Marc H. Tanenbaum

Marc H. Tanenbaum
Rabbi Tanenbaum
Personal details
Born	October 13, 1925(1925-10-13)[1] Baltimore, MD
Died	July 3, 1992(1992-07-03) (aged 66)
Nationality	American
Denomination	Conservative
Residence	New York City
Children	4
Semicha	1950

Rabbi Tanenbaum and Pope John Paul II in 1990

The late Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum (1925–1992) was an internationally renowned human rights and social justice activist who is best known for building bridges with other faith communities to advance mutual understanding and cooperation and to eliminate entrenched stereotypes, particularly those rooted in religious teachings.^[2] He was a vigorous advocate during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) on behalf of what eventually emerged as Nostra Aetate, a landmark document which overturned a long tradition of hostility toward Jews and Judaism—including the charge that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus—and affirmed the Jewish roots of Christianity. Nostra Aetate established a new policy of outreach in dialogue to Jews and set Catholic-Jewish relations on a new course.^[3]

In addition, Rabbi Tanenbaum was dubbed "the human rights rabbi" for his work on behalf of Vietnamese "boat people" and Cambodian refugees. He also helped organize humanitarian relief for victims of the Nigerian-Biafran conflict.^[4]

Biography

Rabbi Tanenbaum with George H. W. Bush

The son of Orthodox Jewish Ukrainian immigrants who struggled to make ends meet, Rabbi Tanenbaum grew up in Baltimore. He excelled in school, and graduated from high school with a scholarship to attend Yeshiva University in New York City.^[5] Torn between his mother’s hope that he would become a rabbi and his father’s wish for him to become a doctor, he pursued both pre-medical and rabbinical studies. Upon graduating from Yeshiva University, he was accepted into medical school, but after only one day of classes, he realized that medicine was not the path for him.^[5]

Always interested in writing, both creative and journalistic, he found work at a weekly newsletter. A chance encounter with a former classmate at Yeshiva led to his application for and admission to the Jewish Theological Seminary. (The classmate was Harold Sculweis, who also became a distinguished rabbi and author.)^[6]

In the intellectually stimulating atmosphere of the seminary he pursued his interests in both Judaism and journalism, writing for The Eternal Light, a radio show produced by the seminary.^[6]

One important relationship forged in the seminary that would profoundly influence and shape the direction of interreligious dialogue in the years ahead began as a chance encounter between the young Marc Tanenbaum and Abraham Joshua Heschel. In his senior year at the seminary, Tanenbaum learned one morning that his father had just suffered a heart attack. Overcome with grief, concern and guilt that his mother and sister were left alone in Baltimore to cope, he encountered Heschel in the elevator. Heschel, recently arrived from Europe and already famous as a scholar and teacher, noted his distress and said “Something is troubling you. Come into my office.” When the young rabbinical student broke down and cried, Heschel immediately called his mother, offering solace and support. Rabbi Tanenbaum never forgot that act of kindness. A genuine friendship and affection developed between the two.^[6]

After ordination, Rabbi Tanenbaum knew he wanted to serve the Jewish community but not in what capacity. He worked in various positions as a writer and editor, and, for a time, was the religion writer for Time magazine. In 1952, he became director of the Synagogue Council of America, an organization formed to represent the combined voices of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism in the United States in the area of public policy and intergroup relations.^[7] At the Synagogue Council he reached out to make contacts with Christian leaders, including televangelists and Greek Orthodox primates and befriended the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. His influence widened as he became involved in national public affairs; he served as the vice president of the White House Conference on Children and Youth, where he invited Rabbi Heschel to deliver a major paper. The intersection of religion and public policy had a particular appeal for Tanenbaum, and he saw it as a fertile field for interreligious cooperation. He believed that Jews needed to take an active role in public life in order to prevent marginalization and to counter anti-Semitism.^[7]

