Rabbi Walter Jacob, DHLHumanitarian, Community Leader, & Scholar

Rodef Shalom Congregation’s 2016 Pursuer of Peace Honoree

Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Pursuer of Peace Award recognizes the significant commitment and sustained contributions of an individual or organization to the pursuit of peace through fostering interfaith understanding, encouraging humanitarianism, and / or promoting a social justice agenda to bring healing to our fractured world.

This prestigious award honors those who demonstrate a passion and willingness to build a body of good works in the pursuit of peace through personal, religious, and / or professional commitments.

Recipients must be of good character as evidenced by involvement within their communities; must speak with authority as a result of their efforts; and must be acknowledged advocates for communal / world repair in any of the following realms: activism, business, education, entertainment, leadership, programming, or religion.

The evening’s program will celebrate Dr. Walter Jacob’s work and highlight his contributions to our community, our nation, and our world. Following dinner, the entire community is invited to join us in Rodef Shalom’s sanctuary as Dr. Jacob delivers an address from the historic pulpit on the topic of Pursuer of Peace.

Pursuer of Peace Award 2016 2

Rabbi Walter Jacob, DHLHumanitarian, Community Leader, & Scholar

Pursuer Of Peace 2016 Honoree

Born into a rabbinic family that dates back some 400 years, Walter Jacob’s early years were lived under the foreboding shadow of mid-20th century Germany. His grandfather Benno Jacob was a Biblical scholar of great renown and his father Ernst was a district rabbi in Augsburg, Germany, where the Jewish community had deep roots.

Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, the Jacob family fled to London and later immigrated to the United States. The family—Rabbi Ernst and Annette, Walter, and his brother Herbert—settled comfortably in Springfield, Missouri, where Walter’s father took the pulpit of a small congregation.

A precocious student, Walter earned a BA from Springfield’s Drury College in 1950 and enrolled at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati,

from which he was ordained in 1955. Significantly, Walter's rabbinic ordination made him the sixteenth-generation in his family to earn the title of rabbi.

Following his studies, Rabbi Jacob assumed a temporary position under the guidance of Dr. Solomon B. Freehof, the senior rabbi of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh. After a two-year hiatus, during which he served as a US Air Force chaplain in the Philippines, he returned to the congregation permanently. After earning a Doctor of Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR, Dr. Jacob succeeded Solomon Freehof as Rodef Shalom’s senior rabbi. He held this position until his retirement in 1996, whereupon he was named Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Emeritus and Senior Scholar.

In a career now spanning seven decades, Dr. Jacob has not only served this congregation, but has advocated on behalf of the oppressed, minorities and the disabled; addressed local, national and international concerns; and engaged in the on-the-ground work of improving interfaith relations and our world one person at a time.

In his 60+ years as a pulpit rabbi, Dr. Jacob combined significant scholarship with a generous and empathic spirit. Though he led one of the largest Reform Jewish congregations in the country, Dr. Jacob always took a personal approach. Over the years, he conducted thousands of services and ceremonies, made untold numbers of pastoral calls and visits, and wrote reams of congratulatory and consolatory letters.

Dr. Jacob wrote more than 1,300 articles, reviews, and essays and is the author or editor of more than 45 books. He spent decades translating the Torah commentaries of his grandfather Benno Jacob, whose significant work was obscured by the chaos of World War II.

Locally, he taught at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the University of Pittsburgh, and Chatham University. In 1989, he founded the Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakah, which publishes an annual volume of essays on Jewish law.

A recognized leader in Reform Judaism, Dr. Jacob served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and vice-president of the World Union for Progressive

Walter married Irene Loewenthal, also originally from Germany. They raised their three children, Claire, Kenney and Danny (each of whom predecease him), in a modest home with a lovingly tended garden in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Here, in the embrace of his family and with his partner Irene by his side, Walter found the inspiration for his life’s work.

Walter Jacob with fellow chaplain, Rabbi Harold Hahn

Pursuer of Peace Award 2016 4

Judaism (WUPJ), and chaired the CCAR's Responsa Committee as well as the International Responsa Committee of the WUPJ.

An avid gardener, Dr. Jacob, in concert with his wife Irene(z"l), created the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. The first of its kind in the country, the Walter & Irene Jacob Biblical Botanical Garden educates visitors about our shared Biblical history and fosters greater understanding among all faiths.

