Grünewald, Max, 1899-1992

Max Grünewald had a long and distinguished career as a rabbi in Mannheim, Germany, and the United States. More than a spiritual leader of the Jewish American community, he held prominent positions in several major Jewish organizations, including being chair of the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, co-president of the Gustav Wurzweiler Foundation, vice-president of the Maimonides Institute, and cofounder and president of Leo Baeck Institute New York for more than thirty years. He was a well respected individual who shifted easily from working with powerful Jewish leaders in Europe to leading intimate bible study classes out of his home in Milburn, New Jersey.

Max Israel Grünewald was born on December 4, 1899 in Upper Silesia, Germany. He was one of six children, four of whom survived. He had two brothers, Karl-David and Ernst, and one sister, Betty Hinden. Grünewald’s parents were Simon Grünewald and Klara Ostheimer. Little is known about his mother; however, Simon Grünewald was a Jewish elementary schoolmaster and director of the city’s trade schools in addition to being secretary of the local synagogue. Born in 1868 in Westphalen, Simon Grünewald attended the Teacher’s Seminary in Hanover and began his career teaching in the Lüneburger Heide followed by posts in Sorau and finally, Königshütte. Simon Grünewald died in Israel around 1921.

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