During his ten years at the Synagogue Council of America (SCA), Rabbi Tanenbaum strengthened and increased funding for the organization, but found the work increasingly frustrating. In 1961 Pope John XXIII called for an Ecumenical Council - the first in nearly a century - to renew the Roman Catholic Church and reach out to other religions.^[8] Rabbi Tanenbaum saw the Ecumenical Council as a historic opportunity to mend the Church’s troubled relationship with the Jewish people. He hoped to relate himself and the Synagogue Council to the forthcoming event, but was forestalled by the SCA’s rigid ban on religious dialogue with Christians.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) was one of the few Jewish organizations that took the Ecumenical Council seriously. In 1961, Marc Tanenbaum became its Director of Interreligious Affairs, finding in AJC a situation where his inclinations and creative energy had organizational respect and support. He had found his niche.^[8]

Rabbi Tanenbaum threw himself into the American Jewish Committee’s initiative on behalf of what eventually emerged from the Second Vatican Council as Nostra Aetate. He supervised an initiative that included three AJC memoranda: the first, documenting the negative and hostile portrayal of Jews and Judaism in Catholic textbooks; the second noting anti-Jewish elements in the liturgy; and the last, written by Abraham Joshua Heschel, suggesting concrete steps that the Church could take to redress past injustices. When Cardinal Bea visited the United States, Rabbi Tanenbaum arranged an off-the-record meeting between the prelate, his staff and a group of Jewish religious leaders, including Heschel; the two biblical scholars struck off a personal relationship that withstood the tensions of the months to come.^[8]

He was instrumental in the establishment of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), and was elected its chairman in 1987. IJCIC was formed to represent the Jewish community in dialogues with international Christian bodies such as the Vatican and the World Council of Churches (WCC). He was the first rabbi to address the latter organization, speaking before some 4,000 delegates at the WCC’s Sixth Assembly in Vancouver in 1983.^[9]

Dr. Jimmy Allen, Rabbi Tanenbaum, and Frank Reynold

In 1983, Rabbi Tanenbaum became director of International Affairs of the American Jewish Committee where he focused on issues of human rights and humanitarian work.^[8]

During his career as director of first Interreligious and then International Affairs at the AJC, Marc Tanenbaum won a good deal of public recognition. Newsweek magazine dubbed him as "the American Jewish community's foremost apostle to the gentiles." New York Magazine called him "the foremost Jewish ecumenical leader in the world today." In a poll of newspaper editors ranking the ten most respected and influential religious leaders in America, Rabbi Tanenbaum came in fourth.^[4]

In the course of a rich professional life, he served on the boards of various institutions, including the American Jewish World Service, the International Rescue Committee, the Overseas Development Council, the United Nations Association, the National Peace Academy, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and Covenant House. He was founder and Chairman of the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry, which, under the directorship of Ann Gillen, S.H.C.J, vigorously pursued the cause of oppressed Jews and Christians in the Soviet Union. He was awarded fifteen honorary degrees, and was honored by the International Council of Christians and Jews and the New York Board of Rabbis.^[4]

Besides his activism and scholarly work, Tanenbaum was well known for his weekly radio broadcasts, which addressed current events with succinct commentary. He also wrote editorials and articles directed to the Jewish community, upholding the value of interreligious dialogue.

A note on his personal life: Rabbi Tanenbaum’s first marriage in 1955 to Helga Weiss ended in divorce in 1977. Two daughters, Adina and Susan, and a son, Michael, remain from that marriage. A second marriage in 1982 to Dr. Georgette Bennett, an author, broadcast journalist, criminologist and business consultant brought joy and warmth once more into his personal life.^[10]

In 1992, the lifelong interfaith pioneer met an untimely end. He died of heart failure at the age of 66, seven weeks before the birth of his son, Joshua-Marc Tanenbaum. While grieving the loss of her remarkable husband, Dr. Bennett realized that his work must go on. In 1993, she launched the Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Foundation, which operates today as the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding.^[10]

Education

• City High School, Baltimore (class of 1940)
• Talmudical Academy, Baltimore (class of 1944)
• Yeshiva University (1948)
• Jewish Theological Seminary (ordained 1950)

