Partial Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn: “Beyond McCarthy,” December 3, 1954. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

TI-AV_90074-001

Item Information

Title:
Partial Friday evening Sabbath service with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn: “Beyond McCarthy,” December 3, 1954. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
Partial Friday evening Sabbath service at Temple Israel led by Rabbi Leon A. Jick, with sermon by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, “Beyond McCarthy.” The final sermon in a series about current issues, Rabbi Gittelsohn's sermon discusses Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had just been censured in the Senate. He describes McCarthy as a liar who spews hatred and creates divisiveness, but also as the “cause and product of a social system that transcends any one person,” and argues that his popularity can only be explained by the irrational anxiety his generation feels about Communism, and “a compulsive need for so many people to compensate for their own weaknesses and inadequacies by hiding behind the authoritarian personality of a leader.” Gittelsohn concludes that the threat of totalitarianism will remain beyond McCarthy, and freedom can be maintained only through “militant decency and courage.” 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
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
December 3, 1954
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Reform Judaism--United States
Jewish sermons--United States
Synagogue music--Sabbath services--United States
Anti-communist movements--United States
Fear--Political aspects--United States
McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" open reel tape (1 hour, 04 min., 51 sec.)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/mc87sd670
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: “Beyond McCarthy,” December 3, 1954. Audiovisual Collection, 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_90074.001