# Eli Cashdan > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eli_Cashdan > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eli_Cashdan.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cashdan > Source revision: 1346161555 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{More footnotes|date=January 2011}} {{Infobox Jewish leader | honorific-prefix = Rabbi | name = Eli Cashdan | honorific-suffix = MA | title = | image = Elicashdan1.jpg | caption = | synagogue = | synagogueposition = | yeshivaposition = | organisation = [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College) | organisationposition = senior lecturer | began = | ended = | predecessor = | successor = | semikha = | rabbi = | rank = | other_post = | birth_name = Eli "Yiddle" Cashdan | birth_date = 1 June 1905 | birth_place = [Starye Dorogi](/source/Starye_Dorogi), [Minsk](/source/Minsk), [Belarus](/source/Belarus) | death_date = 14 November 1998 | death_place = [Hendon](/source/Hendon), [London](/source/Greater_London) | buried = | denomination = [Orthodox](/source/Orthodox_Judaism) | residence = | parents = | spouse = Minnie Cohen | children = | occupation = | profession = | employer = | alma_mater = Liverpool Yeshiva, [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool), [London University](/source/London_University) | signature = | website = | yeshiva = }} '''Eli Cashdan''' ({{Langx|he|יהודה (בר יוסף דב) כשד"ן}}; {{Langx|yi|יודל כשדן}} or Yiddle; 1 June 1905 – 14 November 1998) was a [rabbi](/source/rabbi) in the UK. He was a chaplain in the [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), a senior lecturer at [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College) and wrote a number of important books of Jewish interest. ==Biography and early education== Cashdan was born in [Starye Dorogi](/source/Starye_Dorogi), [Minsk](/source/Minsk), (then [Russia](/source/Russia) and now) [Belarus](/source/Belarus), the fifth child of Joseph and Bessie Cashdan. He came to [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool), [UK](/source/UK) in 1905, when 3 months old, with his mother and four siblings. His father, Rabbi Joseph Cashdan, had come to the UK at an earlier date and worked in Liverpool as a [rabbi](/source/rabbi) and [shohet](/source/shechita). He attended school at one of the first Jewish day schools in the UK (run by Dr S. Fox) where Jewish studies occupied half the day; he [matriculated](/source/School_Certificate_(United_Kingdom)) at age 15. He then went on to study at Liverpool [Yeshiva](/source/Yeshiva) ([Liverpool Talmudical College](/source/Liverpool_Talmudical_College); ''Yeshiva Torat Chaim'') where he gained [semikha](/source/semikha) from [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714150604/http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/lp9/index.htm Rabbi Mordechai Yaacov Krasner] at the very young age of 17. Cashdan studied law at [London University](/source/London_University) and also attended [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College) where in 1927 he obtained a [First Class Honours](/source/British_undergraduate_degree_classification) degree in [Semitics](/source/Semitics). He continued his law studies and was called to the [Bar](/source/Bar_(law)) at [Lincoln's Inn](/source/Lincoln's_Inn) in 1933. Cashdan also received an [M.A.](/source/Master_of_Arts) degree in [Semitics](/source/Semitics) from [London University](/source/London_University). In December 1930 Cashdan married Minnie Cohen{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=HB%2F5qaCTCw2OHgN4mQ7g%2FA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=29 January 2011|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} whom he had met at the Rosh Pinah Youth Group he had set up. She was the elder daughter of Hyman Cohen (a businessman) and his wife, Clara, and they had two children, Basil (now deceased) and Evelyn. For some years the Cashdans lived in [Hove](/source/Hove), [Sussex](/source/Sussex), after his appointment in 1956 to [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College) he moved back to [London](/source/London) and lived until his death in [Hendon](/source/Hendon). Cashdan was a [bibliophile](/source/bibliophile) and had an extensive collection of books of Jewish interest. ==Military career and Rabbinical and academic positions== In 1941 Cashdan joined the [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force) and he served as senior Jewish [chaplain](/source/chaplain) in [Middle East](/source/Middle_East) until he was discharged in 1946 with the rank of [wing commander](/source/Wing_Commander_(rank)). He