Fishman, Israel David, 1938-

Israel David Fishman was born on February 21, 1938 in Westerly, Rhode Island. His given name was Israel Fishman. His parents, Minnie C. and Benjamin Fishman, were Orthodox Jews. His father was an ordained rabbi, although he never held a pulpit position or earned a living as a clergyman.

In September 1946, Israel Fishman was sent to Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In letters, he described his childhood as one of much turmoil and loneliness. At the age of fifteen he was hospitalized for twelve weeks and treated with electric shock therapy. Fishman rebelled against the confines of Orthodoxy, finding them inconsistent and irreconcilable with an openly gay life. Still, his childhood spent in the Orthodox community formed a major part of his character and, viewed by Fishman, to be an essential part of his personal conflict. Much of this conflict is demonstrated by his name changes. In 1958, he used the name Yisroel Fishman. In early 1964, he used I. Ronald Fishman, but in June officially changed his name back to Israel Fishman. Later, Fishman added David as a middle name. His correspondence and writings are punctuated with Talmudic references and perspectives, the lives of homosexuals under the Nazis, and his interest in chazzanut, a form of Jewish liturgical music.

Fishman worked in various New York businesses as an office assistant between the years 1956 and 1965. In 1958, he enrolled in the City College of New York, first as an evening student, before enrolling full time. He graduated with a B.A. degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Philosophy in 1965. In May 1966, he received an M.L.S. from Columbia University's School of Library Science.

Fishman began his library career as the Head of Technical Services at the Jewish Theological Seminary library, before becoming an Acquisitions Librarian at Richmond College. In 1970, Fishman was hired as Circulation Librarian at Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, at the rank of Assistant Professor. In early 1973, he learned that he had been denied tenure. After considering the appeal process and other options, he requested and was granted a six month sick leave, at the end of which, in January 1974, his employment ended. This was to be the conclusion of Fishman's career as a library professional.

In 1970, Fishman attended the American Library Association meeting in Detroit and conceived the idea of a gay liberation group within the library profession. With the help of others, Fishman organized the Task Force on Gay Liberation (TFGL), a section of the Social Responsibilities Round Table. The group's activities at the Dallas convention the next year (June 1971) gained national attention. TFGL members were vocal about their work and the issues they championed were featured in library journals, in the gay press, and even in mainstream publications. Fishman believed that these public activities were responsible for the demise of his career in librarianship. He was succeeded in leadership of the TFGL by Barbara Gittings. In addition to his activist duties, Fishman has been featured in the documentary Trembling Before God, and wrote chapters for the anthologies, Daring to Find Our Names and Liberating Minds .

After leaving librarianship, Fishman went to Los Angeles, California for a period of work and study at the Gay Community Services Center. He returned to New York in the winter of 1973 to study Swedish massage and was licensed in 1974. The same year, Fishman met his partner, Carl Navarro at the West Side Discussion Group (a regular gathering of gay men in New York City). Fishman went on to run a mail order vitamin store, to organize tours through Hasidic Brooklyn, called Big Knish Tours, and to be active in the Park Slope Food Cooperative.

From the guide to the Israel David Fishman papers, 1967-2002, 1970-1979, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)