Moses Mescheloff - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Moses Mescheloff (June 12, 1909 - May 9, 2008) was a renowned American Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

and community leader for 75 years, known especially within circles of American Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

, primarily in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

, and in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

Biography

Mescheloff’s rabbinical career spanned more than 75 years. He grew up and began his career in a period of crisis in American Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

, and continued to lead it through a second major crisis following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and the Holocaust. Ultimately he played a major role in bringing it to the more secure, self-confident, and expanding state it enjoyed by the end of the twentieth century.

Early years

Moshe Mescheloff, the third of four children, was born in New York City in 1909.

His parents were Meier Mischelow and Bessie (Basse Mirel) Kroll . They had married in Minsk

Minsk

- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...

on Monday night, 2 Kislev 5663 (December 1, 1902). Meier was a descendant of scholarly forebears, and had had a yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

education. Meier and Bessie had felt the endemic anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

in Czarist Russia, and joined the mass migration of Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

from Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

at the end of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Some 92,388 Russian Jews immigrated to the US in 1905. In 1906, a year of continued pogroms, Russian Jewish immigration reached 125,234, the highest figure in the entire period of mass immigration. This was out of a total Jewish immigration to the US during that record year of some 153,748, almost all of whom were of East European origin.

Meier and Bessie immigrated to the United States from Minsk

Minsk

, arriving on the SS Smolensk at Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...

on Friday, 24 Elul 5666 (September 14, 1906). Meier was then 27, and Bessie was 28.
They arrived with two small children, Idel (Yehuda/Irving, then 3; 1903–1969) and Marjase (Mae, an infant; 1906–2005). Meier and Bessie had two more children after their arrival in the United States, Moshe (Moses) and Yitzhak (Al; 1912–1960). Thus their family bridged the Jewish cultures of "the old world" of Europe and of "the new world" of America, setting the background for Moshe's rabbinic career.

Meier had operated some small businesses in Minsk

Minsk

, including a Jewish book shop, with Bessie's help. In New York he first found a job at a grocery store, and then became its hardworking owner. Later he owned a delicatessen store. Meier's yeshiva background and love of books inspired the young Moshe with a life-long love of books. Moshe's library grew steadily over the years until it numbered several thousand.

Bessie, too, was a lover of writing. A collection of her fifty poetic discourses in Yiddish was distributed among Rabbi Mescheloff's children in December, 1996. She undoubtedly laid a foundation for his extensive writings. In addition to his doctoral dissertation, several scholarly articles and popular booklets and articles (see below), over the many years of his career Rabbi Mescheloff wrote many thousands of divrei Torah (Torah discourses), for synagogue bulletins and for Jewish life cycle events.

Formal Education

When Mescheloff was born, in 1909, his parents lived in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. Although he was sent to public school through junior high, his parents made sure that he had the finest and most knowledgeable Hebrew teachers they could find, who gave him private "Hebrew lessons" up to the study of the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

. When Mescheloff reached the age of 13, his third teacher, a knowledgeable young man, said that Moshe was ready for entrance to a yeshiva

Yeshiva

.

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

in America, and in New York in particular, was in a deep crisis in the first decades of the twentieth century. Several causes brought great numbers of adults to compromise their religious traditions, not observing Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

or the laws of kashrut

Kashrut

Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...

and mikvah

Mikvah

Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...

strictly, if at all: 1 - widespread ignorance of rabbinic literature and of the meaning of Jewish belief and practice in the modern world, 2 - a desire to be free of the heavy burden of Jewishness as it had been felt "in the old world", 3 - economic and social pressures, 4 - a dearth of qualified rabbis and effective community-wide institutions. The young people were set on being absorbed into American society, with its promises of wealth and freedom, and saw the strictures of Orthodox Jewish observance as impediments to their assimilation. The older generation, the great majority having no secular education and little formal Jewish education, was woefully unprepared to teach the young how to maintain their Jewish traditions in the new world.

Most of the rabbis who had studied in the European Jewish tradition were similarly ill-prepared to deal with the challenges presented by America to Jewish life. The Talmudical Academy of Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University, located in Washington Heights, New York. It is named after Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, who died the year it was founded, 1896...

