Balfour Brickner Papers

The Balfour Brickner Papers were received in separate 2008 donations from Marcia Soltes and the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, New York, N.Y. All papers received before 2010 have been arranged and described in this inventory. Ms. Marcia Soltes and the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, by the act of donating the Balfour Brickner Papers to the American Jewish Archives, assigned the property rights to the American Jewish Archives. All literary rights to material authored by Balfour Brickner are held by the Brickner heirs. Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives. The papers are available to researchers in the reading room of the Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

Balfour Brickner was born on November 18, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Rebecca and Rabbi Barnett Brickner. Barnett Brickner (1892-1958) was himself a prominent figure in Reform Judaism and served for many years as the rabbi of Cleveland's Congregation Anshe Chesed (then known as the Euclid Avenue Temple). Rebecca Brickner (1894-1988) was a close associate of Henrietta Szold, and, like her husband, an active Zionist, as well as a leading Jewish educator.

Balfour Brickner attended the University School of Cleveland, and, after service in the United States Navy, enrolled in the University of Cincinnati, from which he graduated with a B.A. in philosophy in 1948. In 1952, he followed his father into the Reform rabbinate, receiving his ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.

Upon graduation, Brickner became founding rabbi of Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C. After serving as a congregational rabbi for nine years, he left the pulpit to join the national staff of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) in 1961. As co-director of the UAHC's National Commission on Social Action, and initiator and director of its Department of Interreligious Affairs, Brickner emerged as a leading voice for political and social liberalism within the Reform movement. He carried out numerous dialogues with representatives of the Roman Catholic church as well as with various Protestant denominations, while monitoring the activities of cults and missionaries. As part of his work with the UAHC, Brickner produced and hosted an award winning weekly national radio program, "Adventures in Judaism" (also issued as a tape series), compiled and published A Guide for Conducting Interreligious Institutes, and organized a number of study tours and conferences in Israel for Christian scholars and lay people.

In 1980, Brickner returned to congregational work as Senior Rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City. There he continued in the tradition set by Rabbi Wise (who had been a friend of Brickner's father) of engagement with community affairs outside the synagogue. He served the Free Synagogue as Senior Rabbi until 1991 when he became Senior Rabbi Emeritus.

An active participant in the civil rights and peace movements, Brickner traveled throughout the South between 1961 and 1964. In a number of places, including Birmingham, Alabama and St. Augustine, Florida, he "enjoyed the hospitality of those cities' finest jails," as he later put it. Retaining a strong interest in civil rights in later years, Brickner played an especially important role in efforts to maintain good relations between the African-American and Jewish communities in New York. In late 1983 he helped establish the Black-Jewish Coalition of New York City, a leadership group formed to further rapprochement between the communities during a time of particular tension. Under the administration of Mayor David Dinkins, Brickner served as a member of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Internationally he supported calls for ending apartheid in South Africa.

Brickner advocated equal rights for women, both within Judaism and society at large. He was especially active in the abortion and reproductive rights movement, occupying leadership positions in Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights League, Religious Leaders for Free Choice, and the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. He was also a supporter of gay rights, serving as honorary director of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

A vocal opponent of American involvement in the Vietnam war, Brickner went to Saigon in 1970 as part of a fact finding mission at the invitation of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He was also a founder and executive board member of Clergy and Laity Concerned. His anti-war activities continued, particularly in the movement to restrain American intervention in Central America. In 1984, Brickner traveled to Nicaragua on the "Peace Ship" as a representative of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, as well as making a trip with the organization Witness for Peace to mobilize American public opinion and encourage a peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Raised in a Zionist home, Brickner retained an interest in Israel and Middle eastern affairs. In 1952 he toured Israel, Europe and North Africa on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal. He continued to support Israel, but often spoke out against Israeli government policies he considered wrong. He advocated for Arab and Palestinian rights, opposed military excursions into Lebanon and air strikes against Iraq, and called for an end to officially enforced Orthodox domination of Israeli Jewish religious life. He was vice president of the American-Israeli Civil Liberties Coalition.

Brickner was the author of a number of books and pamphlets, including Searching the Prophets for Values (with Albert Vorspan, 1981); As Driven Sands (on Arab refugees, 1948-1969); An Interreligious Guide to Passover and Easter (a publication of the Department of Interreligious Affairs, UAHC, 1968); Keeping Mercy for Thousands (on amnesty, 1973); and Jesus Christ Superstar (a study guide on the movie). He also published numerous articles in Jewish, Christian and general periodicals, among them Sh'ma, Jewish Spectator, Reform Judaism, Worldview and Commentary. Brickner taught at Union Theological Seminary, Fordham University and American University. He received honorary degrees from Simpson College, Tougaloo College, and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Brickner was married twice. With his first wife, Barbara, he had three children: Elisa (1956-1973), Barnett (b. 1959), and Adam (b. 1962). Both Barnett Brickner and his wife, Nina Mizrahi, became Reform rabbis. Balfour Brickner's second wife was Doris Gottlieb.

