Rabbi Steven Saltzman dies after battle with cancer

Rabbi Steven Saltzman

TORONTO — Rabbi Steven Saltzman, who served Adath Israel Congregation as senior rabbi for 25 years, died Sept. 15 after a battle with cancer. He was 65.

A native of Denver who grew up in New York, Rabbi Saltzman was remembered as a traditionalist and a brilliant scholar who was well liked by his congregation.

“He was a man of brilliant intellect with two PhDs,” said Randall Starr, president of the congregation. “He was universally regarded as a great scholar and orator.

“His sermons were second to none, and he was a great teacher.”

Rabbi Saltzman was a man of many interests. A cello player, a black belt in karate and a former student in subatomic physics, he was also one of the foremost experts on the Jewish law pertaining to gets, or divorce. He served as the Canadian Rabbinical Assembly’s mesader gitin, head of the divorce court.

“He still had five gets on his desk waiting for finalization,” said Starr. “He worked right to the end.”

Rabbi Saltzman “maintained a traditional Conservative philosophy,” said Bernie Rabinovitch, executive director of Adath Israel.

In practical terms, that meant non-egalitarian services and traditional prayers that resembled those found in an Orthodox shul, although the synagogue permits mixed seating.

Mixed-marriage couples are welcomed to pray and study at the synagogue, but could not become members.

In a 2009 interview in The CJN, Rabbi Saltzman described the synagogue as offering “an authentic, traditional experience of Judaism within the context of an open-minded approach to philosophical and theological issues.”

In 2008, Adath Israel was one of three Toronto shuls to secede from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and affiliate with the Canadian Council of Conservative Synagogues.

Rabbi Saltzman called his tenure at the synagogue one of “a daily commitment to a congregation and to the people of this congregation, helping them when they have issues of life rituals, counseling, but, for the most part, teaching.”

Rabbi Saltzman held a doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a doctorate in Jewish law and Talmud. He was a fellow at both the Shalom Hartman Institute and Harvard Divinity School.

For more than 20 years, Rabbi Saltzman was a member of the High Court of Justice of the Rabbinical Assembly and author of several important responsa.

He won the Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical Scholarship for his book, A Small Glimmer of Light: Reflections on the Book of Genesis. He is also the author of The Sanctity of Life in Jewish Law: A Study of Suicide, Martyrdom and Euthanasia and a book on Jewish theology.

Rabbi Saltzman was diagnosed with lymphoma in February and his health seemed to be improving. He took a turn for the worse 10 days ago, said Starr,

Knowing Rabbi Saltzman would not be strong enough to daven during the High Holidays, the synagogue asked its rabbi emeritus, Erwin Schild, to deliver the sermons while retired cantor Eliezer Kirshblum will assume the rabbi’s role in keeping services moving, said Rabinovitch.

“Rabbi Saltzman was a man deeply admired and respected by his congregation, who are in a state of shock with the announcement.

“He will leave a deep void in the life of the shul,” Starr said.