(RIETS)) was a high school that combined traditional Jewish study with secular studies. It carried the promise of enabling a successful transition of Orthodox Jewish living into America. But it had grown out of a merger of two other institutions only in 1915. From that time it was headed by Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel was an Orthodox rabbi and scholar. He served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940...

, who had arrived in the United States in 1906, like Mescheloff's parents.

Mescheloff was much younger than the other boys. They had come from Europe recently, and were all 16 to 20 years old. Yet the 13-year-old passed a rigorous examination by Rabbi Yehuda Weil, one of the roshei yeshiva at RIETS. Moshe was admitted to the Talmudic Academy of RIETS at the age of thirteen, in 1922. He progressed in his studies from teacher to teacher, through his high school years and beyond, until he reached the class of Rabbi Shlomo Polachek, renowned as the Meischeter (or Meitsheter, or Maichater) Illui

Illui

Illui is a noun derived from the Hebrew and Yiddish, meaning a young Torah and Talmudic prodigy or genius....

.

Mescheloff loved his studies. He was also involved in the student government. He innovated a book store, and continued to thrive in his Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

studies. He was an American boy, now receiving a Yeshiva

Yeshiva

background. He was bi-lingual. Yiddish was his "mama lashon (mother tongue)" and he had no problem learning with his brilliant European teachers. He provided the genuine bridge between the old world and the new world that Rabbi Dr. Revel sought to produce at RIETS.

About this time, Mescheloff took an interest in his ancestral background and the bridge his family was building to America. He wrote an extensive genealogical study, going back several generations - to his great-great-great grandfathers, who had been born in the early 18th century. He included many cousins in various countries, based on interviews with his mother and aunts. Over half a century was to pass before this type of "family roots" study would become popular with junior high and high school students, and adults, in America.

Years later, Mescheloff attested to the major influence Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel

Bernard Revel was an Orthodox rabbi and scholar. He served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940...

had exerted on him.
For many of the ten years that Mescheloff spent as a student at RIETS, Dr. Revel was his teacher, friend, and mentor. To Moshe he was a fatherly figure, who took an interest in every phase of the life of each of his students. He met with their parents. He spoke to each in a concerned, friendly fashion, and he was interested in the students' interests. He sought to encourage and to inspire them.

Revel knew of Mescheloff's interest in books and of his project of researching the book stores and building a student library. Rabbi Dr. Revel chose Mescheloff to be the recipient of the golden medal for "Hasmadah (dedication to learning)", rewarded to the most studious student at the Yeshiva high school. The motto attributed to Mescheloff in his year book was "to learn something new every day". This prize and this motto characterized him throughout his life.

When Revel asked for a small class of distinguished students that he would teach himself, Mescheloff was included, even though he continued to be younger than his classmates.

While Mescheloff studied for semikhah (rabbinic ordination) at RIETS, Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein

Herbert S. Goldstein

Herbert S. Goldstein, , was a prominent American rabbi and Jewish leader.He was the only person in history to have been elected president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Rabbinical Council of America , and the Synagogue Council of America.Globally, he fought for the...

was one of his professors of homiletics. The classes were voluntary, and Moshe attended them religiously every Friday morning. His other homiletics professor was Rabbi Joseph Lookstein

Joseph Lookstein

Joseph Hyman Lookstein was a Russian-born, American rabbi who served as spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and was a leader in Orthodox Judaism, including his service as president of the Rabbinical Council of America and of the...

, one of the great orators of his time. Many years later (see below), Lookstein was the installing officer and guest speaker at Mescheloff's installation in Chicago.

Mescheloff received his semikhah from RIETS in 1932. Among the signatories were Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik

Moshe Soloveichik

Moshe Soloveitchik , was an Orthodox rabbi. He was the second son of renowned rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and grandson of the Beis HaLevi. He married Pesya Feinstein, daughter of the renowned Rabbi of Pruzany, Rabbi Eliyahu Feinstein, and first cousins with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.At the age of 31, he...

and Revel. Soloveichik was Rosh Yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

of RIETS during the 1930s, until his death on Friday, 3 Shevat 5701 (January 31, 1941). Mescheloff was one of thirteen students who received semikhah from Soloveichik in America. Indeed, Mescheloff was the first native-born American to receive semikhah from Soloveichik at RIETS.

