Rabbi Joel E. Rembaum | Ostrow Library incorporating The Los Angeles Jewish Community Library | American Jewish University
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library@aju.edu

310-440-1238

Rabbi Joel E. Rembaum

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Joel E. Rembaum

Lecturer in History

jrembaum@tbala.org

Phone: 310 201 4727

Education

 UCLA, B.A., English, 1964
Jewish Theological Seminary, MHL, 1968
Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbinic Ordination, 1970
UCLA, M.A., History, 1973
UCLA, Ph.D., History, 1975

Biography

Rabbi Emeritus, from 1985-2010, Rabbi Joel E. Rembaum served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, CA. From 1970 to 1985 Rabbi Rembaum served on the faculty and administration of American Jewish University, advancing to the positions of Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish History. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at U.C.L.A. and U.C. Irvine. From 1994-1997 he taught for the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and from 2001 to the present he has served on the faculty of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. He has received a number of graduate and research fellowships and participated in the Melton Research Institute Seminar in Jewish History. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Jewish Studies and has presented papers to that and other learned societies. Rabbi Rembaum has published a variety of articles in the field of Jewish history and has lectured widely throughout the United States.

Publications

“The Influence of Sefer Nestor Hakomer on Medieval Jewish Polemics,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 45 (1978), pp. 155-185.

“A Reevaluation of a Medieval Polemical Manuscript,” AJS Review, Vol. 5 (1980), pp.81-99.

“The Development of a Jewish Exegetical Tradition Regarding Isaiah 53,”
The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 75, No. 3 (July, 1982), pp. 289-311.

“The Jews, the Bible and the Talmud: A Problem in Christian Tradition,” University Papers, A. Hoffnung, ed., (University of Judaism, 1982 – now American Jewish University).

“The Talmud and the Popes: Reflections on the Talmud Trials of the 1240s,” Viator,
Vol. 13 (1982), pp. 203-23.

“Medieval Jewish Criticism of the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin,” AJS Review, Vols. 7-8 (1982-83), 353-82.

“Medieval Christianity Confronts Talmudic Judaism,” Judaism, Vol. 34, No.3 (Summer, 1985), pp. 373-84 (review essay).

“Reflections of a Jewish Historian,” in N. Cardin and D. Silverman, eds., The Seminary at 100 (Rabbinical Assembly and Jewish Theological Seminary, 1987), pp. 223-9.

“Interpretation of Scripture in Judah Halevi’s The Kozari: A Study in Theological Exegesis,” in A. Karp, L. Jacobs and C. Dimitrovsky, eds., Three Score and Ten: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Seymour J. Cohen (KTAV, 1991), 151-64.

“Converts Mourning the Death of Close Relatives,” (adopted by the CJLS, June 10, 1998) in Kassel Abelson and David J. Fine, eds., Responsa 1991-2000, The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement (Rabbinical Assembly, 2002), pp. 431-8.

“Regarding the Inclusion of the Names of the Matriarchs in the First Blessing of the Amidah,” (adopted by the CJLS, March 3, 1990) in David J. Fine, ed., Responsa 1980-1990, The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement (Rabbinical Assembly, 2005), pp. 43-8.

“God in Medieval Jewish Philosophy,” in B. Artson and D. Silver, eds., Walking With God (Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, American Jewish University, 2007), pp. 59-69.