Shammai Engelmayer Explained

Shammai Engelmayer
Birth Name:	Sheldon David Engelmayer
Birth Date:	26 July 1945
Birth Place:	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation:	Pulpit rabbi, Jewish commentator
Known For:	Jewish law columnist, social advocacy, political commentary
Spouse:	Roslyn Engelmayer Marilyn Henry (deceased)
Children:	3
Website:	Shammai Engelmayer

Sheldon David Engelmayer (Hebrew: שמאי; born July 26, 1945) is a full-time pulpit rabbi at the Temple Israel Community Center, an egalitarian Conservative synagogue in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.^{[1] [2]} He is the author of eight nonfiction books on topics ranging from corporate irresponsibility in the A.H. Robins Company's Dalkon Shield intrauterine device case, to biographies of public figures, including Hubert Humphrey and Martha Mitchell.

History

Media and journalism

In 1967, Engelmayer was a features editor for The Jewish Press, an American weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York.^[3] He then became an associate editor with the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA);^[4] at the age of 25, Engelmayer became the editor.^{[5] [6]} United Features Syndicate (UFS) acquired and absorbed NANA, and from 1972 to 1979, Engelmayer edited under the banner of UFS.^[7]

He became the first editor of Jack Anderson's "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column and was a part of Anderson's winning of the Pulitzer Prize.^{[8] [9]}

His own investigative work writing about the American natural gas shortage in the Seventies won him the Thomas L. Stokes Award for National Reporting, Washington Journalism Center.^{[10] [11]}

In the 1970s and 1980s, Engelmayer was almost a regular on the Barry Farber radio show, with Farber calling him "the big Shamm",^{[9] [12]} referring to his Hebrew name, Shammai, which he began using professionally once he became a pulpit rabbi.^{[13] [9]}

In the early 1980s, Engelmayer replaced David Gross as the executive editor of the New York Jewish Week,^{[14] [9] [15] [16] [17]} a New York-based Jewish issues weekly newspaper. He left in 1991 and took a post as director of communications for the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City,^{[18] [19]} where he also renewed his rabbinical ordination, preparing him for his pulpit position.

He was also briefly the editor of the MetroWest Jewish News from 1996 to 1998.^[20]

In January 2007, Engelmayer established an award-winning column ("Keeping the Faith") for the New Jersey-based weekly newspaper The Jewish Standard, in which he discusses current issues through the prism of Jewish law. He was the editor of The Jewish Standard until he resigned in 2012. He continued his weekly column, but now had time to teach and run his synagogue, which has since merged with three other synagogues that were dwindling in numbers and looking for new leadership.^{[9] [21] [22] [23]}

In 1981, he and his frequent writing partner, Robert Wagman, NANA's Washington, D.C., bureau chief, produced a documentary called The Making of Lion of the Desert,^[24] a film about pre-WWII fascist Italy, starring Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, and Rod Steiger.

Rabbinate

Ordained as an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in 1967,^[25] he chose the field of journalism. In 1992, while working at the Jewish Theological Society he also enrolled in rabbinate courses and recertified his ordination through the Conservative Jewish movement. His first pulpit was the Lake Hopatcong Jewish Center in New Jersey.^[26] He would find a congregation closer to his home, Temple Israel in Cliffside Park, and merged with other neighboring congregations.^[22]

Personal life

Engelmayer was married to Roslyn Engelmayer,^[27] and then to the writer, Marilyn Henry, who died in 2011.^[28] He has three children and lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.^[28]

