Max Cohen Currick (September 1, 1877 – May 23, 1947) was a Jewish-American rabbi.

Life

Currick was born on September 1, 1877 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Fishel Currick and Hannah Ganut. Currick was educated in

New York City 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 ...

public schools, the College of the City of New York, the

Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York (HOA) was a Jewish orphanage in New York City. It was founded in 1860 by the Hebrew Benevolent Society. It closed in 1941, after pedagogical research concluded that children thrive better in foster care or ...

. He graduated from

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 ...

with a Bachelor of Hebrew in 1894. In 1898 he was ordained a rabbi by Hebrew Union College and graduated from 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 44,00 ...

with an

A.B. 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 years ...

He served as rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

from 1898 to 1901. In 1901, Currick became rabbi of

Temple Anshe Hesed Temple Anshe Hesed is a Reform synagogue located at 5401 Old Zuck Road in Erie, Pennsylvania. The congregation is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism. History Anshe Hesed, once spelled as Anschai Chesed, Bates, Samuel P., History of Er ...

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. He was editor of the ''Erie Dispatch'' from 1910 to 1912, and in 1919 he became its contributing editor. He was also chairman of the board of editors of ''Liberal Judaism'', the house organ of 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 ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was chairman of the Council of National Defense and

Four Minute Men The Four Minute Men were a group of volunteers authorized by United States President Woodrow Wilson to give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by the Committee on Public Information (CPI). In 1917–1918, over 750,000 speeches were give ...

. He served as chairman of 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 ...

(CCAR) Committee on International Peace from 1927 to 1935. He was also the CCAR's vice-president from 1935 to 1937 and its president from 1937 to 1939. President during

Hitler's Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

rise to power, he called for greater cooperation among American Jews to meet the rising anti-Semitism, believing

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 ...

should be given a broader mandate to speak on behalf of American Jewry and opposing the creation of a new umbrella organization as some Jewish leaders supported. At one point, he cosponsored a resolution at the CCAR to strongly condemn "immorality" in Hollywood films, although it wasn't adopted. He was also on the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was chairman of the regional panel of the War Labor Board. Currick was a columnist for the '' Erie Daily Times'', the ''Erie Dispatch-Herald'', and the ''Erie Observer''. In 1918, he became vice-president of the Community Chest of Erie County. He served as vice-president of the Erie Public Library from 1923 to 1937 and became its president in 1937. He joined the Board of Governors of the B'nai B'rith Home for Children in Fairview in 1912, and in 1939 he became its president. He was chairman of the

Erie Playhouse Erie Playhouse is a historic theatre located in Erie, Pennsylvania. History The Erie Playhouse was established as the "Peoples Theatre" by 1882, and was incorporated as the Erie Civic Theatre Association in 1916. The troupe performed at the H ...

from 1916 to 1927 and was a board member until 1936. He was also an honorary member of the Erie County Chapter of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

, an honorary president of the District Grand Lodge No. 3 of

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

, and a board member of the Erie Boys' Club, the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, and the Child-Parent Bureau. In 1945, the Isadore Sobel Lodge of B'nai B'rith presented him with an Award of Merit. He married Florence Baker in 1910. Currick was found dead from a heart ailment on a berth in a

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

train when it pulled into

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

on May 23, 1947.

References

External links

Max C. Currick Papers
at the ''

American Jewish Archives The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, founded in 1947, is committed to preserving a documentary heritage of the religious, organizational, economic, cultural, personal, social and family life of American Jewry. It has bec ...

'' 1877 births 1947 deaths American Reform rabbis 19th-century American rabbis 20th-century American rabbis Rabbis from Pennsylvania Clergy from Boston City College of New York alumni {{DEFAULTSORT:Currick, Max C. University of Cincinnati alumni Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion alumni People from Fort Smith, Arkansas People from Erie, Pennsylvania 20th-century American newspaper editors Editors of Pennsylvania newspapers