Albert Vorspan

Albert Vorspan (born February 12, 1924 in Saint Paul, Minnesota) is an American author and long-time leader of Reform Judaism. He is director emeritus of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism.^[1] and served as senior vice president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the predecessor organization of the Union of Reform Judaism, at the time of his retirement in 1993.^[2]

In 1966, his criticism of the war in Vietnam was condemned by Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, as reflecting "a vociferous minority" rather than mainstream Jewish opinion.^[3]

In 1988, at the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada, he criticized Israeli government policy.^[4] In a series of diary entries published in the New York Times Magazine,^[5] he wrote, "Whether we accept it or not, every night's television news confirms it: Israelis now seem the oppressors, Palestinians the victims."

In response, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, accused him of "too much public posturing and too little private discourse." ^[6]

Family

Several of Vorspan's family members are also active in the Jewish community. His brother, Max Vorspan, who died in June 2002, was an American rabbi, professor, historian, and administrator at the American Jewish University, and leader in the Los Angeles Jewish community.

Books

• Albert Vorspan and David Saperstein. Jewish dimensions of social justice : tough moral choices of our time New York, NY.: UAHC Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8074-0650-3.

References