Oral history with Julian Beck Feibleman, native Mississippian, Rabbi emeritus, Temple Sinai, New Orleans

              Oral history with Julian Beck Feibelman, native Mississippian, Rabbi emeritus, Temple Sinai, New Orleans
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.
Funding provided by a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services
The transcript is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Julian Beck Feibelman was born to Abraham and Eva Feibelman in Jackson, Mississippi, March 23, 1897. His life as a child and young man was spent in Jackson. He attended elementary and secondary school there as well as some of his higher education. He was graduated from Millsaps College with the Bachelor of Arts, even though he had left school early to enlist in the army because of the American entry into World War I. His army career was spent at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, where he served first in the Medical Corps and then in the Quartermaster Corps. His military service included the time of the great flu epidemic and he recalls that, " Every evening at six o'clock the gun caissons would pass by carrying the caskets to be put on the train."
The war over, and discharged from the Army, young Julian Feibelman was confronted with the decision as to what he would do for life's work. Although he considered joining his father in the family clothing business, his own convictions were reinforced when his father advised him that, " I don't think you'll make a businessman." He studied law at the University of Mississippi Law School and learned that his interests did not include a legal career, and he turned to the rabbinate.
He matriculated at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1920 and was graduated in 1926. His first rabbinate was with Temple Keneseth Israel, Philadelphia, where he spent ten years ( 1926- 1936) and then moved to Temple Sinai, New Orleans, where he served for more than three decades - from 1936 until retirement in 1967.
Although very busy, Rabbi Feibelman continued his education. He won the Master of Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1929, and the Ph. D. in 1939. In addition to his earned doctorate, Rabbi Feibelman has been selected for honorary doctorates by Millsaps College ( a Protestant institution), Hebrew Union College ( Jewish), and Loyola University, ( Catholic).
Rabbi Feibelman served for many years as a lecturer in the history of religions at Tulane University and has served on innumerable boards and commissions both religious and secular. He was the American Jewish delegate to the world conference of Christians and Jews to study European anti- Semitism, which met in Switzerland, in 1947. Included in the myriad of other activities which have benefited from Rabbi Feibelman's energy are: He is a past president of the Louisiana Society for Mental Health, the Louisiana
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