Israel Goldstein

Israel Goldstein was born in 1896 in Philadelphia

Israel Goldstein was born in Philadelphia in 1896 to David and Fannie Goldstein. He finished South Philadelphia High School in 1911 and in the same year completed a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters at Gratz College.

He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1914 and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1917. The Jewish Theological Seminary ordained him in 1918 and gave him a Doctorate of Hebrew Letters in 1927.

From 1918 to 1960 he was the rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York. He headed the New York Board of Rabbis, the Jewish National Fund of America, the Zionist Organization of America and the American Jewish Congress. He took part in founding Brandeis University and was a consultant to the U.S. delegation at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945.

In 1948 he spent about a year in Israel as treasurer of the Jewish Agency and worked to set up the Yesodot youth villages. He returned to the United States in August 1949 after disagreements with David Ben-Gurion over the pace of mass immigration.

He immigrated to Israel in 1960, settled in Jerusalem and encouraged immigration through speeches and writing. He chaired Keren Hayesod from 1961 to 1971 and died in Jerusalem in 1986.