Honor, Leo L.
HONOR, LEO L.
HONOR, LEO L. (1894–1956), U.S. educator. Leo Honor was born in Russia and educated in New York. He was appointed an instructor in 1916 in the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also served as registrar from 1919 through 1929. During this period, Honor was closely associated with the New York Bureau of Jewish Education and with its director, Samson *Benderly. Honor became dean of the Chicago College of Jewish Studies in 1929 and in 1934 was also appointed director of that city's Board of Jewish Education. In 1945, he went to Philadelphia to organize the Council on Jewish Education, and in the following year he was appointed the first professor of Jewish education at Dropsie College. He organized and was the first president of the National Council for Jewish Education. Honor wrote Jewish Elementary Education in the United States, 1901–1950 (1952). His major writings are collected in Selected Writings of Leo L. Honor (1965).
In his educational philosophy Honor emphasized the principle of unity in diversity. He viewed Jewish education as a partnership among the home, the local congregation, and the larger Jewish community.
[Leon H. Spotts]