Joshua Bloch (December 9, 1890 – September 26, 1957) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish-American rabbi and librarian.

Life

Bloch was born on December 9, 1890 in Dorbian,

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was forme ...

, the son of Baer-Moses Bloch and Necha Stoch. Bloch immigrated to America in 1907 and got his secondary education in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He then attended Hebrew Union College from 1911 to 1916, the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

from 1912 to 1916, Dropsie College from 1913 to 1914,

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 ...

from 1913 to 1915, the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1914 to 1915 and the Union Theological Seminary from 1914 to 1915, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

from 1914 to 1918. He received an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the latter university and was its lecturer in Semitic languages and literature. He was a faculty member of the

Jewish Institute of Religion The Jewish Institute of Religion was an educational establishment created by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in 1922 in New York City. While generally incorporating Reform Judaism, it was separate from the previously established Hebrew Union College. It so ...

from 1922 to 1923. He was a faculty member in New York University from 1919 to 1928. He was also chaplain of the

New York State Department of Mental Hygiene The Department of Mental Hygiene is a component of the New York state government composed of three autonomous offices: *the Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) *the Office of Mental Health (OMH) *the Office for People With Develo ...

from 1922 until his death. Bloch served as head of the Jewish Division of the New York Public Library from 1923 to 1956. Under him, the Library developed one of the major Judaica collections in the United States. He arranged a number of exhibitions on Judaica at the Library. His bibliographical research into the history of Hebrew was published by the Library's ''Bulletin of the New York Public Library'' on multiple occasions. He founded the quarterly ''Journal of Jewish Bibliography'' in 1938 and served as its editor until 1943. He was appointed to the publication committee of the Jewish Publication Society in 1940, and in 1941 he was appointed to the editorial board of the Jewish Apocryphal Literature Series. He wrote ''On the Apocalyptic in Judaism'' in 1952, ''Of Making Many Books'' (an annotated list of books published by the Jewish Publication Society from 1890 to 1952) in 1953, and ''The People and the Book'' (a 300-year history of Jewish-American life) in 1954. His bibliography was collected by Dora Steinglass's 1960 book ''A Bibliography of the Writings of Joshua Bloch (1910–1958)''. In 1935, when pamphleteers Raymond J. Healey and Ernest F. Elmhurst claimed the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

commanded Jews to kill Christians for ritual purposes, Bloch discredited the

blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...

accusation in the resulting trial by providing authoritative testimony that refuted the accusation. He served as rabbi in Rockville Centre, New York, and

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcas ...

. He was trustee of the Union Free School District No. 5 in Nassau County for six years and of the Central High School District No. 2 for five years. From 1934 to 1937, he was president of the latter high school district. By the end of his life, he was living in

New Hyde Park New Hyde Park is a village in the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the anchor community of the Greater New Hyde Park area. The population was 9,712 at the 2010 census. ...

, Long Island. Bloch contributed to the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'', the ''

Harvard Theological Review The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and re ...

'', ''

The Jewish Quarterly Review ''The Jewish Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Jewish studies. It is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of Pe ...

'', the '' Journal of the American Oriental Society'', the ''Journal of the Society of Oriental Research'', the '' American Journal of Semitic Languages'', and the '' Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''. He also edited the latter's department of literature. He served on the American Jewish Historical Society's Executive Council and as its Vice-President and Publications Committee Chairman. He was a fellow of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Science and a member of the

Jewish Book Council The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.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 w ...

, the

Central Conference of American Rabbis The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. I ...

, and the national committee of the

National Jewish Welfare Board The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany, in order to support Jewish soldiers in the U.S. military during World War I. The impetus for creating the organization ...

. In 1915, he married Frieda R. Sandel. They had one child, Nehama. Bloch died from a heart attack at Creedmoor State Hospital in

Queens Village, Queens Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose to the east, and Oakland Gardens to the north. ...

, where he was delivering a Rosh Hashanah sermon as a chaplain of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene that operated the hospital, on September 26, 1957.

References

1890 births 1957 deaths People from Telshevsky Uyezd 19th-century Lithuanian Jews 20th-century Lithuanian Jews American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Jews from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Lithuanian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American rabbis American Reform rabbis Jewish American historians Rabbis from New York City Hebrew Union College alumni University of Cincinnati alumni Dropsie College alumni Columbia University alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni New York University alumni New York University faculty 20th-century American academics Hebrew Union College faculty American librarians New York Public Library people People from Rockville Centre, New York People from Lake Charles, Louisiana People from New Hyde Park, New York Contributors to the Encyclopædia Britannica Jewish encyclopedists American encyclopedists {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Joshua (rabbi)