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Simon Noveck

NOVECK, SIMON (1914–2005), U.S. rabbi. Born in Atlanta, he earned a B.A. from Yeshiva College and then moved to the Jewish Theological Seminary where he was ordained in 1941. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1955.

He entered the pulpit upon ordination serving Baldwin Jewish center during the early war years (1940–44) and as acting rabbi in Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst during the last part of World War II and rabbi in B'nai Israel in Freeport, Long Island (1946–49). He then assumed the assistant rabbi position at Park Avenue Synagogue under Milton *Steinberg and became rabbi upon his passing in 1950.

Noveck had an active interest in adult education and was director of the National Academy for Adult Jewish Studies (1952–57) that became part of United Synagogue of America. He resigned from Park Avenue to head the Adult Jewish Education Department of B'nai B'rith and initiated the B'nai B'rith Great Books Series (1959–63) which added significantly to the classical texts available in the English language at that time.

Having once succeeded a legendary rabbi in Manhattan, he returned to the pulpit to succeed Morris *Silverman in Hartford, Connecticut. Silverman was the editor of the Conservative Movement Sabbath and Holiday Prayerbook. Noveck helped plan the congregation's move from its imposing sanctuary in Hartford to West Hartford, where it has remained for over a generation.

Among his works are: Judaism and Psychiatry: Two Approaches to the Personal Problems and Needs of Modern Man (1956); Great Jewish Personalities in Modern Times (1960); Great Jewish Thinkers of the Twentieth Century (1963); Contemporary Jewish Thought: A Reader (1963); Creators of the Jewish Experience in Ancient and Medieval Times (1985); Milton Steinberg: Portrait of a Rabbi (1978); and Creators of the Jewish Experience in the Modern World (1985).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

P.S. Nadell, Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (1988).


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.