Awards and recognition

• Rockower Award in 2011 for Commentary/2nd place, The Standard (for an article on President Obama's stance on Israel).^{[29] [30] [31]} It is noteworthy is that back in 1978–79 Engelmayer had held President Jimmy Carter accountable for what he and his co-author Robert Wagman called "broken promises" over wage and price controls, defence spending, and nuclear proliferation.^[32]
• Rockower Award in 2010 - First Place for Editorial Writing,^[33] in 2005 for Commentary/2nd place, American Jewish Press Association, Rockower Award for Commentary/2nd place, AJPA, 2004, Rockower Award for Editorial Writing/1st place, American Jewish Press Association, 1990
• Rockower Award for Editorial Writing/2nd place, AJPA, 1989
• Rockower Award for Editorial Writing/1st place, AJPA, 1988,^[34]
• Thomas L. Stokes Award for National Reporting, Washington Journalism Center, 1975^[35]
• In 1975, he won the Washington Journalism Center's Thomas L. Stokes Award for National Reporting.^[11]
• Media Humanitarian Award, National Association of Justice, 1974

Books

• Martha: The Mouth that Roared^{[36] [37]}
• Lord's Justice^[38]
• HUBERT HUMPHREY The man and His Dream^[39]
• Hostage^[35]
• Tax revolt 1980: A how-to guide^[40]
• Where there's smoke (A Last Resort Mystery Book 1)^[41]
• Common Ground^[26]

External links

• Jewish Standard
• Shammai.org
• Bet Shammai Blog, named for the school of thought of Judaism founded by Shammai, a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, whose arguments were the better ones, but were the least adhered to over his rival, Bet Hillel

