Israel Efros

Rabbi, poet, philosopher (1891-1981).  Born Ostrog, Ukraine.   Rabbi of Temple Beth El from 1929-1935, professor of Semitics at the University of Buffalo from 1935-1941.  Efros published volumes of original poems in Hebrew and translated works of  Shakespeare into Hebrew and Bialik into English.  His philosophical works span his career, and he collaborated in compiling a 1929 Hebrew-English dictionary.  Efros served as rector of Tel Aviv University after he moved to Israel in 1955.

The above photo is from approximately 1929, when Rabbi Efros was first installed at his post at Temple Beth El.  Rabbi Efros, who was at that time 38 years of age, had already translated some of the works of Shelley into Hebrew, had written over one hundred Hebrew poems and had written two major philosophical works, The Problem of Space in Jewish Medieval Philosophy (1917) and Philosophical Terms in the Moreh Nebukim (1924).

Rabbi Efros left Temple Beth El in 1935 following a dispute over organ playing during Friday night services.

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