Joachim Prinz Rebellious Rabbi An Autobiography The German & Early American Years

Joachim Prinz (1902-1988) was one of the most extraordinary and innovative figures in modern Jewish history. Never one for conformity, Prinz developed and modeled a new rabbinical role that set him apart from his colleagues in Weimar Germany. Provocative, strikingly informal and determinedly anti-establishment, he repeatedly stirred up controversy. During the Hitler years, Prinz strove to preserve the self-respect and dignity of a Jewish community that was vilified on a daily basis by Nazi propaganda. After immigrating to the United States in 1937, he soon became a prominent rabbi in New Jersey, drawing thousands to his unpredictable sermons. Prinz's autobiography, superbly introduced and annotated by Michael A. Meyer, offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and personality of this unconventional and influential rabbi.

"This is a work that should be in every large pubic, seminary, synagogue, and university collection." --Morton J. Merowitz, Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, septermber/october 2008 Indiana University Press

"Prinz's autobiography... enriches our understanding of the desperate but not yet hopeless life of German Jews in the German 1930s." --Forward Indiana University Press

"A lucid and insightful introduction to the life of an influential and dynamic public figure. Recommended for libraries with Jewish studies collections." --Library Journal

"The recently published Joachim Prinz, Rebellious Rabbi, edited and superby introduced by noted historian Michael A. Meyer, is a remarkable historical document with literary merit.... Written by a successful, confident senior rabbi in his "anecdotage", it illuminates the public life and private world of a leading Jewish figure of the twentieth century with refreshing clarity and honesty." --H-Net Reviews, October 2009

"Fascinating reading... a rare case where a public figure opens the doors widely to his private life... truly unique for the light it throws on the atmosphere among Jews in pre--Nazi and Nazi Germany." --Michael Brenner, author of After the Holocaust: Rebuilding Jewish Lives in Postwar Germany

"[This] well-written and absorbing autobiography surpasses many scholarly monographs in providing an insightful portrayal of Jewish life in Germany between World War I and the early years of Nazi rule." --American Jewish Archives Journal, Vol. LXI, no. 1 (2009)

"Students of the German Jewish experience, the Holocaust, and American Jewish history, as well as rabbis and rabbinic students will all find Joachim Prinz, Rebellious Rabbi engaging and worthy of their consideration for many different reasons." --H-Net Reviews H-Judaic, October 2009 Indiana University Press

"Rabbi Dr. Joachim Prinz was a gifted raconteur, confident though not confessional, positive though not triumphant, engaging but serious... This is the first book on the life and career of Joachim Prinz. It is a great read." --Menorah Review

Michael A. Meyer is Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio, and international president of the Leo Baeck Institute, devoted to the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. He is author of Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism and co-editor (with Michael Brenner) of the four-volume German-Jewish History in Modern Times. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.