Notes and References

1. News: Beck . Leslie Ann . This is a Giving Community . . New England Newspapers Inc. . 9 November 2006.
2. News: Santora . Rev. Alexander . Faith Matters: Congregations merge to form new community for the future . NJ.com . Advance Local Media LLC . 27 October 2015.
3. News: Engelmayer . Shammai . Jerusalem, Frisch, and Jewish law . The Jewish Standard . Times of Israel . 25 January 2018.
4. News: Associated . Press . News Service to End 58 Years of Operation . The Nashua Telegraph . The Nutting Company . Ogden Newspapers . 21 February 1980 . New Hampshire . en.
5. Book: Rangel . Marc . Memories of Mosquitia . 2009 . Xlibris Corporation . 9781477163191 . en.
6. News: Wire Story . Ford Linked to Job Assist for Liddy . The Arizona Republic . Associated Press . USA Today Network . 16 October 1973 . en.
7. News: Engelmayer . Sheldon . Ashman . Charles . Nixon Leaves pepsi firm, Meets Mitchell, Martha Meets the Press . The Cincinnati Enquirer . USA Today Network . 25 July 1973 . en.
8. News: Future Events . . 2287–2294 . McGraw-Hill . 1973.
9. News: Palmer . Joanne . The man in the mask . Jewish Standard . Times of Israel . 26 October 2012.
10. News: Wagner . Robert . Engelmayer . Sheldon . Public Utilities Skirt Gas Issue . High Point Enterprise . hpenews.com . 3 May 1976 . en.
11. News: Associated . Press . S-N Columnists Win Stokes Writing Prize . Star News . Associated Press . 16 March 1976 . en.
12. Web site: SSSJ Events, 1964-1991. Boxes 1-51 and Oversized Boxes 197 & 385 . Yeshiva University Archives . Yeshiva University . Mendel Gottesman Library . 248.
13. Web site: Meet Our Rabbi . cbiotp.org . CONGREGATION BETH ISRAELOF THE PALISADES.
14. News: Engelmayer . Sheldon . Full-Term Miracle, May 14, 1948 . The Jewish Floridian . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 19 . 62. 12 May 1989 . 5.
15. Book: Goldberg . J.J. . Jewish power : inside the American Jewish establishment . 1996 . . Reading, Mass. . 9780201622423 . xi . 3rd printing .
16. News: News Brief Jewish Telegraphic Agency . www.jta.org . JTA . 28 September 2005.
17. Book: Bard . Mitchell G. . From tragedy to triumph : the politics behind the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry . 2002 . . Westport (Conn.) . 9780275970000 . 153 .
18. News: Wire . Bat Mitzvah Pioneer Marks Another Religious Milsteon . Sedalia Democrat . Associated Press . 20 March 1992.
19. News: Nussbaum Cohen . Debra . Camp's Decision to Censor Magazine Illustrates Rift Among Conservatives Jewish Telegraphic Agency . Daily News Bulletin . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . www.jta.org . 30 September 1994.
20. News: Lorell . Mark . Congressional report warns: War in Middle East is imminent Jewish Telegraphic Agency . www.jta.org . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 5 June 1997.
21. News: Santora . Alexander . Jews in North Bergen get a Shab-Bus to shul . . NJ.com . 19 November 2014.
22. News: Palmer . Joanne . A community marriage . . Times of Israel . 5 August 2015.
23. News: Solomon Bernstein . Susan . Temple Beth El Has Closed, But It is Not Gone . zicharonot . 15 January 2016.
24. Web site: Engelmayer . Sheldon . Wagman . Bob . The Making of Lion of the Desert . . 1981.
25. Web site: Rabbi Shammai Englemayer . Temple Beth El of North Bergen . Temple Beth El Bergen County.
26. Book: Ozarowski . Joseph S. . Engelmayer . Shammai . Sofian . David M. . Lipman . Steve . Common ground : the weekly Torah portion through the eyes of a Conservative, Orthodox, and Reform rabbi . 1997 . . Northvale, N.J. . 9780765759924 . 391 .
27. Reports of cases decided in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the state of New York . 1978 . 756 . 8 August 2011 . the University of California . Digitized . en . Alimony.
28. News: Boroson . Rebecca . Former 'Post' staffer Marilyn Henry dies, 58 . The Jerusalem Post . JPost.com . 3 March 2011.
29. News: Engelmayer . Shammai . Obama's distorted Israel image . The Standard . Times of Israel . 6 January 2012.
30. News: JTA Staff . Excellence in Jewish journalism: The Rockower Awards Jewish Telegraphic Agency . www.jta.org . Jewsish Telegraphic Agency . 28 June 2013.
31. Book: Sheskin . edited by Arnold Dashefsky, Ira . American Jewish Year Book 2013 The Annual Record of the North American Jewish Communities . 2014 . Springer International Publishing . Cham . 9783319016580 . 817 . Aufl. 2014 .
32. News: Wagman . Robert . Engelmayer . Sheldon . Promises, Promises, More Broken Promises, Part II . . Southern California News Group . 27 February 1979 . B17.
33. Web site: Category 4: Award for Excellence in Editorial Writing . The 31st Annual Simon Rockower Award Winners - American Jewish Press Association . www.ajpa.org.
34. Book: Editor & Publisher . 1990 . Editor & Publisher Company . 2 . Vol 123 . en.
35. Book: Engelmayer . Sheldon D. . Wagman . Robert J. . Hostage . 1981 . Caroline House Publishers . Ottawa, Ill. . 0898030846 .
36. Book: Ashman . Charles . Engelmayer . Sheldon . Martha: The Mouth That Roared . 1973 . Berkley . 978-0425024683.
37. News: Ashman . Charles . Martha - The Mouth that Roared. Journal News - Hamilton Ohio . Cox Media Group . 24 July 1973 . Ohio . 16 . en.
38. Book: Engelmayer . Sheldon . Wagman . Robert . Lord's justice . 1985 . Anchor Press/Doubleday . Garden City, N.Y. . 978-0385230513 . 1st .
39. News: Library News . Through These Doors . Huntingdon Daily News . The Daily News . Sample News Group . 4 December 1978 . en.
40. Book: Engelmayer . Sheldon D. . Wagman . Robert J. . Tax revolt 1980 : a how-to guide . 1980 . Arlington House Publishers . Westport, CT . 0870004697 .
41. Book: Engelmayer . Shammai . Where there's smoke . 27 November 2012 . Amazon Digital Services LLC .