BURSTEIN, ABRAHAM

BURSTEIN, ABRAHAM (1893–1966), U.S. rabbi, author, and editor. Born in Cleveland, Burstein was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1917. After serving in graves registration for the Jewish Welfare Board in France, he held pulpits in New England and New York. He was chaplain for the New York Department of Correction from 1934 until his death, chaplain of the Jewish Theatrical Guild from 1924, and executive secretary of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Burstein was editor of the Jewish Outlook, editor and researcher of many Jewish scholarly works, and a leading book reviewer for the Anglo-Jewish press for many years. Author of books for children, he wrote Boy of Cordova (1934) about Moses ben Maimon, Adventure on Manhattan Island (1957) about Peter Stuyvesant and the Jews, and A Jewish Child's Garden of Verses (1940). He also wrote Religious Parties in Israel (1936) and Laws Concerning Religion in the United States (1950). Among his other books are Ghetto Messenger (1928), Unpastoral Lyrics (1930), A Boy Called Rashi (1940), Judah Halevi in Granada (1941), The Boy of Wilna (1941), and West of the Nile: A Story of Saadia Gaon (1942). -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.J. Karp, "Abraham Burstein," in: Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly, vol. 32 (1967). (Abraham J. Karp)