Board memberships

• American Jewish Committee - Director of International Relations Department
• American Jewish World Service - Board of Directors
• International Rescue Committee - Board of Directors

Key writings

• Paths to Agape (1962)^[11]
• What is a Jew? (1963)^[12]

• Pope John XXIII:"One of the Righteous Among the Peoples of the Earth" (1963)^[13]
• An Interfaith Reexamination of Christian-Jewish Relations^[14]
• The American Negro: Myths and Realities^[15]
• The Role of the Church and Synagogue in Social Action^[16]
• Vatican II: An Interfaith Appraisal: A Jewish Viewpoint^[17]
• A Jewish Reaction to Catholic Positions in Vatican II^[18]
• Israel's Hour of Need and the Jewish-Christian Diologue^[19]
• The Meaning of Israel: A Jewish View^[20]
• Jewish-Christian Relations:Issues and Prospects^[21]
• A Survey and Evaluation of Christian-Jewish Relationships Since Vatican Council II^[22]
• Statement on"Jerusalem" Before the Near East Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
• Do You Know What Hurts Me?^[23]
• Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Discovery of Mutual Harmonies (February 16, 1972)
• Some Issues Raised by Forthcoming Evangelism Campaigns: A Background Memorandum (June 1972)
• Judaism, Ecumenism and Pluralism^[24]
• Holy Year 1975 and Its Origins in the Jewish Jubilee Year^[25]
• The Maccabees and Martyrdom: Their Meaning for Today^[26]
• Major Issues in the Jewish-Christian Situation Today^[27]
• The Moral Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.(January 15, 1980)
• The Moral Majority: Threat or Challenge?^[28]
• Address on the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the American Jewish Committee (May 15, 1981)
• Luther and the Jews: From the Past, A Present Challenge^[29]
• The Role of the Passion Play in Fostering Anti-Semitism Throughout History^[30]
• Jewish-Christian Relations: Heschel and Vatican Council II (February 21, 1983)
• The Concept of the Human Being in Jewish Thought: Some Ethical Implications^[31]
• On Black-Jewish Relations (March 11, 1987)
• Response on Receiving "Interfaith Award" of the International Council of Jews (May 11, 1988)
• Jewish-Catholic Relations: Achievements and Unfinished Agenda (November 27–30, 1988)
• No One Has the Right to Turn Auschwitz into a Christian Holy Place^[32]

Television consulting

• "A.D." - The T.V. Mini-Series
• "Civilta Cattolica" Returns to Anti-Zionist Hatred
• "Din Mishpat" - Dispute with the Lord
• "Holocaust" Series and the Soul of Germany
• "Jesus of Nazareth"

Famous quotes

• "Like the Maccabees of old, if small groups of people of conscience, in this country and in other parts of the world, will remain steadfast in their commitments to the 'Law of Human Rights' - and will mobilize to press our government and every government to enforce the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—we may yet find a way to help turn the world away from its present course of barbarism and anarchy to the achievement of a human society illuminated by reverence for human life and for human conscience."^[33]
• "Where there are two Jews, there are three opinions," said Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum in his essay "A Jewish Viewpoint on Nostra Aetate," as he quoted "a commonplace pun which is a Jewish self-critical way of describing the deep-seated democracy and pluralism that exists in Jewish life."^[34]
• "Jews have a quite legitimate reason to fear any trend that will threaten the Jewish community's ability to survive…But those valid concerns cannot justify any discrimination or denial of basic human rights to any American citizen, including gays."^[35]

