Jakob Josef Petuchowski (1925 – 1991) was an American research professor of Jewish Theology and Liturgy and the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies at the

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion 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 ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. He was born on July 25, 1925 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and died November 12, 1991 in Cincinnati.

Education

Petuchowski was brought up as an

Orthodox Jew 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 ...

and left Germany in May 1939 for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

. His father, Samuel Meir Sigmund Petuchowski, died in 1928 and his mother was murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Aged just 16, and having had only a year's instruction in English before leaving Berlin, he became a rabbinical student at the Glasgow Rabbinical College. While studying for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(Honours) degree in Psychology, which he received from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1947, he continued Jewish studies privately, receiving tuition from Rabbis

Leo Baeck Leo Baeck (23 May 1873 – 2 November 1956) was a 20th-century German rabbi, scholar, and theologian. He served as leader of Reform Judaism in his native country and internationally, and later represented all German Jews during the Nazi er ...

and Arthur Löwenstamm among others. In 1948 he became a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. He received a master's degree in 1952 and a PhD in 1956.

Professional career

He served as part-time rabbi in

Welch, West Virginia Welch is a city located in McDowell County in the State of West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,590 at the 2020 census, however the 2021 census estimate put the population at 1,914, due to the McDowell Prison complex in the north ...

between 1949 and 1955 and was full-time rabbi in

Washington, Pennsylvania Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...

from 1955 to 1956. He returned to teach at Hebrew Union College in 1956. During the academic year 1963-64 he was rabbi and founding director of Judaic Studies at the college's newly established branch in Jerusalem.

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Mayer from Bochum on November 28, 1946 and they had three sons: Samuel, Aaron and Jonathan.Henrix, p.11

Publications

His works include ''Ever Since Sinai'' (1961), ''Zion Reconsidered'' (1966), ''Prayerbook Reform in Europe'' (1968), ''Understanding Jewish Prayer'' (1972), ''Theology and Poetry'' (1978), ''Es lehrten unsere Meister'' (1979) and ''When Jews and Christians Meet'' (1986). His story as a child leaving his mother and home town Berlin on the Kindertransport can be found in the book ''I came Alone'' pp. 242–244. The story is available also on the web with a translation to Hebrew on the sit
I Came alone

References

Sources

* Henrix, Hans Herman, "Jakob J Petuchowski (1925 – 1991): Rabbi, Scholar, Ecumenist" in: Gerhards, Albert and Leonhard, Clemens (editors), ''Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship: New Insights Into Its History and Interaction'' (2007), Brill,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

;

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, * Leverton, Bertha, and Shmuel Lowensohn. ''I Came Alone: The Stories of the Kindertransports''. Sussex, England: Book Guild, 1990, pp. 242–244. {{DEFAULTSORT:Petuchowski, Jakob Josef American Reform rabbis Kindertransport refugees Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Hebrew Union College faculty American Jewish theologians 1925 births 1991 deaths Alumni of the University of London 20th-century American rabbis People from Welch, West Virginia Rabbis from West Virginia