Bernard Jacob Bamberger (May 30, 1904 – June 14, 1980) was an American rabbi, scholar, author, translator, head of major Jewish organizations, and congregational spiritual leader for over 50 years during the middle decades of the 20th century.
Biography
Bernard J. Bamberger was born May 30, 1904, in Baltimore, to which his great-grandfather Abraham had emigrated from Bavaria in 1839. He was a brilliant student, rapidly completing high school and entering Johns Hopkins University in 1920, at the age of 16. He matriculated in three years (instead of the normal four) and on June 12, 1923, just two weeks after his 19th birthday, Johns Hopkins awarded him the Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, and he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. That fall he entered the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati, again completing his studies at an accelerated pace. He was ordained a rabbi on May 29, 1926, the day before his 22nd birthday. On June 1, 1929, he received from the HUC his Doctor of Divinity Degree (at the time, equivalent to a Ph.D.) Concurrent to his doctoral courses, he served as rabbi for Temple Israel of Lafayette, Indiana. In 1929, he became Rabbi of Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, NY, where his predecessors included Isaac Mayer Wise, the founder of the Reform movement in America. Bamberger remained there for 15 years.
On June 14, 1932, he married Ethel Kraus of New York City whom he nicknamed “Pat.” They had two sons: Henry, who was ordained as a rabbi in 1961 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and David, who wrote four textbooks for Jewish religious schools while pursuing a career as an opera producer/director.
In 1944, Bamberger became rabbi of Congregation Shaaray Tefila, one of New York City's oldest and most prominent Reform Jewish synagogues. During his tenure, he oversaw the congregation's move from Manhattan's West side to the East side. He served as head of the congregation from 1944 to 1971, and then as Rabbi Emeritus until his death on June 14, 1980 – his 48th wedding anniversary.
Biblical Scholarship
The Bible: A Modern Jewish Approach (1955) In 1955, Bamberger wrote for Hillel books a short introduction to scripture entitled The Bible: A Modern Jewish Approach. Its first sentence shows the large question addressed in the text's mere 96 pages: “What meaning, what value does the Bible have for the modern man – in particular, for the modern Jew?” The book was published in Spanish in 1967 as La Biblia: Un enfoque judio moderno.
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (1955-1978) In 1955, the Jewish Publication Society of America, aware that the Jewish community of the United States and English-speaking Jews everywhere needed a translation of the Bible more intelligible and accurate than the 1917 Bible in general use, appointed a committee of seven scholars to prepare a new translation. The members of the committee were “chosen for scholarly ability, broad outlook, and recognized status in the community at large.” Bamberger, as a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, was asked to represent the Reform perspective. In addition to his work as a translator (he prepared the initial draft of the Book of Jeremiah), he presided over meetings of the committee, his objectivity, fair-mindedness, and ability to defuse tensions being important assets in dealing with divergent and sometimes passionate views of the committee members. This project remained a priority through 1978.
The Torah: A Modern Commentary - Leviticus (1979) The Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism) decided to publish a commentary on the Torah that would be written from a liberal (Reform) point of view. Bamberger was asked to participate and chose to work on the Book of Leviticus. This was published separately in 1979, though the complete commentary was not published as a single volume until 1981, the year following his death.
Other Published Works
His other major books indicate the breadth and depth of Bamberger's scholarship:
Proselytism in the Talmudic Period (1939) This book was begun to detail the then commonly held belief that Rabbis of the Talmudic period were opposed to conversion. Bamberger discovered and proved that the opposite was true: the Rabbis were overwhelmingly pro-conversionist. Thus, in his first book, he revolutionized thinking on the subject. It was republished, with a new introduction by the author, in 1968.