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Israel S. Dresner | |
|---|---|
 Dresner withMartin Luther King Jr. | |
| Born | (1929-04-22)April 22, 1929 |
| Died | January 13, 2022(2022-01-13) (aged 92) Wayne, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
Israel Seymour Dresner (April 22, 1929 – January 13, 2022) was an AmericanReformrabbi who served as president of the Education Fund for Israeli Civil Rights and Peace.[1] He was instrumental in theCivil Rights Movement, and a close friend to Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.[2]
Dresner was born April 22, 1929, on theLower East Side ofNew York City. He was raised inBrooklyn, attending an Orthodoxyeshiva (day school). At the age of 13, he joinedHabonim Dror, a Labor Zionist youth movement, and in his teens, he became one of its leaders. He studied atBrooklyn College and theUniversity of Chicago and got a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations.[3]
Dresner spent 1951 and 1952 working at a new kibbutz,Urim, in theNegev. He then spent two years as an enlisted man in theUS Army, the first year of which was the last year of theKorean War.
The next five years were spent studying at the New York School of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was duly ordained as a rabbi. His first year in the active rabbinate was inDanbury, Connecticut, as assistant to Rabbi Jerome Malino. He then spent 12 years as rabbi of Temple Sha'arey Shalom inSpringfield, New Jersey and 25 years as rabbi of Temple Beth Tikvah inWayne, New Jersey. He was elected rabbi emeritus of the latter upon his retirement.
Dresner was once dubbed "the most arrested rabbi in America."[4][2]
He was the foremost rabbinic participant in theCivil Rights Movement's struggle of the 1960s, and he was one of the three rabbis who was closest toMartin Luther King Jr. King spoke on two occasions (1963 and 1966) at Dresner's congregation in Springfield.
Dresner was the first rabbi arrested in theFreedom Rides protests of 1961, when he participated in aninterfaithclergy freedom ride. He served for short periods as a prisoner on four occasions in prisons in Florida and Georgia from 1961 to 1964. One of his cases,Dresner et al. v. Tallahassee, reached theUS Supreme Court.[5][2]
US PresidentBarack Obama honored him at theWhite House on the evening before the 50-year anniversary celebration of theMarch on Washington.
He was one of the outstanding rabbinic leaders in the struggle against the war in Vietnam and for the rights of the poor; women; immigrants, gays and lesbians: disabled people; and racial, religious and ethnic minorities.
He served on the Social Action Commission of Reform Judaism for almost 44 years and was one of its few lifetime members. He was an early (1966) leader in the struggle forSoviet Jews.
Dresner was a critic of the Netanyahu government and was active in the peace movement in Israel.[1]
He was the president of the Education Fund for Israeli Civil Rights and Peace (nowPartners for Progressive Israel).
He was one of the first rabbis to oppose the policies of the Jews in Israel and the US who advocated annexing the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel during theSix-Day War, in 1967. He opposed the settlers' movement from its inception in 1968, as have the nine US presidents who have served since then. He was a dovish leader of Zionism by advocating a peace agreement with the Palestinians for atwo-state solution, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the Arab-Israeli conflict. He was elected twice a delegate and twice an alternate to theWorld Zionist Congress.
He visited Israel since 1951 on 36 occasions, lastly in October and November 2013. He supported the policies of Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, Barak and Olmert, and Israeli ministers such as Sarid (education), Beilin (justice), and Livni (foreign affairs).
He was a leader of an American Zionist organization for peace, justice, pluralism, and democracy,Partners for Progressive Israel, for a quarter-century, serving as its president for three years in the 1990s. He was a member ofJ Street since its founding.
Dresner raised his son and his daughter inHebrew, as he was raised inYiddish. His son has both American and Israeli citizenships, is a veteran of theIsraeli Defense Forces, and did the first year of his M.A. atHebrew University of Jerusalem. His daughter was a volunteer in Kibbutz Yotvata and married a member of thekibbutz.
In December 2021, Dresner announced he was in the final days ofstage fourcolon cancer.[2] He died at a senior living center in Wayne from the disease on January 13, 2022, at the age of 92.[3][6]