Isaac Edward Kiev: Early Leader in American Judaica Librarianship

Isaac Edward Kiev (1905–1975), former Chief Librarian of New York’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, spent a lifetime facilitating Jewish research. This article, based on the author’s Master’s thesis on Kiev, focuses on his contributions to the founding of Jewish book and library organizations during the American post-war era, including the Association of Jewish Libraries, Jewish Book Council of America, Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc., and numerous Jewish book foundations in the United States and Israel. In addition to providing insight into the creation of these associations, the article illustrates the parallel development of the fields of Judaica librarianship and Jewish Studies in academia. Kiev’s legacy continues into the twenty-first century through his lasting influence on his profession as well as the I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection at the George Washington University. The life of Isaac Edward Kiev met a tragic yet poignant end when he had a heart attack while carrying books from his car up to the library of New York’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).1 Kiev’s entire life was surrounded by books, as a librarian facilitating learning and scholarship, and as a leader in Jewish book and library organizations. In addition to his fifty years at HUC-JIR’s library, Kiev served as chaplain for Jewish patients at the Sea View Hospital in Staten Island (a tuberculosis sanitarium), and later as pulpit rabbi at Congregation Habonim, a synagogue built by German Jewish refugees in 1939. Kiev was by all accounts a private person and did not leave behind a great deal of writings, sermons, or personal records. In fact, most of what is known 137 J U D A I C A L I B R A R I A N S H I P V O L S . 16/17 2011 1 Kiev died on November 3, 1975. about his activities comes from archival records of Jewish book and library organizations. Therefore, this essay is not intended to be a comprehensive biographical review of Kiev’s life, but should serve as a historical mirror reflecting the development and growth of American Judaica librarianship and its professional organizations during the post-war period following World War II. Stephen S. Wise, the Jewish icon of the progressive Reform movement and the founder of the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR), would be a constant presence in Kiev’s life from the beginning of their association in 1924 when Kiev was nineteen years old. Wise believed there was a need for a non-denominational Jewish seminary, particularly in New York City, which had the greatest concentration of Jews in the country. He especially wanted to create an alternative to Hebrew Union College (HUC), the only Reform rabbinical seminary, which was officially non-Zionist and often viewed as hostile to the idea of a Jewish State. The pluralistic spirit of the Institute embodied the concept of Kelal Yisra’el, which had a lasting effect on Kiev. Kiev was accepted by the Institute as a “special student” due to the fact that he had not yet earned the prerequisite bachelor’s degree. In addition to some coursework in history at Columbia University in 1925, his formal education consisted of attending the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, where he studied Hebrew, History, Bible, and Talmud from age nine until age thirteen; subsequently, as a student at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, he was tutored privately in Mishnah, Ethics, Codes, and Talmud by a Rabbi Sohn. From the beginning of their association, it was clear that Wise took a particular interest in Kiev. Wise helped him overcome his shyness and to realize his potential as a powerful orator. More importantly, Wise arranged a job for Kiev as a page in the JIR library so that he could support himself while in school. Although there was no tuition fee at the Institute, Wise also created a special payment structure so Kiev could pay off his indebtedness to the school for dormitory rent. Even as Kiev struggled to support himself through school, his love for books proved to be his weakness. After Wise told Kiev of the reimbursement arrangement, Wise remarked frankly, “Forgive me for saying that the purchase of books might well be deferred until after the payment of one’s indebtedness.”2 Kiev remained at the library as an assistant and Hebrew bibliographer for nearly twenty years before being named Chief Librarian in 1943. During this time, he worked under the preeminent historian, Salo W. Baron, who served as professor of Jewish history and librarian at the Institute until he began his tenure at Columbia University in 1930. Baron and Kiev maintained a close relationship, as evidenced by their friendly, work-related correspondence found in the Salo W. Baron papers at Stanford University. Upon Baron’s departure, Kiev had the opportunity to work with another acclaimed Judaica scholar, Shalom Spiegel, who served as librarian from 1930–1942 and later taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary for forty years until his death in 1984. 138 Amy F. Stempler 2 See the letter Wise to Kiev, October 1, 1926, Kiev Papers, GWU. On a professional and personal level, Wise had perhaps the most profound effect on Kiev’s life aside from his wife Mary Nover Kiev, a fellow librarian and bibliographer whom he met at the Institute. In many ways, Kiev grew with the JIR and came to represent its first and only generation before its merger with Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1950. Until Wise’s death in 1949, Kiev played a significant behind-the-scenes role. Though not yet part of the JIR faculty, Kiev had a wealth of institutional memory. Wise regularly consulted with Kiev on internal administrative issues. Matters ranged from seeking Kiev’s opinion on a planned Braille edition of the Hebrew Bible, to asking him to identify articles in the Yiddish press, and to acting as his liaison for the constant inquiries addressed to him. Though not a prolific author, Kiev published a number of his own works. In 1949, he produced a new English translation of the Passover Haggadah in an edition with beautiful illuminated scenes by the artist Kafra. Along with Professor John Tepfer, he wrote the history of the Institute in honor of its twenty-fifth anniversary, which appeared in the American Jewish Yearbook (Kiev 1948a), as well as a separate piece on its library that was published in the JIR Catalogue (Kiev 1948b). In 1960 Kiev wrote, “Jewish Theological Seminaries and Their Libraries” for Library Trends and the following year he contributed a survey of “Jewish Bibliography in America,” in Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, where he annotated the work of librarians and bibliographers in the field of Judaic Studies. During Kiev’s tenure as associate editor of the Jewish Book Annual (1952–1975), he also wrote the annotated bibliographic report, “American Jewish Non-Fiction Books,” a list that he often introduced with an overview of the past year’s scholarship. Though Kiev was not a librarian-scholar in the league of such figures as Isaac Rivkind, Alexander Marx, or Joshua Bloch, he was recognized as an expert on Judaic and Hebraic literature, possessing encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish sources. Rivkind compared the profession to teaching, where the library served as a one-on-one classroom to students and scholars. He noted that the true vocation of the librarian was in the service of others, a role Kiev was known to perform brilliantly. Herbert Zafren, the late Director of the HUC-JIR Libraries, observed that Kiev was a first-rate reference librarian, and excelled in the capacity of librarian-teacher. The scholars whom Kiev personally assisted reads like a who’s who in Jewish letters, and his facilitation of their research should not go unnoticed. At HUC-JIR’s Cincinnati campus, Kiev assisted Israel Bettan, Professor of Homiletics and Midrash, Ezra Spicehandler, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Literature, and Eisig Silberschlag, an eminent Hebrew scholar who also served as a trustee of the Nissan Touroff Foundation alongside Kiev. At New York’s HUC-JIR campus, Kiev worked closely with Bernard Heller, a Visiting Professor of Jewish Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, Henry Slonimsky, Professor of Ethics and Philosophy and later Dean of the school, and Harry Orlinsky, Professor of Biblical Literature. Kiev worked closely with scholars from neighboring institutions, such as Dina Abramowicz of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Dr. Jean Jofen of the Department of Modern Languages and ComparIsaac Edward Kiev: Early Leader in American Judaica Librarianship 139