Joshua Trachtenberg (1904–1959) was a reform Rabbi based in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. He had a notable career as a congregational Rabbi and scholarly writer.

Biography

Trachtenberg was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

but travelled to America at aged three. He received his rabbinical ordination at

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(1936), and went on to serve at multiple congregations. He worked in many areas of Jewish scholarship including a survey of religious conditions in Israel (1951–52), which was sponsored by 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

Union of American Hebrew Congregations The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...

. Trachtenberg was also active in the field of community work. In Easton he was the president of the Jewish Community Council (1939–46), and as an ardent

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

, he was identified with the Labour Zionist movement. His most notable work ''Jewish Magic and Superstition'' (1939, repr. 1961 and again 2004 with a foreword by Moshe Idel) was his Ph.D. dissertation 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 ...

. From this came another notable work ''The Devil and the Jews'' (1943, repr. 1966), which examines the relationship of the medieval conception of antisemitism to the modern variety. The work contrasted with his earlier pieces, such as ''Consider the Years'' (1944), that was instead a history of the Easton Jewish community he had presided in.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trachtenberg, Joshua 1904 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American rabbis