At the same time, Mescheloff studied at the City College of New York

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

(CCNY) as a night student. The subways were his "Study Hall". Mescheloff received the B.A. degree in 1932, graduating with high honors (Magna Cum Laude, election to the Phi Beta Kappa Society

Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

. Scholarly excellence and knowledge of a wide range of subjects characterized Mescheloff throughout his life.

It was a tremendous challenge to maintain uncompromising loyalty to halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

and to Torah

Torah

tradition, while injecting them into Jewish life in America. There was a need to translate them into the concepts and the language of contemporary American Jews, and to be open to absorbing the best of American culture into Jewish life. Mescheloff was among the first graduates of RIETS to meet this challenge in the Jewish communities of America, with the appropriate knowledge, commitment, skills and tools .

By this time, Orthodox Jewish life in the United States was undergoing rapid change. The communities were becoming Americanized, as the mass immigration of Orthodox East European Jews had come to an end in 1924. RIETS began to ordain rabbis who were equipped to meet the challenges of life in America. A 1928 request from a congregation asked for "a conservative rabbi, who is well acquainted with the Talmud and Hebraic literature, and also well versed in English, and one who is familiar with all modern topics, who can keep the young people interested." The response from RIETS described its rabbis as "mostly American born, college graduates and fully ordained, ... serving in the capacity of modern Orthodox rabbis. Of course, they deliver lectures in English and take part in all the activities at the synagogue, but they do not deviate from the traditional way of service. If you wish to have a man who was born in America, holding several degrees from colleges, an ordained rabbi who is, or course, well-versed in Hebrew, Talmud, codes and rabbinical literature, and is also an excellent speaker in both English and Yiddish, we shall be glad to recommend you one of our graduates. We wish, however, to emphasize that he is an orthodox rabbi.".

Scranton

Mescheloff's first rabbinical position was at Congregation Machzike Hadas, in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, from 1932 to 1936.

During that period, in 1935, Mescheloff married Magda , the second of the four children of Rabbi Lázár Schönfeld (Shabbat, 9 Av 5640 (July 17, 1880) - Friday, 9 Shevat 5733 (February 1, 1974)), and Sarah (Shari in Hungarian) Schönfeld.

Mescheloff took care to introduce Magda to Revel and to receive his blessing. He saw Revel as his beloved Torah teacher, his role model and a very significant part of his life.

North Adams

After Mescheloff took the position of Rabbi of Congregation House of Israel

Congregation Beth Israel (North Adams, Massachusetts)

Congregation Beth Israel is a Jewish congregation located at 53 Lois Street in North Adams, Massachusetts. The congregation was founded in the early 1890s as House of Israel by Eastern European Jews recently immigrated to the United States...

, North Adams, Massachusetts

North Adams, Massachusetts

North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,708 as of the 2010 census, making it the least populous city in the state...

(1936–1937), the Mescheloff's first of three children was born, a daughter, Renah Rachel .

In 1936 Revel was deeply involved in his efforts to make Yeshiva College a full-fledged University. He needed funding, and contacted the famous Dr. Albert Einstein to lend his support. Revel also spoke to Rabbi Lazar Schönfeld, who spoke both German and Hungarian and was an acquaintance of Einstein. Einstein wrote a letter, in German, to Schönfeld, in which he spoke of the importance of Jewish education, and of the need for a Yeshiva where the ancient Jewish beliefs, wisdom and traditions are taught, in tandem with modern, scientific knowledge, where Jewish youth can learn without harassment and persecution. The letter was an introduction to and re-enforcement of Rabbi Revel's mission.

Upon Schönfeld's death, the Einstein letter was willed to Rabbi and Mrs. Mescheloff. It was kept in its original envelope for many years, in the Mescheloff's safety deposit box. Upon the urging of Magda's brother, Frank Schonfeld, a 1939 graduate of Yeshiva College, the Mescheloff's presented it to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where it is now part of the extensive archive of Albert Einstein papers. A copy also went to The Yeshiva University Archives.

