Partial Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn: “Toynbee and the Jew,” January 25, 1955. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

TI-AV_90034-001

Item Information

Title:
Partial Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn: “Toynbee and the Jew,” January 25, 1955. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
Partial Friday evening Sabbath service at Temple Israel led by Rabbis Roland B. Gittelsohn and Leon A. Jick, with a sermon given by Rabbi Gittelsohn in which he critiques a section of the eighth volume of Arnold Toynbee’s ten volume history of civilization, entitled: “The Modern West and the Jew”. Although Toynbee is a noted British historian, Gittelsohn discusses Toynbee’s Christian fundamentalist background and prejudice against Jews and takes issue with what he sees as Toynbee’s distortions, inaccurate conclusions, and biased interpretations. He organizes his critique around four themes, using facts acknowledged by many reputable historians to counteract Toynbee’s conclusions. Choral music performed by the Temple Israel Choir, Herbert Fromm, conductor.
Speaker:
Gittelsohn, Roland Bertram, 1910-1995
Speaker:
Jick, Leon A.
Musical director:
Fromm, Herbert
Composer:
Fromm, Herbert
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
January 25, 1955
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Jewish sermons
Synagogue music--Sabbath services--United States
Reform Judaism--United States
Antisemitism
Arab-Israeli conflict
Israel--History
Jews--Identity
Judaism--Relations--Christianity
Social justice--Religious aspects--Judaism
Toynbee, Arnold, 1889-1975
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" audio tape (1 hour, 04 min., 10 sec.)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/05744f38x
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License (CC BY-ND).
CC BY-ND icon
Language:
English
Hebrew
Preferred Citation:
Partial Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn: “Toynbee and the Jew,” January 25, 1955. Audiovisual Collection, Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Notes (funding):
This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Notes (historical):
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), social justice activist, Zionist, and writer, was Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel from 1953-1977 and Rabbi Emeritus thereafter. He served as founding rabbi of Central Synagogue in Rockville Center, NY from 1936-1953. During WWII, he became the first Jewish Marine Corps chaplain, and, in 1945, he delivered a moving, oft-quoted eulogy on brotherhood at Iwo Jima. After his retirement he was a co-founder of ARZA (the Association of Reform Zionists).
Rabbi Leon A. Jick (1924-2005), professor, historian, activist, and Zionist, was Assistant Rabbi at Temple Israel from 1954-1957. From 1957-1966, he served as rabbi of the Free Synagogue of Westchester in Mount Vernon, NY. He then became Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, where he held several positions, including Dean, over the next 24 years. His book, The Americanization of the Synagogue, 1820-1870 (1992) has become a classic.
Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), Temple Israel’s organist and Music Director (1941-1973), was a German-born conductor and composer forced to leave Germany in 1937. A prolific composer of religious music, much of which became part of the standard synagogue repertoire, and secular works, he also published many articles and essays and several books.
Identifier:
TI-AV-90034.001