Charles E. Shulman

Charles Emanuel Shulman (1900-1968) was a Russian-American rabbi and attorney.

Early life

Shulman was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, Russia, on July 25, 1900. (However, his official Russian birth certificate, presented to the family following his death, recorded his birth date as July 3, 1898.). Both parents were very religious Jews. His mother, Rachel Nemerov Shulman, brought all of her six children to the United States in 1904. His father, Maurice (Elimelech), a peddler, had refused to leave Russia and died either shortly before or after the family left for America. The family settled in Cleveland, Ohio. They were very poor and Charles, the fifth of the six siblings, worked a newspaper route from a very young age to help meet the family's financial needs.

Education

Shulman studied at Ohio Northern University from 1916-1920, received the Bachelor of Law degree in 1920 and was admitted to the Ohio state bar in the same year. He soon found himself increasingly interested in religion and opted for a future career in the rabbinate. He attended the University of Cincinnati 1922-23. From 1923-24, he studied at the University of Chicago where he received his Ph.B (Bachelor of Philosophy). He received his M. A. in Comparative Religion from the same university in 1930. He studied at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1922–27 and was ordained as a Reform rabbi in 1927.

Brief Professional Summary

Shulman first worked in the Law Department for the N.Y. Central Railroad, Cleveland, Ohio (1920) and then for the Acheson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1921). His first pulpit for the rabbinate was at Johnstown, Pennsylvania (1926–27); following this, he served at Congregation Leshem Shomayim in Wheeling, West Virginia (1927–31) . From 1931 until 1946, he was the rabbi of the North Shore Congregation Israel, Glencoe, Illinois, after which he left to become the founding rabbi of Riverdale Temple, The Liberal Synagogue, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where he presided from 1947 until his death in 1968.

World War II

Shulman enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943. He began training as a chaplain in the same year in Norfolk, Virginia. He first served as chaplain at Newport, Quonset and Camp Endicott in Rhode Island. He was the sole Jewish Naval Chaplain in all of New England at that time.

From November, 1944 to October, 1945, he served as the first Jewish chaplain and the only rabbi among 225 chaplains in the Seventh Fleet in the South Pacific Theater of Operations, commanded by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, (also Commander of the Allied Naval Forces of the South Pacific).

As such, he traveled constantly between Australia and the Philippines, covering over 125,000 miles among 26 islands. In 1945, he received the Navy Commendation Award for outstanding service overseas . He completed his naval service in January, 1946. He was awarded the Service Recognition Certificate Citation for Meritorious Service by the State of Illinois in 1947. He was honorably discharged from the Navy on Jan. 25, 1951.

The Rabbinate

Shulman's first long-term tenure as rabbi was at the North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois. Under his leadership there, the membership quadrupled and grew to be one of the leading Jewish congregations in the United States. He developed forums, lectures and inter-faith activities devoted to promotion of better citizenship and spiritual and intellectual advancement. At age 34,he was the youngest reform rabbi to be listed in the Who's Who in America.

In addition to his rabbinical duties, he was the president of the Chicago Rabbinical Association, vice president of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and state chaplain of the Jewish War Veterans of Illinois. Under the auspices of the National, Conference of Christians and Jews as well as the Anti- Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith he addressed many non-sectarian audiences throughout the United States interested in the perpetuation of religion and democracy. His messages were also broadcast over the radio. Under his influence, the temple gained recognition as one of the outstanding Jewish congregations in the United States.

Shulman, an avid Zionist, resigned from his position in 1947 as a result of strongly conflicting ideologies with the majority of the board members of the Congregation, who were strongly anti-Zionist and felt that Zionism was a danger to the future of Jewish religious life. He sought to establish a synagogue that would be liberal in nature, and would instill Jewish values that would be relevant to the congregants. He wanted to incorporate many of the Hebrew traditions and to provide an intellectual understanding of the religion. He desired to make it exciting and challenging and democratic. "The people must feel they are sharing in it. They must be excited by the aesthetic beauty of it, by the beauty of the music, by the originality with which religion is presented. " And of course he also wanted a congregation that would support the new State of Israel.

