As we formed and built a modern Orthodox synagogue, their leadership provided us with an appreciation of classical Jewish learning and of the best of modern Jewish scholarship through many divrei Torah and shiurim. Their generosity of spirit was also manifest in the extensive halakhic guidance they gave the congregation in response to questions and issues that came before them as members of the Board of Halakhic Advisors. Moreover, their openness and friendship made all of us the beneficiaries of their counsel in setting and reinforcing our own patterns of Jewish living.
Professor Alexander Altmann (z"l) was perhaps the most distinguished of Shaarei Tefillah's founding members. Professor Altmann studied in Berlin, where he served as rabbi during the dark days of the 1930's. He escaped with his family to England and was appointed Communal Rabbi of Manchester. There he founded the Institute for Jewish Studies (which later moved to London). In 1959 he came to Boston as professor of philosophy at Brandeis University, and director of its Lown Institute of Advanced Judaic Studies, a post he held until his retirement. Professor Altmann and his wife Judith were a beloved part of Shaarei Tefillah from its inception. Professor Altmann favored us with many lectures, divrei Torah, and moving reminiscences of life in Berlin during the Nazi era. He also did not shrink from attending shul meetings and lending his opinion to the discussions which shaped our shul community. His influence endures, and our library is named in his memory. None of us who were honored to know Professor Altmann will ever forget him.
Professor Marvin Fox (z"l) was the Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Brandeis University. He was formerly Professor of Philosophy at Ohio State University, Columbus, where he and his wife, Dr. June Trachtenberg Fox, resided for twenty-five years, and where they were founders of Congregation Ahavat Shalom. A native of Chicago, Professor Fox received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago and his semikhah from the Chicago Theological College. His long-awaited book, Interpreting Maimonides, the summation of his work on the leading Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, was recently published to critical acclaim. Professor Fox passed away in February of 1996. In order to honor his memory, Congregation Shaarei Tefillah recently dedicated its sanctuary in his name.
Professor Nahum Sarna, the former Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University, is a native of London, England, as is his wife, Helen, who has retired from the library of Hebrew College, Brookline. He received his ordination at Jews' College, London, and his Ph.D. from Dropsie College, now the Annenberg Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was recently appointed the first Fellow of the Center for Jewish Studies. He was also a visiting professor at Yale University. The editor of the Bible commentary of the Jewish Publication Society of America, as well as the author of commentaries on Genesis and Exodus, Professor Sarna recently published Songs of the Heart, a study of the Psalms, which he regards as his favorite biblical book. Prof. Sarna and his wife now reside in Boca Raton, FL.
Professor Louis Dickstein received smikhah from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva in New York and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. He was a professor of psychology at Wellesley College from 1969 until his retirement in 1992. Since his retirement, Prof. Dickstein has been engaged in research in Jewish Studies with a special emphasis on methods of Talmudic analysis and interpretation in the early period of the Volozhin yeshiva (the first several decades of the 19th century). Of special importance to the congregation was the weekly Talmud class for women which Professor Dickstein taught in his home for five years.