Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
Ismar Schorsch (born November 3, 1935 in Hanover) is the Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish history.
Schorsch served as the sixth Chancellor at JTS for approximately 20 years, from March 1986 until his retirement in June 2006. He was succeeded by Arnold Eisen.
Books
- Sacred Cluster: The Core Values of Conservative Judaism, 1995. outlining what he calls the seven clusters of Conservative Judaism.
- Leopold Zunz : creativity in adversity Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. ISBN 9780812248531
Personal life and education
He is the son of Hanover Rabbi Emil Schorsch. They both experienced the so-called "Reichskristallnacht" in a different manner.
Schorsch graduated from Ursinus College in 1957 and was ordained by JTS in 1962, holds master's degrees from JTS and Columbia University. and was awarded a PhD in Jewish History from Columbia University in 1969. He and his wife, Sally, have three grown children (Jonathan Schorsch, Rebecca Schorsch, and Naomi Stein) and eleven grandchildren (Ada, Livi, and Nathaniel Moses, Emanuel, Michal, Gedalia, Nava, and Jacob Schorsch, and Eve, Emmett, and Ruthie Stein)