- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWolf Guenter Plaut
- Gunther Plaut was born on November 1, 1912 in Munster, Germany. He was married to Elizabeth Strauss Plaut. He died on February 8, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- SpouseElizabeth Strauss Plaut(1938 - 2003) (her death, 2 children)
- Son of Jonas Plaut and Selma Plaut. His parents ran a Jewish orphanage where he was raised with other children. After his parents assured the Jewish orphans were safely placed, they were able to flee to the Isle of Man in England and to the United States after World War II.
- He earned a doctor of laws degree from the University of Berlin in Berlin, Germany in 1934 but was unable to practice because of laws imposed by the Nazis. He spent a year studying Jewish Theology in Berlin, Germany. He was awarded a scholarship to study for the rabbinate at the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was ordained a Rabbi in 1939.
- He became an American citizen in 1943 and joined the United States Army during World War II. He adopted Gunther as his first name. He served as a Chaplain with the 104th Infantry where he took part in the liberation of the Dora-Nordhausen Concentraion Camp in Germany.
- After World War II, he held pulpits in Chicago, Illinois and St. Paul, Minnesota before taking up a post in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the past President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Canadian Jewish Congress. He was awarded the (O.C.) Officer of the Order of Canada.
- He is survived by his son, Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut, a Rabbi of Temple Beth Israel, a Reform Synagogue in Jackson, Michigan; his daughter, Jennifer Plaut; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
- [on the Hertz Torah] Furthermore, it was written at a time of growing anti-Semitism when Hitler was coming to power and so it is highly apologetic. Its language is magnificent but Jews today are entitled to be given insights that go beyond traditional.
- God is not the author of the text, the people are; but God's voice may be heard through theirs if we listen with open minds.
- [on studying the Torah] Torah grabbed me.
- [o studying Jewish theology in the 1930s Germany] I wanted to know what it truly meant to be a Jew if I was made to suffer for it.
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