Rabbi Sidney Akselrad, Peninsula firebrand of social action, dies

The last of Rabbi Sidney Akselrad's many validations in life came very late.

Last month, the rabbi's life story, "Lishma: For His Name's Sake" was entered into U.C. Berkeley's Bancroft Library, a depository of rare and valuable texts that one is not allowed to enter with any writing implement other than a small, dull pencil. Akselrad was too sick to leave his bed in Palo Alto for the induction. But it was a special moment nevertheless for the longtime rabbi of Reform Congregation Beth Am and giant in the world of social activism.

"I feel in a way that it's like an endorsement, a confirmation of my years. I've been very fortunate to have been involved with a lot of people, and even some of the ones who have disagreed with me the most strongly have been supportive of me. It's a very peculiar phenomenon. I've been able to disagree with people very deeply and still we have retained a mutual respect," he told j. at the time.

Akselrad died Tuesday, Nov. 14 after a long battle with cancer. He was 85.

He was born into an Orthodox family in Pittsburgh, but was intrigued early by Reconstructionism before eventually opting to enter the Reform movement. As a young rabbi he would perform intermarriages for couples who promised to raise Jewish children far before many of his colleagues would do the same.

It wasn't an easy decision, but he feels time has, once again, validated his position. Over the years "I've received many calls from people who have been married 20 or 30 years, and they not only have Jewish children but Jewish grandchildren," he told j. in May. "And some have since converted."

Akselrad left a position in Detroit to lead Berkeley Congregation Beth El's religious school in 1952. He left a staff of 40 teachers with 950 students for a bare-bones Berkeley program. What's more, the left-leaning and activist rabbi didn't always see eye-to-eye with parents.

When two of Akselrad's young teachers told him they'd just gotten back from picketing a meeting of the House Un-American Activities Commitee in San Francisco, the rabbi told them they should talk about it with their students.

"That evening when I had a meeting with parents, I think it was the confirmation parents, and they said they didn't send their children to Sunday School to learn about HUAC. But [a colleague] turned to them and said, 'When else did your children come home and tell you what they learned in Sunday School?' ... I told them I felt it was a matter of conscience. We had a responsibility to those being assailed," he told j. last month.

Akselrad advocated for friends and colleagues who stood to lose their jobs for being unable or unwilling to sign loyalty oaths. When KCBS announcer Jim Grady refused to testify in front of HUAC, Akselrad put him in contact with Edward R. Murrow. The legendary broadcaster, however, could not help and Grady lost his job, becoming a cab driver and waiter — a turn of events that pained Akselrad until his dying day.

The rabbi threw some work Grady's way at the time, hiring the announcer to write "freedom cantatas" for a yearly Chanukah youth festival.

In 1962 Akselrad left Berkeley to take the senior rabbi position at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. He quickly became one of the most respected rabbinical voices in the growing region, and was a tireless advocate for civil rights and peace. He marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., and fiercely protested the Vietnam War before it was a popular thing to do.

Akselrad's career "reflected a fight for social justice, a fight against any type of prejudice and a fight against Vietnam, which meant he stood fast to his values at a time when his values ran against the mainstream opinion," said son Rabbi Sandy Akselrad, the longtime spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Tamid near Las Vegas.

"In our own lives too often we go with the crowd and are afraid to express what they believe. I think people can learn from my dad that everyone has a mind. God gave us a mind and the ability to analyze things for ourselves. It's part of being Jewish."

Akselrad's outspokenness didn't always sit well with his colleagues or congregants, but, as he noted, very few of them made it a personal issue.

"He is honest and forthright and sticks to his guns but he is always gentle in expressing his views," Rabbi Janet Marder, Beth Am's senior rabbi, said recently.

"He shows you respect even if you disagree with him ... he is supremely comfortable with himself and so he makes those around him comfortable as well."

Akselrad served as senior rabbi at Beth Am from 1962 to 1986 before stunning the congregation with a sudden retirement.

"The doctor simply told me I had to quit — now," he explained to j.'s predecessor, the Jewish Bulletin.

The rabbi was diagnosed with coronary disease and had quadruple bypass surgery in 1985. The following year when he returned to the hospital for observation, his doctor "laid down the law."

Akselrad remained rabbi emeritus at the congregation and, for the past two decades, was always the first to chant the blessing before the Torah reading on Rosh Hashanah.

Rabbi Sidney Akselrad is survived by his wife of 53 years, Marge, of Palo Alto; daughters Audrey Smith of Sunnyvale, Deena Shi of San Jose and Lisa Akselrad of San Jose; son Sandy of Henderson, Nev.; sisters Sylvia Price of Monroeville, Pa., and Ann Bennett of South Florida; and six grandchildren.

Contributions in Akselrad's memory can be sent to Congregation Beth Am's Israel Emergency Relief Fund or the Rabbi Sidney Akselrad Lecture Fund For Social Justice at 26790 Arastradero Rd., Los Altos Hills, CA 94022.

Services will be held 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 19 at Beth Am.