William F. Rosenblum, 1892-1968

William Franklin Rosenblum was born August 10, 1892 to Rita (Feinstein) and Joseph Samuel Rosenblum in Grodno, Poland. In 1897, his family emigrated to New York City. Rosenblum completed an undergraduate degree in economics and sociology at the College of the City of New York in 1910. Starting in 1912, he supervised the Boys’ Work department at the Cleveland Council Educational Alliance. Briefly making a move into the law field, he received a law degree from Tulane University Law School in 1916. He then moved to Chicago, followed by Nashville, where he straddled the worlds of both social work and business, as well as serving in the U.S. Navy between 1917 and 1918.

In 1920, while attending a Jewish Chautauqua Society conference as Director of Nashville’s Vine Street Temple Religious School, Rosenblum met Rabbi William Rosenau, who exerted a strong influence on Rosenblum’s decision to become a reform rabbi. Rosenblum went on to be ordained Rabbi at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1926. He would later receive his Doctor of Divinity from Dickinson University in 1949 and a Doctorate in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1956. Following his ordination, Rosenblum began his rabbinical career as Associate Rabbi of the Washington Hebrew Congregation in 1926 in Washington, D.C. His long-time tenure as Rabbi of Temple Israel in New York City started in 1930, continuing until 1963, when he became Rabbi Emeritus.

Two focal points of his rabbinical career were military chaplaincy and interfaith relations. He was a military chaplain across multiple conflicts -- serving in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1928 to 1933, visiting military bases in Alaska in 1944 and European displaced persons camps in 1948, and conducting Passover services in Saigon in 1967. In 1946, the U.S. War Department awarded him a citation for interfaith work in camps.

Rosenblum’s investment in the amelioration of interfaith relations began in earnest around 1934. He concerned himself most with the relationship between Judaism and Catholicism. As a representative of the Synagogue Council of America and the Anti-Defamation League, he met with Pope Pius XII in December 1948 in order to request that the Vatican revise its teachings surrounding concepts of the Jewish involvement in the death of Jesus and that the Vatican issue a statement labelling anti-Semitism a Cardinal sin. Rosenblum asserted that he was the first person to effectively press this issue with Pope Pius XII. In later years, he also met with Popes John XXIII and Paul VI.

Rosenblum boasted a wide variety of organizational involvements. He became Grand Chaplain of the Grand Masonic Lodge of New York in 1937; was President of the Synagogue Council of America 1947-1948; served twelve years as a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, representing the Synagogue Council of America; was on the National Program Committee of the Anti-Defamation League; participated in the Committee of Religious Leaders of the City of New York’s Committees on Newspapers, Radio and Television and was one of the leaders at their 1964 Conference on Religion and Race; and he was active in the Jewish Chautauqua Society.

Rabbi Rosenblum had a fairly high media presence, especially on the radio. He also had a hand in the creation of “Crossroads,” a 1950s religion television drama series.

He married Julia Fiddleman in 1932, and they had two children together. Together with his son he wrote the children’s book, Eight Lights: The Story of Chanukah, in 1967. Rosenblum died of a heart attack on February 10, 1968.

References

American Jewish Yearbook (Necrology, p. 59-60), 1969. Accessed October 19, 2010: http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1969_14_DirectoriesLists.pdf

Biographical Material, 1938-1967 ; William F. Rosenblum Papers; P-327; Box 1; Folder 2; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

From the guide to the William F. Rosenblum Papers, 1876, 1903-1973, (American Jewish Historical Society)