator, associate editor, and contributor to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia. He was also vice president (1972-1973) and treasurer (1973-1978) of the Temple Albert Men's Club (Albuquerque, New Mexico), and vice president of B'nai B&'rith Lodge 336 in Albuquerque from 1969-1971. Shinedling did not serve as rabbi in Congregation Albert of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he retired, but he was a teacher there, as well as for boys from Santa Fe preparing for Bar Mitzvah. He served as rabbi at the Los Alamos Jewish Center (created in 1955) bi-monthly in the mid 1950s.

Shinedling is the author of various books and numerous articles. One of his better-known publications is the book West Virginia Jewry: Origins and History, 1850-1958. He began writing this book upon urging of a committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, specially convened to secure data relating to the histories of Jewish communities in the United States. Shinedling was specifically given the task of writing an article on West Virginia, where he lived and worked for some years. This project was carried out in connection with the 1954-1955 nation-wide celebration of the Tercentenary of the first settlement of Jews in the United States.

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