Balfour Brickner died on August 26, 2005. At the time of his death he was praised for his lifelong work for the rights and welfare of all persons. A Presbyterian minister eulogized him by saying, "Balfour loved the world, not just his own people. And he wanted for Palestinians, women, minorities, gays and lesbians, the poor, and all people the same freedoms and blessing he wanted for his own family and congregation."

(This note was taken almost verbatim from the biographical sketch written by Daniel Soyer and Yeardley Leonard that appeared in the finding prepared for the Balfour Brickner papers located at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, "Papers of Balfour Brickner, Collection II, ca. 1950-1997)."

The papers of Balfour Brickner contain handwritten notes (from sermons and talks), transcribed sermons, and talks, publications, published articles, drafts, essays, correspondence, memos, reports, clippings, circulars and other material documenting Brickner's interests in a range of religious, social, humanitarian, and political issues, together with his involvement and efforts on behalf of numerous movements and organizations. The span dates of the collection are from 1950 to 2005, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1970 to 2000.

The papers were received from two sources: the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, where Brickner served as senior rabbi for over ten years, and from Ms. Marcia Soltes, Brickner's companion in the latter years of his life. The SWFS material consists of Brickner's files which were kept in his office at the synagogue and were processed there for inclusion in the SWFS archives. In 2008, the SWFS archives transferred Brickner's papers – where the material had been arranged and described by Daniel Soyer and Yeardley Leonard – to the American Jewish Archives. This material is contained in Series A. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue Materials, and is listed here in the same order as arranged by the processing archivists at SWFS. Much of this finding aid -- from the provenance, scope and content, biographical sketch, and box and folder listings -- are taken almost verbatim from Soyer and Yeardley's work. Series B. Personal Files, consists mostly of material received by the AJA from Ms. Soltes and which were kept by Rabbi Brickner in his personal files at his home.

Series A. is divided into three subseries. Subseries 1. Subjects and Individuals Files, contains alphabetical subject files covering a wide range of subjects, as well as files pertaining to individuals, some with correspondence to and from the individual. The files include handwritten notes (from sermons and talks), transcribed sermons and talks, correspondence, publications, memos, reports, press clippings, circulars, and other material illustrating Brickner's development of a liberal Jewish voice in response to issues in American society, politics and religion. Subjects covered include: abortion and reproductive rights, the American Jewish community, African American-Jewish relations, Christian-Jewish relations, church-state separation, the civil rights movement, Israel, religious fundamentalism and conservative politics, social action, Soviet Jews, Vietnam, and Zionism.

Subseries 2. Organizational Files, contains alphabetical files of handwritten notes (from talks), transcribed talks, correspondence, publications, memos, reports, clippings, circulars, and other material documenting Brickner's involvement in organizations such as Breira, the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, Planned Parenthood, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now Union for Reform Judaism), and Witness for Peace.

Subseries 3. Sermons and Talks, contains transcribed sermons and handwritten sermon speaking notes from high holy day services at SWFS; together with transcribed sermons from Temple Sinai, Washington, D.C.; as well as speaking notes and transcribed talks of a general nature, including an address given at his son's ordination at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and talks given to Christian audiences.

Series B. Personal Files, consists primarily of material donated by Marcia Soltes, Brickner's long-time companion. These materials were part of Brickner's personal files that were held at his home. Series B. is divided into two subseries. Subseries 1. Sermons and Writings, contains additional writings of Brickner, some of which are duplicated in Series A. 

Subseries 2. Correspondence and Miscellaneous, contains files on Brickner's advocacy for abortion and reproductive rights, peace movements, and interfaith relations. Of particular interest in this subseries are the files pertaining to Brickner's 1976 Congressional testimony on reproductive rights as well as the files on Brickner's 1970 visit to Saigon. This subseries also contains a folder of eulogies and tributes given in Brickner's honor at the time of his death.

The records are divided into two (2) series:

• SERIES A. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue Materials.
  • Subseries 1. Subjects and Individuals Files.
  • Subseries 2. Organizational Files.
  • Subseries 3. Sermons and Talks.
• SERIES B. Personal Files.
  • Subseries 1. Sermons and Writings.
  • Subseries 2. Correspondence and Miscellaneous.