Shulman, Charles E.

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SHULMAN, CHARLES E.

SHULMAN, CHARLES E. (1901–1968), U.S. Reform rabbi. Shulman, born in Berdichev, Russia, was taken to the United States in 1910. He received rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College in 1927. After serving congregations in Wheeling, West Virginia (1927–31), and Glencoe, Illinois (1931–41), Shulman led a Riverdale, New York congregation (1947–68). From 1943 to 1946 he was a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. Shulman was an active Zionist and interested himself in the Urban League and other public causes.

A prolific writer, his books include Problems of the Jews in the Contemporary World (1934), Europe's Conscience in Decline (1939), and What it Means to be a Jew (1960). All are preoccupied with the regression of morality in the 20th century, as evidenced by Nazism and the spread of antisemitism, and by the emphasis in international relations on political expediency rather than considerations of morality.

[Sefton D. Temkin]