Walter Jacob

Walter Jacob (March 13, 1930 – October 20, 2024) was an American Reform rabbi. He was rabbi at the Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh from 1955 to 1997. He served as chairman of organizations such as the Central Conference of American Rabbis and World Union for Progressive Judaism. Jacob wrote a book, Christianity Through Jewish Eyes in 1974, leading to interfaith dialogue. He founded the Solomon B. Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakhah in 1991, an international forum for Jewish law. In Germany, he co-founded the Abraham Geiger College, the first rabbinic seminary in Central Europe since the Holocaust, in 1999.

Biography Jacob was born in Augsburg, Germany, on March 13, 1930, into a family with rabbinic tradition for 17 generations. His father was Ernest Israel Jacob, district rabbi in Augsburg, and his grandfather was Benno Jacob, who was regarded as a great liberal Jewish bible commentator. His mother was Annette Loewenberg Jacob, and he grew up with a brother, Herbert. His father was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in 1938 for several months. Helped by American relatives, the family managed to flee Germany in 1939, first to London, and a year later to the United States. They settled in Missouri in 1943. The Sexual Issues in Jewish Law, and The Internet Revolution and Jewish Law.

Germany Jacob and a few others worked towards rebuilding liberal Judaism in Germany from 1990. He served as the honorary rabbi of the liberal Beth Shalom congregation in Munich from 1996 for several years.