Thus he decided to move to New York where a group of 25 families in the Riverdale area of the Bronx were seeking a rabbi. During the first year, 1947–48, his congregation grew from 25 families to 250 and to more than 1000 at the close of his life.

In addition to the goals he had originally set for himself, he was a strong proponent of interfaith cooperation and understanding. He initiated interdenominational Thanksgiving services, which became a community tradition and was adopted by many religious institutions nationwide. He also became a leading spokesman on behalf of Zionism and the Jewish State.

Similarly recognized were the venues that served Riverdale Temple until the permanent edifice was completed in 1954. It was first housed in Ben Riley's Arrowhead Inn, an enormous Spanish –Moorish building on a large hill sprawling over 16 acres on the banks of the Hudson River. When this structure was demolished five years later, to make way for luxury apartments, Shulman was invited to share the premises of the parish house of the rector of the local Episcopalian Christ Church, Reverend Gerald V. Barry, which received national and international attention . The new Temple was dedicated in 1954.

He addressed numerous groups around the country and made frequent national radio and television broadcasts. He also participated extensively in Jewish and inter-faith educational programs. He became a nationwide lecturer for Zionist causes, fund-raising for Bonds for the Israel Government and the United Jewish Appeal. In addition, he was closely associated with the leading Zionist leaders and statesmen in Israel.

Professional Affiliations

President Chicago Rabbinical Assn, 1942; member: National Advisory Board anti- Defamation League of B'nai B'rith; member: executive board of the Council of the New York anti- Defamation League; member, national administrative committee, American Jewish Congress; member, national advisory council, Jewish National Fund; Chairman, committee on public schools, New York Board of Rabbis; member, executive board, Henry Hudson School for Brain Injured Children, NYC; Lecturer on Jewish Theology, Oberlin College Graduate School, 1953; Trustee, Hadley Correctional School for the Blind; Member, United Service Organization Council, Chicago; Member National Jewish Welfare Board and its Committee on Army and Navy religious activities; Representative of the United Jewish Appeal to Europe, North Africa, Israel (1952–53); Chairman, Bronx Urban League; member, executive board Urban League of Greater NY; member, the Bronx Council of the Boy Scouts; executive board, Bronx section, the National Conference of Christians and Jews; member, Editorial Board, "The Reconstructionist" ; Chairman, Editorial Board, "The American Zionist"; contributor to religious and other journals.

Honors

• Recipient George Washington Medal Freedom Foundation, 1953,1954,1955, 1961 and 1963 for outstanding sermons.
• Honorary Doctorate, Ohio Northern University, (1954);
• Honorary Doctorate, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, 1956;
• Honorary Doctorate, Boston University (1959)

Books

• Problems of Jews in the Contemporary World (1934)
• Europe's Conscience in Decline (1939
• What it Means to Be a Jew (1960);

Other publications

• Religion's Message in a War- Torn World (1942)
• The Test of a Civilization (1947)
• On Being a Jew (1954)
• A People that Did Not Die, (1956)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1958)
• Humanity's Unfinished Business (1964)

As a scholar of music, he also wrote pamphlets comprising commentary on the liturgy and on traditional chants, among them “On the Sabbath,” “On the Holydays” and a “Book of Remembrance ” for the Yom Kippur memorial services.

In addition, he wrote poetry, some of which is found in his personal letters, articles and pamphlets.

Many of his oral addresses, articles and book reviews, numbering well over 1000, have been published in the Congressional Record as well as in religious and other journals. He also kept annual diaries. The original diaries and copies of all are located in the Jacob Radar Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Family

He was survived by his wife, Avis Clamitz (1908-1991) a well-known Jewish educator, whom he met o n the campus of the Hebrew Union College, in 1929; a daughter, Deborah, (b. 1941) who settled in Israel and, posthumously, two granddaughters and a great-grandson.