Israel Friedländer

Born in Kovel (today in Ukraine), Israel Friedländer (Friedlaender) was drawn to a German Jewish vision of Judaism that fused traditional commitment and modern thought. Receiving ordination from the modern Orthodox Hildesheimer seminary in Berlin, he turned toward modern academic study of classical Judaism. In 1901, Friedländer completed his doctorate in Strasbourg, where he then served as a lecturer in Semitic languages. In 1903, he left for the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City to become professor of biblical language and exegesis. In 1909 Friedländer became the founding president of the Young Judaea Zionist youth movement and, with Mordecai Kaplan in 1912, cofounder of the group that would become the Young Israel organization. He served in a number of leadership roles in Jewish educational, Zionist, and Jewish communal organizations. In 1920, Friedländer was killed in Ukraine while on a Joint Distribution Committee mission to aid suffering Jewish communities.