Stephan F. Barack Papers

The STEPHAN F. BARACK PAPERS were donated by Rabbi Barack's wife, Renee, and their children Jennifer and Deborah, Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2009. All papers received before 2010 have been arranged and described in this inventory. Renee Barack, by the act of donating the STEPHAN F. BARACK PAPERS to the American Jewish Archives, assigned the property rights to the American Jewish Archives. All literary rights to material authored by Stephan F. Barack are held by the Barack heirs. Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Director of the American Jewish Archives. The papers are available to researchers in the reading room of the Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

Rabbi Stephan F. Barack was born in St. Louis, Missouri on March 30, 1943 to Mr. and Mrs. Sam and Marguerite Barack. Rabbi Barack's commitment to living a Jewish life began immediately following his Bar Mitzvah. During his early youth, he attended Jewish summer camps and, in his teen years, he was an active member of the National Federation of Temple Youth, of which he was a life member. He served as a song leader for his local and regional youth groups, demonstrating his love for Jewish music and playing the guitar, which continued throughout his rabbinic career. He first visited Israel as a participant in a NFTY summer program in 1961.

Rabbi Barack graduated from Washington University in 1965, receiving an A.B. degree in philosophy. He then enrolled at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio to study for the rabbinate. During his time at HUC-JIR (among many other activities), Rabbi Barack served as a student rabbi in Livonia, Michigan and was the director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Following ordination, Rabbi Barack served as Assistant Rabbi at Beth El Temple in Madison, Wisconsin and as Associate Rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While serving at Temple Israel, Rabbi Barack developed a unique year-round camping program at Camp Teko on Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata, Minnesota. The program was designed for Jewish children ranging in age from pre-school through high school. In 1981 Rabbi Barack moved to Pittsburgh to become the Senior Rabbi at Temple Sinai. In 1985 he moved to Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska, where he served until 1989.

At this point in his career, Rabbi Barack moved to Honolulu, Hawai'i. He was the rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Honolulu and was a founder and leader of Temple Bet Shalom, also in Honolulu. During his time in Hawai'i - as well as in all his other positions - Rabbi Barack was a leader in the communal and religious affairs of his community and was active in promoting issues pertaining to social justice and welfare. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and received numerous honors, including from state and local governments in Hawai'i for his numerous activities.

Through his work in the Hawai'i Council of Churches, Rabbi Barack was actively involved in the Council's efforts in promoting gay and lesbian rights. He signed the 1996 Statement on Same Gender Marriage that was part of an interfaith Perspective from the Hawai'i Council of Churches.

Rabbi Barack and his wife of 42 years, Renee, have two daughters: Jennifer and Deborah.

Rabbi Stephan F. Barack died on June 5, 2007 at the age of 64.

The Stephan F. Barack Papers are divided into two series. Series A. Sermons and Writings. 1970-2006. The Sermons and Writings series makes up the bulk of the collection. It contains sermons covering the entirety of Rabbi Barack's rabbinate from 1970-2006. Though many of the sermons are from the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, this series also contains numerous sermons that reflect Rabbi Barack's interests in social justice, the life of the synagogue - particularly the education of synagogue youth and youth programming - interfaith relations, and Jewish identity. Most of the sermons are titled and dated. A full list of all titled sermons is contained in the Appendix, giving the researcher a full sense of the scope of Rabbi Barack's thought and work throughout his career. This series also contains two bound volumes titled, "Essays, Papers and Sermons." Included here are copies of Rabbi Barack's rabbinic thesis and term papers while a student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; his scholarship; and various sermons. These writings go beyond homilies and are in-depth studies on topics in rabbinic literature and Judaic thought that show the depth of Rabbi Barack's work as a scholar and student.

Series B. Correspondence and Miscellaneous. 1970-2007. This Series contains one correspondence file of letters from 1971-2006. This series also includes three large files of condolence letters sent to Rabbi Barack's wife, Renee, at the time of his death. These files show the great esteem and affection that Rabbi Barack's rabbinic and professional colleagues felt for him, and show the extent of his significance and importance in the larger Jewish and secular communities in which he was involved.

The records are divided into two (2) series:

• Series A. Sermons and Writings. 1970-2006.
• Series B. Correspondence and Miscellaneous. 1970-2007.

A folder of awards and citations included with the collection have been placed in the AJA flat file, Cabinet 6, Drawer 7.

A file of photographs of Rabbi Barack have been taken from the collection and placed in the AJA photograph collection, PC-4926.

A set of temple bulletins from congregations where Rabbi Barack officiated have been transferred to the temple bulletins collection at the Klau Library, HUC-JIR, Cincinnati, Ohio.