took up an educational post as headmaster of the local Hebrew classes in [Hove](/source/Hove), [Sussex](/source/Sussex) until 1950 when he was appointed senior lecturer at [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College). Teaching [Semitics](/source/Semitics) and other Jewish academic subjects in [Jews' College](/source/Jews'_College) until his retirement in 1975, a generation of British Rabbis passed through his hands, including [Chief Rabbi](/source/Chief_Rabbi)s, [Lord Jakobovits](/source/Immanuel_Jakobovits) and [Lord Sacks](/source/Jonathan_Sacks). Cashdan was a regular and popular teacher at the summer and winter schools of Jewish Youth Study Groups. Cashdan never served as a communal rabbi and although he had ''[semikhah](/source/semikhah)'' he did not use the title rabbi until later on in his life. ==Publications== Cashdan was one of a group of Anglo-Jewish scholars who worked for the [Soncino Press](/source/Soncino_Press) and he contributed to the [Soncino Books of the Bible](/source/Soncino_Books_of_the_Bible) series and the [Soncino Press Babylonian Talmud](/source/Soncino_Press). Cashdan wrote the introduction and commentary for the last three of the [Minor Prophets](/source/Minor_Prophets): [Haggai](/source/Book_of_Haggai), [Zechariah](/source/Book_of_Zechariah) and [Malachi](/source/Book_of_Malachi).{{cite book |last= Cashdan|first= Eli |title= Zechariah with Hebrew text English translation and Introduction |year= 1985 |publisher= The Soncino Press |isbn= 1-871055-80-6}}{{cite book |editor1-first= Abraham |editor1-last= Cohen |editor2-first= A.J. |editor2-last= Rosenberg |title= Soncino Twelve Prophets |year= 1985 |publisher= The Soncino Press |isbn= 1-871055-80-6}} He translated and annotated Tractates ''[Hullin](/source/Hullin)'' and ''[Menahot](/source/Menahot)''{{cite book |editor-first= Isidore |editor-last= Epstein |title= Soncino Talmud (27 vol. set) |publisher= The Soncino Press |isbn= 978-1-871055-50-4|date= June 1989 }} and, from the [Minor Tractates](/source/Minor_Tractates) ({{langx|he|מסכתות קטנות|Masekhtot Ketanoth}}), [''Avoth DeRabbi Nathan''](/source/Avot_of_Rabbi_Natan).{{cite book |last= Cashdan|first= Eli |title= 'Aboth d'Rabbi Nathan, translated into English with Introduction and Notes, in The Minor Tractates of the Talmud |publisher= The Soncino Press}} Cashdan wrote a new translation for the [centenary](/source/centenary) edition of the [Singer's Prayer Book](/source/Singer's_Prayer_Book) the so-called "Cashdan [Siddur](/source/Siddur)", published in 1990.{{cite book |last= Cashdan|first= Eli |title=The Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth|script-title=he:סדר תפלות כל השנה|publisher= Singer's Prayer Book Publication Committee |year= 1990|title-link= Authorised Daily Prayer Book }} In 1997 Cashdan published a new translation for the Psalms.{{cite book |last= Cashdan|first= Eli |title= The Book of Psalms - Sefer Tehillim |publisher= Minerva Press Ltd |year= 1997 |isbn= 978-1-86106-324-3}} Chief Rabbi Lord [Jonathan Sacks](/source/Jonathan_Sacks) wrote in the foreword to the translation, "Simple, direct, lucid and intelligible....it will allow these masterpieces of religious poetry to speak with their ageless power to a new generation". ==Footnotes== {{reflist}} ==References== * {{cite news |title= Rabbi Eli Cashdan (obituary) |url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/benqish/5387354692 |newspaper= [The Jewish Chronicle](/source/The_Jewish_Chronicle) |date= 4 December 1998}} * {{cite news |title= A scholar to remember (interview published posthumously) |first= Edna |last= Martin |url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/benqish/5386751131 |newspaper= London Jewish News |date= 18 December 1998}} ==External links== * [https://www.lsjs.ac.uk "Jews' College" now London School of Jewish Studies] * [http://www.soncino.com Soncino Press] * [https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2212000563 Jewish Youth Study Groups (now defunct)] {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cashdan, Eli}} Category:British Orthodox rabbis Category:1905 births Category:1998 deaths Category:World War II chaplains Category:Royal Air Force chaplains Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn Category:Alumni of the London School of Jewish Studies Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:20th-century British lawyers Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eli Cashdan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cashdan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cashdan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.