Jules Harlow

Template:Short description Template:Sources Template:Use mdy dates Julius Edwin Harlow (June 28, 1931 – February 12, 2024) was an American Conservative rabbi and liturgist.

Birth

Harlow was born in Sioux City, Iowa, to Henry and Lena Harlow (Template:Nee) in 1931.<ref name = Goldman>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

In 1952, Harlow earned a B.A. at Morningside University (then Morningside College) in Sioux City, and from there went to New York City to study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he received his semikhah—his rabbinical ordination—in 1959.<ref name = Goldman/> He then became a staff member of the Rabbinical Assembly (RA), the international organization of rabbis in Conservative Judaism.<ref>The Rabbinical Assembly Template:Webarchive</ref>

Harlow soon began work as a liturgist on the RA's prayerbook committee, working with Rabbi Gershon Hadas on new siddurim (Template:Langx) for use in Conservative congregations. Under the editorship of Hadas, the two printed the Weekday Prayer Book in 1961. Harlow took a greater role by editing and translating the movement's mahzor (the siddur Jews use specifically for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers), which was published in 1972.<ref>Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur:Rabbinical Assembly, a prayer book for the Days of Awe 1978</ref> He soon became the chief liturgist for the Conservative movement,<ref> Jewish Virtual Library, entry on The Rabbinical Assembly drawn from Encyclopaedia Judaica. Accessed February 21, 2024.</ref> and he was the editor of Siddur Sim Shalom in 1985. Siddur Sim Shalom became the prototype for a family of later Conservative siddurim, including Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Yom Tov, Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays, and Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom. His other publishing activities within Conservative Judaism included being a literary editor on the Etz Hayim Humash.<ref>Etz Hayim: A Torah Commentary, Ed. David Lieber, Jules Harlow, Chaim Potok and Harold Kushner, The Jewish Publication Society, NY, 2001.</ref>

Harlow, together with his wife Navah, began collaborating with the Masorti Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2005, focusing on advocating for the Bnei Anusim (Template:Langx)—descendants of Jewish conversos (or crypto-Jews)—within the Iberian Peninsula on related to conversion, cultural identity, religious practice, and community recognition.<ref name="f870">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Rabbi Jules and Navah Harlow report on their recent trip to Lisbon & Madrid Template:Webarchive</ref>

Personal life and death

Harlow and his wife had two children.<ref name = Goldman/> His son, David, is a lawyer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and his daughter, Ilana, is a folklorist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Harlow died from pneumonia on February 12, 2024, at the age of 92.<ref name = Goldman/><ref>Rabbi Jules Harlow, editor of the prayer book used in Conservative synagogues for a quarter century, dies at 92, jta.org. Accessed February 21, 2024.</ref>

External links

• Omaha World-Herald, Andrew J. Nelson 18 September 2008