TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement Note

Conditions of Access and Use

Related Material

Administrative Information

Search Terms

Box Listing

Series A. Sermons and Writings. 1940-2001.

Series B. Correspondence. 1946-1993.

Series C. Central Conference of American Rabbis. 1970-2001.

Series D. Hebrew Union College Teaching Material. 1938-2008.

Series E. General Files. 1935-2008.

A Finding Aid to the Stanley Dreyfus Papers. 1935-2008. (bulk 1960-2001).

Manuscript Collection No. 819


Introduction

Repository: The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
Creator: Dreyfus, A. Stanley (Alfred Stanley), 1921-2008
Title: Stanley Dreyfus Papers
Dates: 1935-2008
Bulk Dates: 1960-2001
Quantity: 22.4 linear feet (22 record cartons and 1 Hollinger box)
Abstract: Sermons, correspondence, teaching material, and personal papers of Stanley Dreyfus.
Collection Number: MS-819
Language: Collection material in English and Hebrew.

Biographical Sketch

Stanley Dreyfus

Alfred Stanley Dreyfus was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1921. He received a B.A. with high honors in Classics from the University of Cincinnati, and received his Bachelor of Hebrew Letters in 1942, followed by a Master of Hebrew Letters and ordination in 1946 from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Following ordination, he held the Heinsheimer Fellowship at Hebrew Union College, where he taught liturgy and served as Director of the College Reference Department. From 1948 to 1950, he was Counselor to the Interfaith Program, working with graduate Christian clergymen who were studying at Hebrew Union College to become teachers of Hebrew and related subjects in their seminaries. In 1951, he received a Ph.D. in Jewish Theology from Hebrew Union College. He was a Visiting Lecturer in Judaism at the Indiana School of Religion in Bloomington (1951-1956) and lectured on Judaism to medical and nursing students at the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston. HUC-JIR honored Dreyfus with an honorary Doctor of Divinity in 1971.

Dreyfus served as the Director of Rabbinic Placement of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (1980-1991) and taught liturgy and commentaries at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for over four decades.

His long and distinguished career encompassed spiritual leadership as visiting minister of the West London Synagogue in England (summer 1949), and rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and Congregation B'nai Israel in East Liverpool, Ohio (1950-1951), United Hebrew Congregation in Terre Haute, Indiana (1951-1956), with a leave of absence from there (1951-1953) for the Chaplaincy in the U.S. Army, and Temple B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas (1956-1965). He was the rabbi of Union Temple of Brooklyn, New York from 1965 to 1979 and was Rabbi Emeritus until 2008. He served on the Board of Governors of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and the Executive Committee of the New York Board of Rabbis, and was President of the Brooklyn Association of Reform Rabbis and the Texas Assembly of Rabbis. He served on the Catholic-Jewish Relations Committee of the Diocese of Brooklyn-Queens. He was a frequent contributor of articles and reviews to theological and educational periodicals, and editor of Book of Prayers (1948, 1961) for the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and Henry Cohen: Messenger of the Lord to mark the centennial of the birth of the noted Texas rabbi.

Dreyfus was married to Marianne Berlak, the granddaughter of Rabbi Leo Baeck, and they had two sons, Dr. James Dreyfus (Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus) of Homewood, Illinois, and the late Richard Dreyfus (Helen Bagot Dreyfus) of Houston, Texas, and five grandchildren.

A. Stanley Dreyfus passed away on 8 July 2008.

- Adapted from the HUC-JIR News, July 2008. Accessed 31 October 2011.


Scope and Content Note

Sermons, correspondence, teaching material, and personal papers of Stanley Dreyfus from his years as a student through his teaching career at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.


Arrangement Note

This collection is arranged in five (5) series:

  • Series A. Sermons and Writings. 1946-2006.
  • Series B. Correspondence. 1946-1993.
  • Series C. Central Conference of American Rabbis. 1970-2001.
  • Series D. Hebrew Union College Teaching Material. 1938-2008.
  • Series E. General Files. 1935-2008.

Conditions of Access and Use

Terms of Access and Use

This collection is open to all users with the exception of Box 8, Folder 23-26. Access requires the permission of the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives.

