Solomon Goldman

Solomon Goldman (August 18, 1893 – May 14, 1953) was an American Conservative rabbi. A noted orator, community leader and scholar, he was especially known for helping to popularize the cause of Zionism in the United States.

Early life and education Born to Jeanette and Abraham Abba Goldman on August 18, 1893, in Kozin, Volhynia. He later moved with his parents to New York. He studied at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York before acquiring his Bachelor of Arts at New York University in 1917.

Goldman was ordained as a rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1918 (where he earned doctorates in Hebrew literature and literature in 1936 and 1946, respectively). Goldman also pursued graduate studies at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. In 1947, Goldman earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Institute of Religion.

Rabbinical career

As he completed his studies at Jewish Theological Seminary, Goldman served as the rabbi of B'nai Israel Congregation in Brooklyn, New York from 1917 until 1918. From 1919 until 1922, Goldman worked as the rabbi of B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in Cleveland, Ohio (a synagogue which Goldman is credited for "making [...] Conservative"),

Goldman died at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago on May 14, 1953. At his funeral, Israel H. Levinthal of Brooklyn, New York eulogized. Goldman was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie.

Other work

Goldman assumed the presidency of the Zionist Organization of America for some time and was a delegate to the World Zionist Congress in 1937, becoming vice president in 1939. In 1937, Goldman traveled to South Africa to conduct a campaign for the Jewish National Fund; four years later, in 1941, Goldman traveled around South America as part of a goodwill tour.

A scholar—and a patron of scholarship and the written word, having for some time given over $8000 annually to Jewish scholars and authors

Meyer Weisgal (who would later become the private secretary of Chaim Weizmann) commissioned Goldman to be, alongside Maurice Samuel (and possibly other writers), an author of the script of the pageant The Romance of a People, which debuted on Jewish Day—July 3, 1933 in Chicago—celebrated in tandem with "A Century of Progress," celebrating a century of the city of Chicago.

Goldman is the subject of a biography by fellow Chicago-based Rabbi Jacob J. Weinstein, Solomon Goldman: A Rabbi's Rabbi (New York: Ktav, 1973).