Rabbi Alexander Schindler (1925-2000) thought he was going to be an engineer. But when he saw Jews emerging from Dachau in Germany--a concentration camp--at the end of World War II, his plans changed. He returned to the United States to a life-long pursuit of religion and social studies, becoming one of the most prominent Jewish figures of the century. He became a creating force in Reform Judaism--leading the movement for over a quarter of a century--and innovatively offered Judaism to whoever might be interested.

Growing Up

Schindler was born on October 4, 1925, in Munich, Germany, to a Hasidic, Yiddish poet, Eliezer Schindler, and his wife, Sali. When Schindler was 12 years old, the boy and his family fled Germany and the Nazi regime and settled in New York City around 1937.

Schindler studied engineering until he enrolled as a United States soldier in World War II. He found his way into...