Sholom Klass

Rabbi Sholom Klass (1916–2000) was the co-founder, publisher and editor of The Jewish Press, a large Jewish circulation newspaper. He also authored Tales from our Gaonim[1] and the halachic work Responsa of Modern Judaism (3 volumes). Rabbi Klass received smicha (rabbinical ordination) from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas.[2] Prior to starting The Jewish Press, he was a co-publisher of The Brooklyn Daily[3] (now defunct).

Causes

He used The Jewish Press to support both what should seem obvious (Torah, Israel, Jewish civil rights)[4] and a range of causes that were not getting much publicity, from the Iggud Harabbonim (Rabbinical Alliance of America)[5] to matters dealing with honoring the power of Beis Din.

Legacy

His daughter's "Dear Dad",[6] written for his ninth yahrtzeit, contains examples of one of Rabbi Klass' major accomplishments: the popularization of the use of a dash in writing G-d's name, in English, as the normative form by Orthodox Jews.

He and Rabbi Meir Kahane, whom he hired, broke this barrier, the latter also expanding upon this in the books he authored.

Although Rabbi Klass turned over his halachic Questions & Answers column to his nephew Rabbi Yaakov Klass well before his death, one way in which the column affected worldwide Jewry was as the inspiration of the acronym AYLOR - Ask Your Local Orthodox Rabbi. [7][8] Some have attempted to change AYLOR by having "O" stand for "Ordained.".[9]

Rabbi Klass' point was that information in his column was meant to educate, not to provide an absolute ruling.

Family

At the time of his passing, he was survived by[10]

  • his wife, Irene
  • three brothers, Sol, Albert (Anshel,[11] who subsequently lived to 105),[12] and Lionel (Leibel);
  • a sister, Rita Rosenthal[13]
  • two daughters, Naomi Mauer and Hindy Greenwald; and
  • several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Other family[14] members included:[11]

  • his sister, Gertrude Siller
  • sister-in-law/Albert's wife Hilda

References
  1. http://lccn.loc.gov/67006223, LCCN 67006223, 1967, parts of which were serialized and reprinted in The Jewish Press
  2. The Jewish Week, Jan 21, 2000.
  3. Jews of Brooklyn, by Ilana Abramovitch, Sean Galvin, ISBN 1-58465-003-6, p. 287.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2009-07-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-21. Retrieved 2009-07-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. http://www.jewishpress.com/content.cfm?contentid=37965&sContentid=1
  7. http://forums.torah.org/viewtopic.php?t=24853&start=75&sid=5df2fb594c005133119acbdc70fc5bb5%5B%5D
  8. http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v6/mj_v6i04.html, a British site
  9. http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/A12.html
  10. Steve Lipman (January 21, 2000). "Rabbi Sholom Klass, 83".
  11. Naomi Klass Maurer (January 21, 2011). "Albert (Anshel) Klass Honored on reaching 100 years". The Jewish Press. p. 18.
  12. "Albert Klass, co-founder of NY's Jewish Press, dies at 105". June 21, 2016.
  13. and her husband Harry
  14. predeceasing Klass
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