Solomon Frank (January 5, 1900October 21, 1982) was an American–Canadian

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

rabbi, speaker, and civic and community leader. He served as rabbinic leader of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada, from 1926 to 1947, and spiritual leader of the

Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal, also known as Shearith Israel, is a Montreal synagogue, located on St. Kevin Street in Snowdon, which is the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada. The Congregation traces its history back to 1760 ...

from 1947 until his death. Active in interfaith affairs, he was also a chaplain for Jewish and Christian organizations and hospitals. In

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, he broadcast a weekly radio message on Jewish thought and practice for more than 25 years.

Early life and education

Solomon Frank was born on January 5, 1900, 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 ...

, the only child of Abraham and Gerta Frank. At age 4, he moved with his parents to Buffalo, New York, where he attended public schools. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University at Buffalo in 1922 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the same institution in 1923. He received his rabbinic 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 ...

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 wit ...

, Ohio. He later earned a master's degree and PhD at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo. Originally his duties involved teaching high school classes in the temple's religious education division and giving adult lectures. However, due to the illness of the main rabbi, he was called upon to lead the synagogue services. He discussed some of the ideas he lectured about—

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, 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 ...

, the situation in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, the success of the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

, and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

—in a local newspaper interview in 1924. He delivered a eulogy for President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

in the synagogue in February 1924. From 1925 to 1926, Frank served as rabbi of Temple Beth David in the same city.

Winnipeg

In 1926, Frank was appointed rabbinical leader of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue in

, Canada. According to the Manitoba Historical Society, Frank applied his training from his Reform rabbinical seminary to oversee "the gradual liberalization of synagogue practice at Shaarey Zedek without initiating any radical breaks with tradition". Frank was the first rabbi of an

synagogue in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

to deliver his sermons in English rather than Yiddish. In 1929, Shaarey Zedek changed its ideology from Orthodox to Conservative, and introduced more English to the services a number of years after that. In addition to his rabbinical duties, Frank was very active in community affairs. He served as president of the Winnipeg lodge of B'nai Brith, president of the

League of Nations Society The League of Nations Society was a political group devoted to campaigning for an international organisation of nations, with the aim of preventing war. The society was founded in 1915 by Baron Courtney and Willoughby Dickinson, both members of t ...

, vice-president of the United Nations Society, and executive director of the Winnipeg Joint Public Relations Committee. He assisted in the founding of the first Winnipeg chapter of the Canadian Legion. During World War II, he was a part-time chaplain with the Canadian army and visited a Canadian field hospital in Europe. He was also a chaplain of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg, the Jewish Scouts and Guides, and Mount Sinai Lodge, president of the 9th Manitoba Provincial Command, Boy Scouts Association, and Grand Chancellor of the

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

. In 1939, Frank and his wife were among the 105 prominent Canadian personages invited to a royal luncheon at Government House to welcome the King and Queen. Frank was a popular speaker for both community and civic groups. He was also active in interfaith affairs. In 1935, he delivered a sermon at a "joint service of worship and thanksgiving" at the city's Knox Church upon the silver jubilee of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

. In 1940, he joined a symposium with Catholic and Protestant clerics to discuss "Common Ground". He shared the podium with Dr. E. Crossley Hunter, pastor at Knox Church and chairman of the Canadian Conference of Christians and Jews, at Fellowship Day of the Young Men's Hebrew Association in March 1942.

Montreal

In 1947, Frank moved to

to become spiritual leader of the

. Under his leadership, daily morning and evening services were reinstated in 1949 along with the Shabbat morning Kiddush. From 1949 onwards, membership increased and overflow services were required on the High Holy Days in two additional locations. Frank was one of the officiators at a synagogue memorial service for

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

on the day of his funeral, February 15, 1952. In Montreal, too, Frank involved himself in civic and community affairs. He was a member of B'nai Brith and the Montreal Rotary Club, and served as a deputy chaplain at the Masonic Grand Lodge of Quebec. He performed chaplaincy services for the Jewish General Hospital, Verdun General Hospital, Queen Mary Veterans' Hospital, St. Anne's Veterans' Hospital, Montreal Children's Hospital, the Archambault penitentiary, and the Bordeaux jail. In 1948, he was one of the founders of the ''Cercle juif de lange française'', a lecture and publishing society within the

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...

. In spring 1962, Frank visited

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and after his return spoke about the religious and historical implications of the discovery of the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...

before a meeting of the St. James Literary Society. Frank delivered a popular Sunday-morning radio message on

CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...

radio in which he explained aspects of Jewish thought and practice. The program was followed by Jews and Christians alike for a quarter of a century.

Awards and honors

In 1936, Frank received the Tau Delta Phi medal from the Omega Chapter of the University of Manitoba for his intercultural and interfaith work. In 1962, he was presented with the B'nai Brith Community Service Award for "outstanding contribution to life in Montreal". In 1968, he was awarded the Canada Centennial Medal.

Personal life

Frank and his wife, Elsie, had one daughter. Frank died of a brain tumor on October 21, 1982, aged 82. He was buried in the Spanish and Portuguese Section of the

Mount Royal Cemetery Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. Th ...

in Outremont, Quebec.

Legacy

Upon Frank's death, the

established a memorial fund in his memory. A book of essays, which the editors intended to present to Frank on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, was instead published as a memorial volume for the occasion of the unveiling of his gravestone on October 2, 1983.

Bibliography

*Frank, Solomon (1968). ''Two Centuries in the Life of a Synagogue''. Montreal: Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Solomon 1900 births 1982 deaths Canadian Orthodox rabbis Canadian Conservative rabbis University at Buffalo alumni University of Manitoba alumni Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion alumni Orthodox rabbis from New York City People from Buffalo, New York People from Winnipeg Clergy from Montreal Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery Canadian talk radio hosts Canadian military chaplains Deaths from cancer in Quebec Neurological disease deaths in Quebec Deaths from brain tumor Canadian people of American-Jewish descent 20th-century American rabbis