Joseph Hyman Lookstein (Hebrew: ; December 25, 1902 – July 13, 1979) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n-born American rabbi who served as spiritual leader of

Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (KJ or CKJ) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue, located on East 85th Street on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The synagogue was founded in 1872. The synagogue is closely affiliated with t ...

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and was a leader in

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

, including his service as president of the

Rabbinical Council of America The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). It is the main pr ...

and of the cross-denominational

Synagogue Council of America The Synagogue Council of America was an American Jewish organization of synagogue and rabbinical associations, founded in 1926. The Council was the umbrella body bridging the three primary religious movements within Judaism in the United States. It ...

and

New York Board of Rabbis The New York Board of Rabbis is an organization of Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis in New York State and the surrounding portions of Connecticut and New Jersey. The roots of the New York Board of Rabbis date to 1881 wit ...

. He was President of

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

from 1957 to 1967.

Biography

Lookstein was born in

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, and after emigrating to the United States, attended

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and did graduate work at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He received his Jewish education at

Rabbi Jacob Joseph School The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School is an Orthodox Jewish day school located in Staten Island, New York that serves students from nursery through twelfth grade, with another branch in Edison, New Jersey. The school was founded in 1903 by Rabbi Shmuel Y ...

and received his

rabbinic ordination Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...

in 1926 from the

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS ) is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University (YU). It is located along Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Named after Yitzchak Elchanan S ...

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

. He had already served as an assistant for three years at

, assisting his grandfather-in-law Rabbi

Moses S. Margolies Moses Zebulun Margolies (April 1851 – August 25, 1936) ( he, משה זבולן מרגליות) was a Russian-born American Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox who served as senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of the Ne ...

, and continued in that role after receiving his ordination, assuming the title of senior rabbi after Margolies's death in 1936.Saxon, Wolfgang
"Joseph H. Lookstein Dead at 76; A Rabbi and Orthodox Educator; Responsibilities Increased"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', July 15, 1979. Accessed February 19, 2020. In 1930, he established the Hebrew Teachers Training School for Girls, now part of Yeshiva University, and served as its principal for ten years. Shortly after the establishment of

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Rabbi Lookstein became the institution's acting president in 1957 for nine years, succeeding

Pinkhos Churgin Pinkhos Churgin (Hebrew: ; 1894–1957) was an Israeli scholar who was the first President of Bar-Ilan University. Biography Churgin was born in Pohost, Belorussia, a shtetl near Pinsk. In 1907 he and his parents immigrated to Palestine, and s ...

, before being succeeded by

Max Jammer Max Jammer (מקס ימר; born Moshe Jammer, ; April 13, 1915 – December 18, 2010), was an Israeli physicist and philosopher of physics. He was born in Berlin, Germany. He was Rector and Acting President at Bar-Ilan University from 1967 to 1 ...

and named as the school's

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

in 1966. During his tenure, the school grew from a single building with 40 students into a school with an enrollment of thousands. He was elected as head of the

in 1979, was a past president of the

and the

. He founded the

Ramaz School The Ramaz School is an elite American coeducational Jewish Modern Orthodox day school which offers a dual curriculum of general studies taught in English and Judaic studies taught in Hebrew. The school is located on the Upper East Side of Manha ...

in 1937, which was named in honor of his grandfather-in-law. Lookstein's son, Rabbi

Haskel Lookstein Haskel Lookstein (born March 21, 1932) is an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi who serves as the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Lookstein served as the rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun fro ...

, was a member of the school's inaugural first grade class.Mark, Jonathan
"Rabbi Lookstein Remembers It Well"
''

The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish We ...

'', June 11, 2008. Accessed October 15, 2015. By the time of his death, the school had an enrollment of 800 students. He died at age 76 on July 13, 1979 at Mount Sinai Hospital in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

. His son, Haskel Lookstein, had served as the Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Kehillath Jeshurun starting in 1958, and assumed the title of Senior Rabbi upon his father's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lookstein, Joseph Hyman 1902 births 1979 deaths American Orthodox rabbis Orthodox rabbis from Russia City College of New York alumni Columbia University alumni Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary semikhah recipients Rabbi Jacob Joseph School alumni Yeshiva University faculty People from Mogilev Presidents of universities in Israel 20th-century American rabbis