References and notes

1. ^ Goldman, Ari L. (4 July 1992). "Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum, 66, Is Dead". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/04/nyregion/rabbi-marc-tanenbaum-66-is-dead.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 18 June 2009. 
2. ^ Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time. Eds. Judith H. Banki and Eugene J. Fisher. New York: Fordham University Press, 2002, xix
3. ^ Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xiv-xxv.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xix.
5. ^ ^{a b} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xx.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xxi.
7. ^ ^{a b} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xxii.
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xxiv.
9. ^ Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xxv.
10. ^ ^{a b} Banki, Judith H. “Biographical Sketch”. A Prophet for Our Time, xxvii.
11. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (November, 1962). "Paths to Agape (AJC Reporter)". 
12. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (January 29, 1963). Encounter: Catholic-Jewish Confrontation. Confrence at Rockhurst College. 
13. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (June 15, 1963). "Pope Jon XXII:"One of the Righteous Among the Peoples of the Earth"". 
14. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (August, 1963). An Interfaith Reexamination of Christian-Jewish Relations. Sister Formation Workshop at Marquette University. 
15. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (January–February, 1964). The American Negro: Myths and Realities. Religious Education . 
16. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (January, 1966). The Role of the Church and Synagogue in Social Acion. Torah and Gospel:Jewish and Catholic Theology in Diologue. : New York: Sheed and Ward. 
17. ^ Miller, John H. (March, 1966). Vatican II: An Interfaith Appraisal. International Conference on Theological Issues of Vatican II. University of Notre Dame. 
18. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (June 23, 1966). A Jewish Reaction to Catholic Position in Vatican II. Twenty-fifth Annual Convention of Catholic Theological Society of America, Providence, Rhode Island. pp. 9 pg. 
19. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (Winter 1968). "Israel's Hour of Need and the Jewish-Christian Diologue". Conservative Judaism 22 (2). 
20. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H.; Southern Baptist-Jewish Scholars Conference. "The Meaning of Israel: A Jewish View". 
21. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (Fall 1970). "Jewish-Christian Relations: Issues and Prospects". Perkins Journal (Perkins School of Technology). 
22. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (October, 1970). "A Survey and Evaluation of Christian-Jewish Relationships Since Vatican Council II". "Toward a Theology of Israel" Convocation (Seton Hall University). 
23. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (February 12, 1972). "Do You Know What Hurts Me?". Event (American Lutheran Church Men): p.4–8. 
24. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (1974). Judaism, Ecumenism, and Pluralism (Speaking of God Today: Jews and Lutherans in Conversation ed.). Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 
25. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (1974). "Holy Year 1975 and Its Origins in the Jewish Jubilee Year". Jubilaem: Consilium Primarium Anno Sancto Celebrando (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice). 
26. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (March 12, 1976). "The Maccabees and Martydom: Their Meaning for Today". Catholic Sentinel. 
27. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (Jan-Feb., 1979). "Major Issues in the Jewish-Christian Situation Today". New Catholic World 217 (1279). 
28. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (March 3, 1981). "The Moral Majority: Threat or Challenge". Hadassah Magazine. 
29. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H.; Eric Gritsch (1983). Luther and the Jews: From the Past, A Present Challenge. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 
30. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (1983). "The Role of the Passion Play in Fostering Anti-Semitism Throughout History". Good Friday Worship: Jewish Concerns (Detroit) Christian Response (Ecumenical Institute for Jewish–Christian Studies). 
31. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H.; Marvin Wilson (1984). A. James Rudin. ed. The Concept of the Human Being in Jewish Thought: Some Ethical Implications (Evangelicals and Jews in an Age of Pluralism ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 
32. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (August 18, 1989). "No One Has the Right to Turn Auschwitz into a Christian Holy Place". New York Post. 
33. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (1978). Evangelicals and Jews in Convention on Scripture, Theology, and History. Compiled Writings of Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum. 
34. ^ "The Jewish Reaction to Nostra Aetate". The Relationship Between Catholics and Jews. Arthur Street. January, 1998. http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=rabbi+marc+tanenbaum+famous+quotes&d=73782774007868&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=8f41bbce,2ab6938c. Retrieved 2008-08-15. ^{[dead link]}
35. ^ Tanenbaum, Marc H. (1978). "Judaism, Slander, Gay Rights". 

External links

• Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding

Persondata
Name	Tanenbaum, Marc
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 13, 1925
Place of birth	Baltimore, MD
Date of death	July 3, 1992
Place of death