Milton Himmelfarb (October 21, 1918 – January 4, 2006) was an American sociographer of the

American Jewish American Jews or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jewish, whether by Judaism, religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who desce ...

community. Himmelfarb worked for four decades at the American Jewish Committee where he was director of information and research services. He edited various versions of the ''American Jewish Yearbook''. He also was a contributing editor of ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'', the monthly journal of opinion. In 1986

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Ronald Reagan appointed Himmelfarb to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Himmelfarb held several academic posts: visiting professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary and the

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) is a Jewish seminary in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. It is the only seminary affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Associa ...

and visiting lecturer at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

. He earned a BA in 1938 and MS in 1939 from City College of New York. Himmelfarb coined the

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by ...

on the Jewish community's political persuasions: "Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans." Himmelfarb's sister was the historian

Gertrude Himmelfarb Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, ...

. He died in New York City at the age of 87. Through Gertrude, he was the uncle of

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Elizabeth Kristol.

Selected works authored, co-authored or edited by Himmelfarb

* ''Jews and Gentiles'' (Encounter Books), 2007, * ''American Jewish Year Book'' (Jewish Publication Society of America, various years) * ''The Jews of Modernity'' (Basic Books, 1973) () * ''Jews in Unsecular America: Essays'' (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987) () * ''Zero Population Growth—For Whom? Differential Fertility and Minority Group Survival'' (Greenwood Press, 1978) ()

References

External links

Archive of Himmelfarb's articles
in ''Commentary'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Himmelfarb, Milton 1918 births 2006 deaths Jewish American social scientists Jewish sociologists Jewish Theological Seminary of America faculty Yale University faculty City College of New York alumni American sociologists 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Reconstructionist Rabbinical College faculty