Miami Beach

In 1937, Mescheloff became the rabbi of Beth Jacob Congregation ("the Third Street shul") in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

, after the untimely, sudden passing of the previous rabbi. Beth Jacob was the only synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

in Miami Beach at the time. There were Restrictive covenants in the land deeds of one of South Florida's biggest real estate developers in the 1920s. That is why no Jews lived north of Miami Beach's Fifth Street until the 1940s, when such limitations became unenforceable and, later, illegal.

Mescheloff made a major contribution towards completing the physical design of the synagogue. He designed its nearly 80 stained-glass windows. He designed the bimah - the central platform for the public Torah reading - by carving a model out of a block of soap for the architect.

Mescheloff played a leading role in establishing institutions for the rapid growth of the Jewish community in Miami Beach. He was the organizer and the Rav Hamachshir - the rabbi who certified the kashrut

Kashrut

of food products and institutions - of the Vaad Hakashruth of Miami Beach. He served as President of the Dade County Rabbinical Association, Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America, Vice President of the Florida Rabbinical Association, Chairman of the Jewish National Fund

Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

of South Florida, President of Greater Miami Mizrachi

Mizrachi (Religious Zionism)

The Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...

, Chairman of the Greater Miami Zionist Youth Commission, and Vice President of the Miami Beach Zionist District (ZOA). He led many adult education courses and was responsible for a large Hebrew school.

Most important was the building of a mikvah

Mikvah

Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...

. Mescheloff led in the building of the first mikvah in Miami Beach. Those who questioned the need for a mikvah had to be won over. The mikvah was built during World War II

World War II

at a time when, due to limited supplies of cement, special permits were required for building concrete structures, and such a permit had to be obtained for the mikvah.

In 1939, before World War II

World War II

, the Mescheloff's second child was born, a son, Efrom Zev .

It was also important to establish good relations between the Jewish community and the community at large, to overcome latent anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

. Mescheloff served as Secretary of the Association of Miami Beach Interfaith Clergy. He was featured on the radio for three years in South Florida as a member of a panel of “Men of Good Will”. He spoke regularly on another station promoting the cause of Zionism and the sale of Jewish National Fund

Jewish National Fund

The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

trees.

When Miami Beach was taken over by the military during World War II

World War II

for the training of new recruits, Rabbi Mescheloff became a civilian chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

overnight. He was called for religious services and was flown to the men in the field where he counseled soldiers, and at home he counseled their frightened wives and parents.

It was during this time that Mescheloff became a member of the delegation who sought to save the refugees on the ship, SS St. Louis

SS St. Louis

The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain, Gustav Schröder, tried to find homes for 937 German Jewish refugees after they were denied entry to Cuba. The event was the subject of a 1974 book, Voyage of the Damned, by Gordon Thomas and...

. Denied entry into Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, the ship sought sanctuary in the United States by docking in Miami. The delegation of some of the most prominent rabbis of the U.S. could not convince officials in Miami or Washington DC, that this was a question of life or death. Sadly the ship returned to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

and the fate of the refugees was sealed; very few survived the European Holocaust.

In 1945, after World War II was over, the Mescheloff's youngest son, David Joseph , was born.

Revel had instituted the policy of inviting great European and Palestinian rabbis

Palestinian rabbis

Palestinian rabbis encompasses all rabbis who lived in the region known as Palestine up till modern times, but most significantly refers to the early Jewish sages who dwelled in the ancient Holy Land and compiled the Mishna and its later commentary, the Jerusalem Talmud...

to give guest lectures before the yeshiva students at RIETS. Mescheloff invited many famous European rabbis, who came to Miami beach to lecture and raise funds for their yeshivot, to speak from the pulpit at Beth Jacob. He felt it was important for American Jews to experience that Torah greatness.

During the seventeen years that Mescheloff served in Miami Beach, he performed many hundreds of weddings, and, on the other hand, headed the Beth Din

Beth din

A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...

(Jewish ecclesiastical court) that presided over the writing of Jewish bills of divorce. In Miami Beach he came to know many highly regarded men in a more personal way, as Miami Beach became an increasingly popular winter vacation spot for visitors from the North.

Chicago

In 1954, Mescheloff moved to Chicago

Chicago

, in time to celebrate Hanukkah

Hanukkah

Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...

with his new congregation in West Rogers Park, Chicago

West Ridge, Chicago

West Ridge is one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is a middle class neighborhood located on the far North Side of the City of Chicago. It is located in the 50th Ward...

