BROOKLYN, NY — Rabbi David B. Hollander, a longtime orator who worked tirelessly to defend Jewish faith and practice, passed away at the age of 96 last month, having never retired from the pulpit. Over the course of his career, he served as a president of the Rabbinical Council of America and an executive committee member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis.
Rabbi David B. Hollander, Defender of Jewish Faith and Practice, Passes Away
BROOKLYN, NY — Rabbi David B. Hollander, a longtime orator who worked tirelessly to defend Jewish faith and practice, passed away at the age of 96 last month, having never retired from the pulpit. Over the course of his career, he served as a president of the Rabbinical Council of America and an executive committee member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis.
Born in Hungary to Rabbi Yonasan Binyamin and Rachel Hollander in 1913, the young Hollander came to New York at the age of 13 after his father took up a position in the city as a pulpit rabbi. He studied in the Torah Vadaath and Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan religious institutions, but also attended Brooklyn Law School while continuing his rabbinical studies.
In 1942, Hollander followed his father into the rabbinate, receiving his ordination a short time before accepting a position at one of the largest congregations at the time: the Mount Eden Jewish Center in the Bronx. It was said that under his leadership, all of the 700 seats in the synagogue’s main sanctuary were full five minutes after the beginning of the 9 a.m. Saturday morning service; by 9:30, the doors had to be closed.
“He was a typical English-speaking maggid,” said Rabbi Fabian Schoenfeld, the rabbi of Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills and a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, using an old-world term reserved for inspirational orators, “an outstanding lecturer.”
In 1946, he married his wife Fay, who was a full partner in his life’s work.
Ira Nosenchuk, who attended many of Hollander’s addresses over the course of 30 years, said that the rabbi’s talks were unique: “He was able to understand current events … and link them to that week’s Torah reading and our everyday life.”
Hollander remained at the Mount Eden Jewish Center until its closing in 1980 due to the migration of Jews to other areas of the city. His next pulpit, which he held until his passing, was at the Hebrew Alliance Congregation in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.
