{{Short description|American rabbi (1920–2018)}} {{Use dmy|date= April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Isaiah Zeldin | image = Isaiah Zeldin, 1964.jpg | caption = Zeldin in 1964 | native_name = ישעיהו זלדין | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1920|7|11}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2018|1|26|1920|7|11}} | death_place = Palm Desert, California, US | death_cause = | resting_place = Eden Memorial Park Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | native_name_lang = he | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma mater = | employer = | occupation = Rabbi | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = {{marriage|Florence Karp Zeldin|1943|2012}} | children = 2 | parents = | relatives = Lee Zeldin (grandnephew)<ref>{{cite av media |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRyqJs-K5oI |title= Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY) Remembers Rabbi Zeldin on the House Floor| first= Lee |last= Zeldin |via= YouTube |access-date= }}</ref> }} '''Isaiah Zeldin''' ({{Langx|he|ישעיהו זלדין|Yeshayahu Zeldin}}, July 11, 1920 – January 26, 2018) was an American rabbi. He was the founder of the Stephen Wise Temple, a Reform synagogue in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.<ref name="jewishjournalobit">{{cite news| last= Tugend |first= Tom| title=Stephen Wise Temple Founder, Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, dies at 97| url= http://jewishjournal.com/culture/lifestyle/obituaries/230173/stephen-wise-temple-founder-rabbi-dies/ |work= The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles| via= jewishjournal.com |date=January 27, 2018| access-date= 2026-04-10}}</ref><ref name="latimesobit">{{cite news| last= Lozano| first= Carlos |title=Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, founder of one of the largest Reform congregations in the country, dies at 97| url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-isaiah-zeldin-obit-20180127-story.html|accessdate=January 28, 2018| work= Los Angeles Times |date=January 27, 2018| access-date= }}</ref>
==Early years, family and education== He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the second of three sons born to Movsha Froim "Morris" Zeldin, a pioneer in the Zionist movement and one of the organizers of the United Jewish Appeal of New York, and Esther née Shlyapochnik, both immigrants from Petrikov<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/16/archives/morris-zeldin-86-dies-an-early-zionist-leader.html |title= Morris Zeldin dies |work= The New York Times |date= 1976-10-16 |access-date= }}</ref> (in what is now Belarus). Yiddish was his first language.
Isaiah Zeldin graduated from Brooklyn College in 1941 and worked for the Jewish Education Committee in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archives.cjh.org/repositories/7/resources/3528 |title= Records of the Jewish Education Committee |website= archives.cjh.org |date= |access-date= }}</ref> He was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio,<ref>{{cite web |title=Isaiah Zeldin Obituary - Mission Hills, CA |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=isaiah-zeldin&pid=187998565&fhid=12214 |website=Legacy.net |accessdate=14 March 2019}}</ref> which awarded him its Simon Lazarus Prize for attaining highest academic standing in his graduating class.<ref>{{cite news |work= The News |title= Zeldin| date= 1946-06-24 |location= Paterson, New Jersey |page= 17}}</ref>
==Career== Before he was ordained, he served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Stockton, California.<ref>{{cite news |title= New Rabbi called to Temple Israel |work= Stockton Evening and Sunday Record |date= 1945-08-17}}</ref> He was appointed assistant rabbi at Temple B'nai Jeshurin, Newark, New Jersey and subsequently the first rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Flushing, New York, in June 1951.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1951/06/08/archives/rabbi-to-be-installed-today.html |title= Rabbi to Be Installed Today |work= The New York Times |date= 1951-06-08 |access-date= }}</ref> In 1953 he became director of the Southern California region of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and Dean of the Los Angeles College of Jewish Studies.<ref>{{cite news |title= Temple Akiba Announces High Holy Day Rites |work= Evening Vanguard |date= 1953-08-27 |location= Venice, California}}</ref> In 1958, he assumed the pulpit at Temple Emanuel upon the sudden death of Rabbi Bernard Harrison.<ref>{{cite news |title= Rabbi to assume new position at Temple Emanuel |work= Valley News |date= 1958-01-09 |location= Van Nuys, California}}</ref>
