Adolph Moses Radin

Adolph Moses Radin (August 5, 1848 – February 5, 1909) was a Polish-born American Jewish rabbi.

Life Radin was born on August 5, 1848, in Neustadt-Schirwindt, Congress Poland, the son of Marcus Radin and Hinde Ritow.

Radin received his Talmudic education in Volozhin and Eiseshok. He then went to Prussia and studied in the University of Berlin, the University of Königsberg (where he edited the "Jüdische Grenzbote"), and the University of Greifswald (where he received his Ph.D.). He then worked as a rabbi, first in Prussia at Mewe and Kempen and then in Poland at Kalisz and Łódź. He immigrated to America in the fall of 1886, and within a month he became rabbi of the Jewish congregation at Elmira, New York and visiting Jewish chaplain of the New York State Reformatory in that city.

Radin then became rabbi of the Congregation Gates of Hope in New York City. In 1890, he was designated chaplain of all penal institutions in New York and Brooklyn. He served in that position for the rest of his life. In 1905, he became rabbi of the People's Synagogue of the Educational Alliance, a position he held until his death. He worked to rehabilitate Jewish criminal offenders and to educate and minister to poor immigrants on the Lower East Side. One notable educational achievements was founding the Russian American Hebrew Association. He was involved in a number of philanthropic and charitable causes.

Radin contributed to a wide range of papers, including the Hebrew Hamagid, Ha-Melitz, Hakarmel, Ibri Anochi, and Hatofesh, the German Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums and Die Neuzeit, the Polish Israelita, and American Jewish papers.

An ardent advocate of Zionism, Radin was an executive member of the American Federation of Zionists. He was married and had three sons, Herman T., Max, and Paul. Max Radin was a jurist and historian, and Paul Radin was an anthropologist.