, Congregation K.I.N.S. (Knesset Israel Nusach Sfard) of West Rogers Park. Rabbi Joseph Lookstein was the installing officer and guest speaker at his installation, on January 9, 1955.

This was a second period of major crisis for American Orthodox Jewish life. Sociologists and social scientists were proclaiming the end of Orthodoxy in America. Its European roots and lifeline had been destroyed in The Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

, and it was thought to be unable to maintain itself in the face of the newfound Jewish freedom and rampant assimilation in America.

Mescheloff worked devotedly on behalf of Torah in his congregation. The synagogue had a very large Hebrew and Sunday School, with many hundreds of students for over twenty years. Moses Mescheloff oversaw the school, encouraging students to continue their education in more intense Jewish educational environments. He officiated at thousands of Bar-Mitzvahs and Bat-Mitzvahs. He also performed thousands of weddings, visited thousands of sick people, comforted the bereaved, and officiated at funerals and memorial services. For twenty-eight years he conducted weekly Talmud classes, organized adult education courses at the synagogue, and was one of the lecturers. The cumulative effect of his life's work was to leave an indelible imprint on the lives of tens of thousands for whom he ministered at crucial turning points in their lives.

Mescheloff also worked tirelessly for the advancement of Torah living in the general Jewish community. He made a major contribution to bringing about the renaissance of the Orthodox Jewish community in America. Through his religious Zionist work he also made a major contribution to the renaissance of Torah true Jewish life in Israel.

Over the years RMescheloff held many positions in Chicago

Chicago

. He served as president of the Chicago Rabbinical Council

Chicago Rabbinical Council

The Chicago Rabbinical Council is the largest regional Orthodox rabbinical organization in America, located in Chicago, Illinois. The cRc is a not-for-profit offering a wide variety of Jewish services including kosher product supervision and kosher certification...

(CRC), president of the Chicago Religious Zionist Council and president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis. He was Chairman of the CRC's Publication Committee. Together with Rabbi Schachnowitz, he was co-chairman of the Joint Vaad Hakashruth of the CRC and the Mercaz Harabbonim. He was a member of Chicago’s Jewish Community Relations Council, the Council for Jewish Elderly and was involved in many public causes. He was featured on the radio in a series of lectures on World literature

World literature

World literature refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, American literature, Arabic literature, Asian literature, Australasian literature, Caribbean Literature, English literature, European literature, Indian literature, Latin American literature, Persian...

and appeared on Chicago television programs presented by the Chicago Board of Rabbis, including several series: "The Jewish Court", "Some of My Best Friends", and "Sanctuary".

Mescheloff was called upon frequently to open Chicago City Council meetings with an invocation. On one of these occasions, on May 13, 1981, the Mayor received word that Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

had been shot. Mescheloff, still in the Council chambers, was called upon to offer prayers for his recovery. His non-sectarian prayer was then re-broadcast throughout that day. He served as an officer or a member of the Board of the Mayor's Advisory Council on Human Relations, the Chicago Commission on Race and Religion, the North Town Community Council, the North Town Inter-faith Fellowship, the Chicago Inter-religious Council for the Homeless, the Mayor's Advisory Council for the Department on Aging, and the North Town/Rogers Park Division for Chicago's Mental Health Association.

Mescheloff was elected by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee and inducted by Mayor Richard M. Daley into Chicago's Senior Hall of Fame, at a full session of the City Council on May 25, 1989. Mescheloff was honored by the city of Chicago on May 1, 2002, when Vice-Mayor Alderman Bernard L. Stone unveiled a street sign in front of the entrance to Congregation K.I.N.S., “Honorary Rabbi Moses Mescheloff Street”. Stone noted that "Not only did he have all the attributes of a rabbi — knowledgeable, articulate — he was an exceptionally kind and gentle man."

Mescheloff was a member of the Rabbinical Council of America

Rabbinical Council of America

The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...

