Seymour Siegel (September 12, 1927 – February 24, 1988), often referred to as "an architect of Conservative Jewish theology," was an American Conservative rabbi, a Professor of Ethics, and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), the 1983–1984 Executive Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,"Ari L. Goldman, "Rabbi Seymour Siegel, 61, Leader In Conservative Judaism, Is Dead," The New York Times, Feb 25, 1988. and an advisor to three American presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition, 2007, Vol 18, p.556.
Siegel was associated with JTS for 41 years, first as a student and later as an instructor, holding the Ralph Simon Professor of Ethics and Theology chair, succeeding his friend and mentor, Abraham Joshua Heschel, in that position. He was an advocate on political conservatism, delivering a prayer at the 1973 second term inauguration of President Richard Nixon, but just as strong a champion of religious causes sometimes associated with liberalism, such as the ordination of female rabbis. In his obituary, New York Times religion writer, Ari L. Goldman, wrote that the writings of Seymour Siegel "helped open the door for the ordination of female rabbis" in the Conservative movement.
Life and work
Seymour Siegel was born in Chicago, Illinois, attending the University of Chicago (B.A., 1958) and the Hebrew Theological College for undergraduate studies, then received rabbinic ordination, and both a Masters and Doctorate in Hebrew Literature at JTS (M.A., 1951; DHL, 1960), in New York City.Encyclopedia Judaica, Decennial Book (1973-1982), Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem:1982, p556. He remained at JTS, as a Professor of Theology and Ethics, and over the years, held other positions for varying amounts of time, including Dean of Students ("Registrar") for the Rabbinical School, and assistant dean of the Herbert H. Lehman Institute of Ethics."The Lay Leader in the LEAD (Laymens' Enrichment and Devotional Program) Program," Official Navy Report (NAVPERS 15156) of "The Consultation on the Lay Ministry," Naval Base, Charleston, South Carolina, May 16–19, 1967, sponsored by the Chief of Chaplains, U.S. Navy, and the Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. From 1973–1980, he served as chair of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA). He also served on the Commission on the Ideology of Conservative Judaism—later renamed, The Commission on the Philosophy of Conservative Judaism—that produced the 1988 document, Emet Ve'Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism.
Siegel grew up in a "close-knit Yiddish family and community," with "his yeshiva education preparing him to be an orthodox rabbi or Talmudic scholar. But after graduating from the University of Chicago, he gravitated toward the Conservative movement. There, his friends, Samuel Dresner and Wolfe Kelman, urged him to study with Heschel."Edward J. Kaplan, Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972, Yale University:2007, p91.
As a teacher, Siegel was ahead of his time in many ways. He taught Holocaust studies in the mid-1960s, well before it was considered a field of serious study, and he was a pioneer in the field of medical ethics in particular, and religious ethics in general. He believed that teaching should not be confined to the classroom, and shared Heschel's "conviction that the Jews had a vision of society which could and should influence general society as much as the general society influenced Judaism.". Putting these beliefs into practice, he became one of the first ethical advisors to American commercial corporations, chairing the ethics committee of the public relations firm, Ruder Finn and serving on the Biohazards Committee of the giant pharmaceutical concern, Hoffmann-La Roche.Byron L. Sherwin, "Jewish Ethics for the Twenty-First Century: Living in the Image of God," 2000, p70. As part of this position, he worked on guidelines in recombinant DNA research.Richard Freund, "The Ethical Realism of Seymour Siegel," Conservative Judaism, 45:1 Fall 1992 pp. 67-81.
Siegel felt a tremendous responsibility, in his role as a Professor of Ethics and Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary, to be both a general public servant serving the public of the United States of America from his understanding of the teachings of Judaism and at the same time a servant to the Jewish people in his role as the chairman of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinic Assembly.Freund, op.cit., p. 75.
The well-known scholar Jacob Neusner recalls that Siegel was his "best Talmud teacher" at JTS.,Jacob Neusner, Judaism's Theological Voice: The Melody of the Talmud, The University of Chicago Press:1985, p.83. and a generation of rabbis praised Siegel's "full control" of the broad range of classical Jewish texts, ranging from Talmud, to Jewish law, to Jewish mysticism,Elliot Gertel, "Remembering Seymour Siegel," The Jewish Spectator, Spring-Summer 1989, pp.14-20. along with his ability to explain difficult issues in clear and straightforward ways. He was called "the most versatile and well-rounded scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary."
In addition to his positions at JTS, and his work with the RA, Siegel served as a visiting senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute for Bioethics at Georgetown University (1976–1977); a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1981), in Washington, DC; a Hastings Center Fellow; and a Fellow for the Society of Religion in Higher Education.Information about his appointment as a Fellow for the SRHE from the introduction to his speech, "The Challenge of History and the Problem of Evil", included in external links below.] He also served, 1982–1983, as the only clericRichard N. Ostling and Michael P. Harris, Time Magazine, "Religion: Scientists Must Not Play God, Jun 20, 1983] on the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical Research, appointed to that Commission by President Ronald Reagan. In addition, Siegel served on the boards of directors of numerous organizations, including the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), and on the editorial boards of many journals and periodicals, including This World and Conservative Judaism.
In 1951, JTS chancellor Louis Finkelstein arranged for Martin Buber to make his first trip to the U.S., for a six-month lecture tour. Finkelstein appointed Siegel to act as the host for Buber and his wife, Pauline, during their time at JTS. Siegel met them at Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) on Nov 1, 1951.Kaplan, op.cit., p. 134. Twenty four years later, at the memorial service held for Buber in New York, Siegel would be one of three speakers, including Protestant theologian, Paul Tillich.David Novak, "The Jew: Essays from Martin Buber's Journal, Der Jude, 1916-1928," Modern Judaism, Oxford University Press, Vol 2, No. 1, Feb 1982, pp105-110.
In 1962, Siegel helped found the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and "was instrumental in consolidating the relationship" between that seminary and JTS, in NY, by spending summers there, teaching courses in Talmud, theology, and ethics. At a news conference after a ten-week trip to Buenos Aires to help set up the Seminary, he spoke out about the fear of the Argentinian Jewish community regarding the antisemitism it faced. He said that "...reliable sources say that [the Argentinian] Government officials know who perpetrate the anti-Semitic attacks and yet they have not taken any steps to arrest them." He urged the U.S. government to do whatever it could to strengthen democratic institutions in Argentina, and expressed his concern that the Roman Catholic Church there had taken no official stand against anti-semitic attacks. "The rabbi, who said he had witnessed the machine-gunning of an Israeli shipping line while he was in Buenos Aires, said that such attacks were a recurrence of anti-Semitic acts that date back more than thirty years."John C. Wicklein, U.S. Rabbi Asserts Argentina Fails to Halt Attacks on Jews, New York Times, Aug 10, 1962. Siegel was fluent in Spanish, and during some New York political campaigns, delivered speeches in Spanish to Hispanic groups on New York's Upper West Side. In 1965, when a Spanish-language Conservative prayerbook was printed for Argentina and other countries in Latin America, one of Siegel's prayers—for the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Tabernacles—was included.Ritual de Oraciones Para Todo El Ano, Consejo Mundial de Sinagogas (World Council of Synagogues), Buenos Aires:1965, p495. The prayerbook—the first new translation of a Jewish prayerbook into Spanish since the original Spanish translation had appeared in Ferrara, Italy, in 1552—was a project of the Latin American office of the World Council of Synagogues. Among other Spanish publications of the council was a translation of The Jewish Dietary Laws, written by Siegel and his colleague, Rabbi Samuel Dresner. American Jewish Committee Archives, Latin America: Argentina, 1966-1968.