Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, who led the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for 25 years, died Sept. 12 at 79.
He is well-known for ordaining the first American and Israeli female rabbis.
Born in Oberwesel, Germany, in 1930, Gottschalk grew up in a modern, traditionally observant home. His father escaped arrest by the Gestapo in 1938 and arrived safely in New York; Gottschalk and his mother followed in 1939.
He earned a bachelors degree from Brooklyn College, entered HUC-JIR in New York in 1952 and transferred to the Cincinnati campus in 1954. He was ordained by HUC in 1957 and two years later became the dean of its Los Angeles campus. He earned his doctorate in 1965 from the University of Southern California.
As dean of HUC-JIR’s Los Angeles campus (1959-1971), Gottschalk pioneered the establishment of the School of Jewish Communal Service (the first of its kind in America), the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, the Skirball Museum and the Magnin School of Graduate Studies.
Gottschalk ordained Sally Priesand, the first female rabbi in the United States, in Cincinnati in 1972. In 1980 he ordained Israel’s first Reform rabbi and in 1992 its first female rabbi.
Gottschalk wrote, edited and translated several books and over 150 essays, articles and translations. He was a recognized authority on the life and philosophy of Ahad Ha’Am, who articulated the philosophy of cultural Zionism.
He was a founding member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and was appointed to the council by Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. He also served as president of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City from 2000 to 2003 during its major expansion.
Gottschalk is survived by his wife, Deanna Zeff; his daughter Rachel (J.B.) Brenner; his son, Marc (Devora); stepsons Charles (Amy Snyder) Frank and Andrew (Dawn) Frank; five grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; and Marc and Rachel’s mother, Gina Gottschalk.
