Alvin Kass

Alvin Kass (December 23, 1935 – October 29, 2025) was an American rabbi. He was the chief chaplain of the New York City Police Department. He joined the department in 1966 at the age of 30, becoming the youngest chaplain in the department's history. He served until his death.

Early life Kass was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on December 23, 1935, to Joseph Kass and Ida Kass; Joseph worked as a furniture salesman. Alvin attended Eastside High School, and was awarded a bachelor's degree at Columbia College, Columbia University in 1957, having studied American history and political science. He had been accepted to Harvard Law School, but left, a few weeks before classes started, to go to the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), a Conservative Jewish seminary in New York, after having decided that he would rather "minister to people’s spiritual needs rather than legal ones".

Chaplaincy Kass was a chaplain for the United States Air Force and became the rabbi of Astoria Center of Israel, a small congregation in Astoria, Queens, New York in 1964. He led the Queens congregation until 1978, when he moved to the East Midwood Jewish Center, one of New York City's largest Conservative Jewish synagogues, in Brooklyn.

In December 1966, four years after he became a rabbi, Kass was appointed a chaplain for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the age of 31 by Police Chief Howard R. Leary, to work alongside the department's five Christian chaplains. He was the youngest chaplain in the department's history. He was inspired to work for the city after the election of John Lindsay in 1965. He later discovered that he had been one of more than 30 rabbis interviewed to fill the vacant position of NYPD chaplain, In a 1996 interview, Kass cited his success in getting Sabbath observant NYPD officers the opportunity to take Saturdays off, noting that police officers in Jerusalem don't get the same benefit.

In 2002, he became the chief chaplain of the New York City Police Department. At the time of his death in 2025, Kass was the longest-serving chaplain in NYPD history. Together they had three children.