In his eighties, Dr. Jacob returned to the country of his birth to establish the Abraham Geiger College, the first rabbinical seminary in the heart of Europe post-Holocaust. For reestablishing rabbinic education and thereby encouraging the vitality of Jewish life in Europe, in 1999 Dr. Jacob was made a Knight Commander of the Federal Republic of Germany, and was portrayed on an Austrian postage stamp. In 2005, he received from His Holiness Pope John Paul II the papal rank of Commander of the Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great.

One of the accomplishments closest to Dr. Jacob’s heart is the role he and his wife Irene played in establishing Horizon

In the study at Rodef Shalom with Dr. Freehof

Homes in 1969. Unable to find proper accommodations for their daughter Claire, who was born with a range of developmental disabilities, they established Horizon Homes. This was the first group home for adults in Western Pennsylvania and a precursor to Mainstay Life Services, our 2016 Pursuer of Peace beneficiary agency.

Over the course of his life, Dr. Jacob has dedicated himself to improving the world around him. In pursuit of the peace that is borne through dialogue, he addresses challenges that may appear insurmountable to others—within families, among members of a community, and between peoples of all backgrounds and faiths.

For this reason, Dr. Walter Jacob, Rodef Shalom Congregation’s beloved Rabbi Emeritus and Senior Scholar, is our 2016 Pursuer of Peace.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is presented the Geiger Prize© Tobias Barniske

With wife, Irene Jacob(z"l) in the Biblical Botanical Garden

In honor of the efforts of Dr. Walter and the late Irene Jacob, a portion of the proceeds from the 2016 Pursuer of Peace Award will be used to establish the Dr. Walter and Irene Jacob Giving Fund within Mainstay Life Services.

Mainstay Life Services is an extraordinary organization with a distinctive mission: To provide life-long, high-quality support services, ensuring that people with developmental disabilities lead fulfilling lives and realize their vision of a desirable future.

Mainstay Life Services’ history is rooted in the story of two exceptional organizations working together toward a common goal. Horizon Homes Inc. – founded by Rabbi Walter and Irene (z”l) Jacob – and Idlewood Center were pioneers in providing home support for adults in Allegheny County.

Today, Mainstay, which supports over 350 developmentally-challenged adults who are living at home or in one of the organization’s 60 homes located throughout Allegheny County, is recognized as one of the top providers of such services in the region. By offering a wide range of services, including supported living, semi-independent living, in-home supports,

life sharing, 24-hour full-care homes, and a summer respite program, Mainstay Life Services compassionately enriches lives. They help individuals to live and work in a community that benefits from their participation, to achieve personal goals, and to make positive contributions to the world around them.

Pursuer of Peace Award 2016 8

Rodef Shalom CongregationRodef Shalom, the oldest and largest Jewish congregation in Western Pennsylvania was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1856. The congregation has grown from its humble roots of a downtown, rented space into the historic edifice of today. Throughout this evolution, Rodef Shalom Congregation has been and remains a beacon in the Reform Jewish community. Esteemed Rabbis of Rodef Shalom Congregation have made significant contributions to the national and international development of Reform Judaism through their writings and leadership. Rodef Shalom members have been instrumental in the development of Pittsburgh’s cultural, civic and Jewish institutions.

The congregation’s impact on the Pittsburgh community reaches beyond its role as a religious institution. The Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee, Jewish Residential Services, and the Agency for Jewish Learning house their operations here. The doors remain open to non-profit organizations for events,

including the Pittsburgh Symphony Musicians, the Bach and Mendelssohn Choirs, the Shepherd Wellness Community and POWER. The Congregation also sponsors programs in the community: hosting Empty Bowls—an annual event benefitting the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Just Harvest; presenting classical and jazz music series and book reviews; sponsoring clothing drives; participating in Haitian Relief efforts; hosting Alcoholics Anonymous; providing meals to shelters; and the Biblical Botanical Garden, the largest of its kind, is open to the public.

Throughout its history, Rodef Shalom Congregation has dedicated itself to teaching Jewish values, promoting interfaith understanding, and championing social action while opening its arms to diversity of beliefs, practices, and lifestyles.

For Further InformationFor sponsorship information, contact Amy Scanlon: scanlon@rodefshalom.org, (412) 621-6566, ext. 140.

Rodef Shalom Congregation 4905 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2953 rodefshalom.org