Property and Literary Rights

Marianne C. Dreyfus, by the act of donating the Stanley Dreyfus Papers to the American Jewish Archives, assigned all property rights to the American Jewish Archives. Literary rights are retained by the heirs of Stanley Dreyfus. Literary rights may also be retained by specific creators of materials.

Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives. For more information see the American Jewish Archives copyright information webpage.


Related Material

Related Collections

Dreyfus, A. Stanley. Hebrew Cemetery No. 1 of Galveston. March 22, 1965. SC-1677.


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Footnotes and bibliographic references should refer to the Stanley Dreyfus Papers and the American Jewish Archives. A suggestion for at least the first citation is as follows:

[Description], [Date], Box #, Folder #. MS-819. Stanley Dreyfus Papers. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Provenance

The Stanley Dreyfus Papers were received from Marianne C. Dreyfus, New York, N.Y. in November 2010 and May 2011.

Processing Information

Processed by Elisa Ho, September 2011.

This collection was arranged and described according to minimal-processing standards. Funding, in part, for the arrangement and description of this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.


Box Listing

Series A. Sermons and Writings. 1940-2001.
Scope and Content Note: Notes and texts of sermons delivered to various congregations. Includes a nearly complete Weekly Torah Readings.
Arrangement Note: Alphabetical by topic.
Box
1 Sermons and Writings. [34 folders]
Box
2 Sermons and Writings. [46 folders]
Box
3 Sermons and Writings. [61 folders]
Box
4 Sermons and Writings. [23 folders]
Series B. Correspondence. 1946-1993.
Arrangement Note: Chronological order.
Box
4 Correspondence. [16 folders]
Series C. Central Conference of American Rabbis. 1970-2001.
Subseries 1. Liturgy Committee. 1970-2001.
Scope and Content Note: Dreyfus chaired the Liturgy Committee from 1975 to 1979, overseeing the publication of the Reform prayerbooks Gates of Prayer, Gates of the House, Gates of Understanding, and Gates of Repentance.
Box
5 CCAR Liturgy. [23 folders]
Box
6 CCAR Liturgy. [30 folders]
Box
7 CCAR Liturgy. [22 folders]
Subseries 2. Responsa Committee. 1979-1997.
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence, articles, and notes on Halakhah arranged by subject.
Box
7 CCAR Responsa. [4 folders]
Box
8 CCAR Responsa. [22 folders]
Subseries 3. Other Committees. 1984-1991.
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence and research materials from the Committee on Homosexuality, Publications Committee, and Placement Committee. Committee on Homosexuality files (Box 8, Folder 23 to 26) are restricted.
Box
8 Committees. [7 folders]
[Restricted]
Series D. Hebrew Union College Teaching Material. 1938-2008.
Scope and Content Note: Lectures and notes for courses taught by Dreyfus.
Box
9 Hebrew Union College. [33 folders]
Box
10 Rabbinics. Commentaries, Basic Texts. [61 folders]
Box
11 Doctor of Ministry. [52 folders]
Series E. General Files. 1935-2008.
Scope and Content Note: Files arranged by subject including marriage and funeral records performed by Dreyfus.
Box
12 Alphabetical files. A-Cath. [41 folders]
Box
13 Alphabetical files. Cath-Chap. [38 folders]
Box
14 Alphabetical files. Char-Eng. [57 folders]
Box
15 Alphabetical files. Ep-Ge. [32 folders]
Box
16 Alphabetical files. Gl-H. [40 folders]
Box
17 Alphabetical files. I-L. [53 folders]
Box
18 Alphabetical files. M-O. [41 folders]
Box
19 Alphabetical files. P-Ra. [45 folders]
Box
20 Alphabetical files. Ra-Re. [36 folders]
Box
21 Alphabetical files. Ri-UL. [49 folders]
Box
22 Alphabetical files. Un-Wo. [39 folders]
Box
23 Alphabetical files. Wo-Z. [13 folders]

Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the AJA Online Catalog.

Persons and Families

Dreyfus, A. Stanley (Alfred Stanley), 1921-2008

Institutions

Central Conference of American Rabbis
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
Union Temple (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission

Subjects

Jewish law
Judaism -- Relations -- Catholic Church

Occupations

Rabbis