(RCA) from 1935 until his death, for seventy-five years. He contributed annually to the RCA’s Sermon Manual for as long as it was published. Subsequently, he contributed sermons to the RCA’s holiday brochures, as well as scholarly articles for the RCA’s Hadarom (in Hebrew). He also wrote scholarly articles for Oraita (in Israel), and Chadashot (CRC) and has written articles on Judaism and on Jewish life for the Chicago Sentinel, Hadassah

Hadassah

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with around...

Women and AMIT

AMIT

AMIT is an American Jewish Zionist volunteer organization, dedicated to education in Israel and nurturing Israeli children to become productive, contributing members of society...

Women magazines. The Legal Encyclopedia, “Florida Law on the Family, Marriage and Divorce” includes his chapter, entitled “Procedure in Obtaining a Jewish Divorce”. See a partial list of his publications below.

In 1980 Mescheloff received the degree Doctor of Hebrew Literature from the graduate school of the Hebrew Theological College

Hebrew Theological College

The Hebrew Theological College, known as "Skokie Yeshiva," is a Yeshiva in Skokie, Illinois which also functions as a private university on campus. The primary focus of the Yeshiva is to teach Torah and Jewish traditions...

of Skokie, Illinois

Skokie, Illinois

Skokie is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Its name comes from a Native American word for "fire". A Chicago suburb, for many years Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Its population, per the 2000 census, was 63,348...

, Summa Cum Laude. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of American Jews, Who's Who in World Jewry and Who's Who in World Zionism.

After ten years, the congregation signed a life contract with Mescheloff. From 1982 he served as Rabbi Emeritus. Mescheloff worked in close cooperation and mutual respect and admiration with the two rabbis who followed him, in succession, as spiritual leaders of the congregation. They sat together at the front of the congregation during services. Rabbi Dr. Leonard Matanky has continued to lead the congregation as the central religious zionist synagogue in the Midwest, continuing the tradition of deep involvement in Jewish education and other Jewish and civic activities. When each new rabbi was away, Mescheloff would deliver sermons and teach Torah classes in his absence.

Mescheloff's communal work continued apace well into his mid-nineties. He could be seen walking to the synagogue daily at a pace that tired young men who might accompany him, sitting in the Beit Midrash, attending lectures in halakha

Halakha

by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz

Gedalia Dov Schwartz

Gedalia Dov Schwartz Gedalia Dov Schwartz Gedalia Dov Schwartz (born 24 January 1925 is an eminent Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek (halakhic authority) living in Chicago, Illinois...

, the head of the Bet Din of the RCA and the CRC, listening intently to Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

lessons over the internet, and preparing Torah messages. Mescheloff made himself available to others for discussing Torah, academic and Jewish community issues of all types.

A few months before Mescheloff's ninety-ninth birthday, he took ill, and died, in Chicago, on Friday, 4 Iyyar 5768 (May 9, 2008)). He was interred in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Fairview, New Jersey

Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey

Fairview is a borough located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 13,835....

, near his in-laws, Rabbi Dr. and Mrs. Schonfeld. He was survived by his wife of seventy-three years, Magda, their three children, sixteen grandchildren, and nearly sixty great-grandchildren, the great majority of whom are in Israel.

The Mescheloff children followed in their parents' path: Renah (married to Rabbi Alexander Bell), Rabbi Dr. Efrom Mescheloff (married to Felice, née Rosenberg), and Rabbi Dr. David Mescheloff (married to Irene, née Goldschmidt). The two sons are both members of the Rabbinical Council of America, and both immigrated to Israel and established large Othodox Jewish families there.

Mescheloff’s semikhah bears the signature of Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, who was the Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

of RIETS during the 1930s. Mescheloff was one of thirteen rabbis ordained in America by Moshe Soloveitchik. The semicha

Semicha

, also , or is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...

of Mescheloff's older son, Efrom, was signed by Soloveitchik's son, Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik, who followed his father as Rosh Yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

of RIETS. Mescheloff's younger son, David, received his semicha

Semicha

from the Hebrew Theological College

Hebrew Theological College

of Skokie, where a younger son of Soloveitchik's, Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik

Ahron Soloveichik

Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik; was a renowned scholar of Talmud, Halakha and a Rosh Yeshiva; known especially within circles of Orthodox Judaism.-Biography:...

, then the Rosh Yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

, signed his semikhah.

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