{{Short description|American rabbi and editor (1932–2017)}} thumb|Rabbi Nisson Wolpin
'''Nisson Wolpin''' was an Orthodox rabbi and (1932-2017),<ref name=WolpinOpEdZeidy.NYT95/><ref name=WolpinObit.Hamodia/> renowned for being the editor of The Jewish Observer.<ref name=WolpinJOed.NYT87>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/08/opinion/l-israel-and-conversion-317387.html |title=Israel and Conversion |author=Nisson Wolpin |date=August 8, 1987}}</ref><ref name=WolpinOpEdZeidy.NYT95>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/10/opinion/l-orthodox-judaism-doesn-t-lack-vision-317495.html |title=Orthodox Judaism Doesn't Lack Vision |author=Nisson Wolpin |date=April 4, 1995}}</ref> He also served as the learning director of Camp Munk for many summers.<ref name=WolpinObit.Matzav/>
==Early life== Rabbi Wolpin was born in 1932<ref name=WolpinObit.Hamodia>{{cite news|newspaper=Hamodia |author=Rafael Hoffman|url=https://hamodia.com/2017/04/25/rabbi-nisson-wolpin-zl|title=Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, Zt"l, Pioneer of Torah Journalism|date=April 25, 2017}}</ref> in Seattle, Washington to Bentzion and Kaila Wolpin. His parents, immigrants from Europe, lost 13 of their 15 children to childhood diseases prior to their coming to the United States.<ref name=WolpinObit.Yated/>
During his formative years, Seattle didn't have any fit Jewish schools for him to attend, and he therefore had no other option other than attending a local public school.<ref name=WolpinObit.Matzav>{{cite news |newspaper=Matzav|url=https://matzav.com/rabbi-nisson-wolpin-ztl|title=Rabbi Nisson Wolpin zt"l |date=April 24, 2017}}</ref> Like his three<ref name=WolpinObit.Yated/> brothers, he attended a Talmud Torah in the afternoon. At age 15 he was sent to Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.<ref name=WolpinObit.Hamodia/><ref name=WolpinShloshim.CC>{{cite magazine |magazine=CrossCurrents|url=https://cross-currents.com/2017/05/28/rabbi-nisson-wolpin-zl-shloshim-recollections|title=Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, z"l: Shloshim Recollections|author=Avi Shafran |date=May 28, 2017}}</ref>
Wolpin was one of "a small cadre of talmidim" selected by Gedaliah Schorr to be students at a Los Angeles-based yeshiva founded in 1952 by Simcha Wasserman.<ref name=OhrSom195x>{{cite web|url=https://ohr.edu/special/ravweinbach/RememberingRavWeinbach.pdf|title=Rav Mendel Weinbach |page=13}}</ref>
== Career == During his adult years as a married man, Rabbi Wolpin served as a ''rebbi'' (teacher of Torah) at Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael in Queens, an elementary yeshiva for Orthodox Jewish boys. In 1970, he was offered the position of editor of ''The Jewish Observer'', a newspaper published by Agudath Israel of America.<ref name=WolpinAgudaJO.NYT>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/15/nyregion/thousands-mark-talmudic-milestone.html|title=Thousands mark Talmudic milestone|author=Charles Austin |date=November 15, 1982}}</ref> Before accepting the position, he approached Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky, who told him: "Until now you were a ''mechanech'' (educator) of children. From now on you will be a ''mechanech'' for adults."<ref name=WolpinObit.Matzav/> For several years he had a role in ''Olomeinu'', the children's periodical, as well.<ref name=WolpinObit.Yated>{{cite news|newspaper=Yated Ne'eman (United States)|url=https://yated.com/rabbi-nisson-wolpin-ztl|title=Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, ZT"L|author=Yonason Rosenblum |date=April 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://dainybernstein.com/2020/03/07/sharing-spaces-shaping-identities-american-haredi-childrens-literature|title=Sharing Spaces, Shaping Identities: American Haredi Children's Literature|date=March 7, 2020}}</ref>
==Later life== In 2010, Rabbi Wolpin and his wife moved to Israel,<ref name=WolpinObit.Hamodia/> where he learned in a kollel.<ref name=WolpinObit.Matzav/>
On April 24, 2017, he died in Jerusalem, survived by his wife, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. One obituary referred to him as "father of the flourishing ''chareidi'' press in the English language today."<ref name=Wolpin.Ami2019>{{cite magazine |magazine=Ami Magazine|url=https://www.amimagazine.org/2017/05/03/rabbi-nisson-wolpin-remembering-trailblazer|title=Rabbi Nisson Wolpin / Remembering A Trailblazer|author=Rabbi Hillel Goldberg |date=November 26, 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolpin, Nisson}} Category:2017 deaths Category:American Orthodox rabbis Category:20th-century American newspaper editors Category:20th-century American rabbis Category:1932 births Category:21st-century American rabbis Category:Writers from Seattle Category:Clergy from Seattle