Ben Zion Bokser
Encyclopedia
Biography
Bokser was born in Lubomi, Poland, and emigrated to the United States at the age of 13 in 1920. He attended City College of New York (BA, 1928) and Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary, followed by the Jewish Theological Seminary of AmericaJewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
(ordained, 1931) and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(PhD, 1935). He taught for many years as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Queens College, City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
.
His first pulpit was Congregation Beth Israel in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. He served as the rabbi of Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens, New York starting in 1933 and remained in that position for the balance of his career, more than fifty years. He served a two year period as a United States Army chaplain during World War Two, stationed at Camp Miles Standish in Massachusetts.
During WWII, he organized aid for Jewish soldiers.
Bokser was an advocate of social justice, taking a position in favor of the construction of a housing project for the poor in the middle class community of Forest Hills. During this episode, called the Forest Hills housing controversy 1966-1972, he was in constant contact with many leading politicians and building developers.
He fought against the death penalty in NY state.
He served as a program editor for the "Eternal Light," the Jewish Theological Seminary's radio program; a lecturer on homiletics; and a participant in the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion and the Institute for Religious and Social Studies, both Seminary-run programs.
Bokser heard Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...
speak in New York in 1924 and became an avid student and great proponent of his teachings.
He served as chair of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. Within the movement it is known as the CJLS...
of the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
from 1959-1960, 1963-1965, and 1980-1984.
Bokser and his wife had two children. His son was the scholar of Rabbinic Judaism, Baruch Bokser. His daughter Miriam wrote "The Holy Name" on the universal aspects of Jewish mysticism and similarities with the mysticism of other religions.
Thought
He stressed the Rabbinic sages and the Talmud as the source of Judaism. "This is not an uncommon impression and one finds it sometimes among Jews as well as Christians - that Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew Bible. It is, of course, a fallacious impression. . . Judaism is not the religion of the Bible" (Judaism and the Christian Predicament, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967, p. 59).Similar to Heschel, Bokser affirms revelation and even the special status of Sinai, but revelation is always framed in humans by man. "Man receives a divine communication when the divine spirit rests on him, but man must give form to that communication; He must express it in words, in images and in symbols which will make his message intelligible to other men. Out of this need to give form to the truth that is revealed to him, the prophet places the stamp of his own individuality upon that truth."
Bokser argued that Christian antisemitism had desensitized Germans to the heinous character of Nazi propaganda. However, in the post-war period Christian religious and lay leaders have insisted that Christians must play a role in correcting the problems of the social order. (Judaism and the Christian Predicament)
Active in interfaith, Bokser composed the following prayer in the style of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.
God's Prayer
Every day
When prayers rise
In synagogue, church and mosque
God prays for His world.
May it be the will of My children
To accept My gift of life,
And allow me to lead them
Toward the light.
Legal Decisions
Rabbi Bokser was active in the Rabbinical Assembly of America, and was a member of its Committee on Jewish Law and StandardsCommittee on Jewish Law and Standards
The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. Within the movement it is known as the CJLS...
. He served as chair of the committee from 1959-1960, 1963-1965, and 1980-1984.
He is most famous for writing the minority report 1951 responsa against driving to synagogue on the Sabbath.
In the same year he permitted a Cohen to marry a divorcee
His responsa against capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
is cited often.
See Religion and capital punishment
Religion and capital punishment
Most major world religions take an ambiguous position on the morality of capital punishment. Religions are often based on a body of teachings and the standards of present-day Western civilization, and the Old Testament, as well as the Qur'an, contains many cases of criminals being executed...
In 1981, he advocated holding bat mitzvah ceremonies for girls on Sabbath morning in the main sanctuary. His synagogue was still traditional to the point that he received a public outcry in the local press and letters to him.
In 1983, he permitted holding funerals in a synagogue.
Works
Pharisaic Judaism in Transition (1935),The Legacy of Maimonides (1950),
The Wisdom of the Talmud (1951),
Selihot Service; United Synagogue of America; 1964
Judaism and the Christian Predicament
Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel (1973),
Abraham Isaac Cook: The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness: The Moral Principles, Essays, Letters and Poems, translation and introduction by Ben Zion Bokser, from the Classics of Western Spirituality., Paulist Press, Inc., New York / Mahwah, N.J.
The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook (Paperback) Ben Yehudah Press (reprint), 2006 ISBN 0-9769862-3-X