We are honored to present the Kinor David Award to Rabbi Haskel Lookstein.

 

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein retired this year as the Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, where he has been Rabbi since 1958; he also this year became Principal Emeritus of the Ramaz School, where he has been Principal since 1966. He is the Joseph H. Lookstein Professor of Homiletics at Yeshiva University where he has been teaching since 1979.  He also serves as a Vice President of the Beth Din of America.

 

Rabbi Lookstein has served as President of the New York Board of Rabbis, Chairman of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of UJA and President of the Synagogue Council of America.  He also was a Commissioner of the New York City Human Rights Commission. 

 

Rabbi Lookstein, a graduate of Ramaz School (’49), received his B.A. from Columbia College, his Master’s Degree in Medieval Jewish History and his PhD in Modern Jewish History from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University.  He was ordained by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Dr. Samuel Belkin as a graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1958.  Married to Audrey in 1959, the Looksteins are blessed with fifteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

 

In his non-professional life he is a rabid rooter for the Mets, Giants, Knicks and Rangers in addition to being an avid tennis player and music lover.  Indeed, Rabbi Lookstein has been supporting the Jewish choral arts since he attended Camp Massad.  When the Massad Choral Group became the Zamir Chorale in the 1960s, Rabbi Lookstein remained an active supporter.  Throughout the last decades, Rabbi Lookstein has been a strong supporter of mixed choral singing at Ramaz and throughout the Jewish community.