Beerman, Leonard

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BEERMAN, LEONARD

BEERMAN, LEONARD (1921– ), U.S. Reform rabbi. Beerman was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War ii, and entered Hebrew Union College in 1943. He interrupted his seminary education to volunteer for the *Haganah in 1947–48, returning to receive his rabbinic ordination in 1949. Beerman became the founding rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles that year and remained there until his retirement in 1986. His career was marked by social activism on behalf of civil and human rights, as well as world peace. He was on the faculty of Claremont Men's College and Immaculate Heart College and served as president of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and vice president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

[Bezalel Gordon (2nd ed.)]

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