<!-- Commented out: thumb|left|Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin. What This Modern Jew Believes. Isaac Nathan Publishing Co (January 1, 1996){{deletable file-caption|Wednesday, 18 October 2023|PROD}} --> ===Forming new synagogue=== In 1964 Zeldin and 35 families broke away from Temple Emanuel to establish a new synagogue in Westwood in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news |title= Rabbi Zeldin resigns post |date= 11 April 1964 |work= Citizen News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= New Ark |date= 1964-09-06 |work= Los Angeles Times| access-date= }}</ref> The new congregation was named for the influential Reform rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, under whom Zeldin had studied. The new congregation faced immediate controversy as the Union for Reform Judaism (then called the Union of American Hebrew Congregations or UAHC) felt that some of its members had failed to honor existing commitments to Temple Emanuel, and the UAHC did not accept it for membership for the first five years of its existence. The new congregation was intended to have a membership limited in size to maintain intimacy between the rabbi and the member families, and it met at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Westwood. A year later, the congregation acquired a site for a permanent home; the size limit policy was changed in 1969; and in 1970, Stephen Wise Temple absorbed the existing Westwood Temple, whose membership had been declining, in part due to disruption from the construction of the San Diego Freeway. As of 2010, the congregational database of the Union for Reform Judaism (as the UAHC is now known) stated that Stephen S. Wise Temple had 2,886 members, which was more than any other congregation in the database. The database in 2020 stated the synagogue had 1700 membership families<ref>{{cite web |url= https://urj.org/what-we-believe/resolutions/online-congregational-directory |title= Stephen Wise Temple| publisher= Online Congregational Directory, Union for Reform Judaism |work= urj.org | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20201124230313/https://urj.org/congregations/stephen-wise-temple-los-angeles-ca| archivedate= 2020-11-24 |access-date= 2026-04-10}}</ref> and stated in 2026 it had 1570 membership families.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://urj.org/what-we-believe/resolutions/online-congregational-directory |title= Stephen Wise Temple| publisher= Online Congregational Directory, Union for Reform Judaism| url-status= | archiveurl= | archivedate= |work= urj.org |access-date= 2026-04-10}}</ref>
===Later years=== In 1990, Zeldin retired from his duties as Senior Rabbi and was succeeded by Eli Herscher. In 1999, Rabbi Zeldin delivered a prayer at the inauguration of California Gov. Gray Davis.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
==Personal life and demise== {{expand-section|date= April 2026}} Zeldin died in 2018 at age 97.<ref name="jewishjournalobit" />
==Books== *{{cite book |title= The Mumar in the Talmud and Medieval Rabbinic Literature |last= Zeldin |first= Isaiah |year= 1946| publisher= Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion }} *{{cite book |title= Sources of Faith in Times of Crisis as Reflected in Talmudic Literature |last= Zeldin |first= Isaiah |year= 1961| publisher= Department of Adult Jewish Education, Union of American Hebrew Congregations}} *{{cite book |title= What this modern Jew believes |last= Zeldin |first= Isaiah | year= 1996 |publisher= Isaac Nathan Publishing Co.}} *{{cite books |title= Zeldin's Way: Eighty-Five Stories for Eighty-Five Years |last= Zeldin |first= Isaiah |year= 2005 |publisher= Isaac Nathan Publishing Co.}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.wisela.org/rabbizeldin/ Rabbi Zeldin] on Stephen S. Wise Temple website *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePjJrV36SKc&t Tribute to Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin on his 97th Birthday] via YouTube *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_omscBeN0uI&t Remarks from Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin On His 90th Birthday] via YouTube *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyu6VhfuL4I A Passover Visit with Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin] via YouTube
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeldin, Isaiah}} Category:1920 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Religious leaders from Brooklyn Category:People from Bel Air, Los Angeles Category:People from Palm Desert, California Category:American Reform rabbis Category:Brooklyn College alumni Category:Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion alumni Category:21st-century American rabbis