ANGEL, MARC D.

ANGEL, MARC D. (1945– ), U.S. Sephardi rabbinical leader and scholar. Angel was born in Seattle, Wash., the son of Sephardi immigrants from Rhodes and Tekirdag, Turkey, and nephew of veteran Sephardi rabbi Solomon Maimon. Angel received his B.A., Ph.D., and rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University in New York, with an M.A. in English literature from the City College of New York. From 1969 he served as rabbi of the Shearith Israel Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York.

Angel wrote about 20 books on Sephardi history, tradition, and customs; mourning; rabbinic thought; and ethics, and many scholarly and popular articles. He won the 1988 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Jewish thought. His doctorate on the history of the Jews of Rhodes was a pioneering study in the field.

Angel also served as president of the Rabbinical Council of America, was founder, president, and honorary president of Sephardic House, and subsequently became vice president of the American Sephardi Federation and chairman of the Rabbinic Advisory Committee of the Jewish National Fund. He was a board member of the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Health Care Chaplaincy, Cancer Care, and many other organizations. He was on the Board of Governors of the Orthodox Union (ou) and a member of the editorial board of Tradition.

Angel received the National Rabbinic Leadership Award of the Orthodox Union, the Bernard Revel Award of Yeshiva University for Religion and Religious Education, and the Finkle Prize of the New York Board of Rabbis.

Representing the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue founded in 1654, Angel developed sympathy for the American Indian and in 1993 delivered a eulogy at Wounded Knee for the Native Americans killed there by soldiers of the United States Army.

[Yitzchak Kerem (2^nd ed.)]