Rabbi Shimon (Simon) Schwab (December 30, 1908 - March 28, 1993) was an Orthodox rabbi and communal leader in Germany and the United States, initially in Baltimore and later in Washington Heights in New York City.

Early life in Frankfurt

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Shimon Schwab was born and grew up in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His family had been longstanding members of the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft (IRG), the Orthodox Jewish community that had established its own independence from the Reform Judaism general community. The IRG had been led until 1888 by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and was then under the leadership of Rabbi Solomon Breuer, Hirsch' son-in-law.

Shimon completed the Realschule, the local school that combined religious studies and general subjects in conformation with the Torah im Derech Eretz ideology propagated by Rabbi Hirsch. After the Realschule he was a full time student for a number of years in the Torah Lehranstalt, the local yeshiva founded by Rabbi Breuer.

Studies in Lithuania

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In 1926, at age 18, Shimon enrolled in the yeshiva in Telshe yeshiva located in Telšiai, Lithuania, where he studied Talmud on an intense level for three years, and afterwards spent two years in the Mir yeshiva. It was not very common for German-Jewish students to study in Eastern-European yeshivot, but two of Shimon's brothers (Moshe and Mordechai) would follow the same path.

In 1930, he spent a weekend with Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chafetz Chaim), then the leader of non-Hassidic Eastern-European Ashkenazi Jewry. The visit made a strong impression on him, and he would later often refer to the encounter in public speeches throughout his life.

After receiving semicha ("rabbinic ordination"), Rabbi Schwab relocated to Germany, where he married Recha Froehlich of Gelsenkirchen, and worked for two years as Rabbinatsassessor ("assistant rabbi") in Darmstadt before accepting the post of community rabbi in Ichenhausen, Bavaria.

Work in Ichenhausen

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In Ichenhausen, Rabbi Schwab was involved in general rabbinic duties, but he also worked hard to establish a traditional yeshiva that would teach Mishnah and Talmud. He also published a booklet titled Heimkehr ins Judentum ("Coming Home to Judaism") exhorting his Jewish contemporaries to devote more time to in-depth Torah study and abandon their fascination with modern culture and social progress.

The yeshiva started off, but immediately ran into trouble as threats were made by local Nazi activists. In the end, the students were sent home ofter one day, and this incident probably inspired Rabbi Schwab to apply for a position overseas.

Through the American Orthodox leader Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung he got in touch with a community called She'erith Yisrael in Baltimore. He travelled to the United States, and after a trial period the community elected him as a rabbi. The family was therefore able to apply for visas and escape the Holocaust.

Life in Baltimore

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In Baltimore, Rabbi Schwab became a local leader of Orthodoxy, hosting the annual conference of Agudath Israel several years after his arrival. He was involved in the first Jewish day school for girls, and was to travel to San Francisco in the late 1940s to act as a lobbyist during the early activities of the United Nations.

Leadership in Washington Heights, NYC

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In 1958, Rabbi Schwab was invited to join Rabbi Joseph Breuer in the leadership of the German-Jewish community in Washington Heights, located in the north of Manhattan in New York City. This community, widely regarded as the spiritual "continuation" of the pre-War Frankfurt kehilla ("community"), had been close to Rabbi Schwab's heart, and with Rabbi Breuer's increasing age and infirmity he took on many leadership roles until the latter's passing in 1980.

From then until 1993, he led the community alone. He was succeeded after his death by Rabbi Zechariah Gelley.

Philosophy and ideas

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Rabbi Schwab, being a product of both the German Torah im Derech Eretz movement and the Eastern-European yeshiva world, initially identified strongly with the latter.

During the 1960s, however, it became apparent to him that the continued emphasis on religious studies and downplay of secular education would be harmful to the community as a whole. He thus wrote his pamphlet "These and Those", in which he champions the Torah im Derech Eretz approach as being equally valid. (The title of the pamphlet is a quote from the Talmud - "These and those va'Eilu are the words of a Living God", emphasizing that both approaches are divinely sanctioned.)

Other points often discussed in his work the independence of Orthodoxy and the perceived materialistic excesses and expenses of the modern world, especially at weddings. He did not shirk from difficult and potentially controversial questions, such as those concerning the Jewish view on the age of the universe and problems in harmonising a 165-year gap in traditional Jewish history with scientifically accepted calculations.

Bibliography

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• Heimkehr ins Judentum, Frankfurt am Main, 1934, 153 pages;
• Beth ha-Sho'eva, published privately, 1940s; a collection of material on the times of Mashiach;
• These and Those, 1960s;
• Selected writings, CIS publishers; ISBN 0935063498.
• Selected speeches, CIS publishers; ISBN 1560620587
• Selected essays, CIS publishers (includes "These and Those" and translated selections from "Heimkehr ins Judentum"); ISBN 156062292X.
• Shemesh Marpei (Hebrew), collected responsa, Talmudic novellae and biography of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, edited by Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman;
• Maayan Beth ha-Sho'eva, Torah interpretation, Mesorah publications 1994;
• Rav Schwab on Prayer (posthumously, compiled from taped lectures under the editorship of his eldest son Moses L. Schwab); ISBN 1578195128.
• Iyun Tefilla, Hebrew version of "Rav Schwab on Prayer".
• Rav Schwab on Iyov - The teachings of Rabbi Shimon Schwab zt"l on the Book of Job (posthumously, commentary on the Book of Job). Mesorah publications 2006. ISBN 1422600904.

Sources

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• Biographic notes in Rav Schwab on Prayer (see above)
• On the Breuer Kehilla, Rabbi Pinchas Frankel

1908 births | 1993 deaths | Orthodox rabbis | Jewish German history