Philip R. Alstat

Rabbi Philip R. Alstat
Alstat, around 1920.
Religion	Judaism
Personal
Nationality	American
Born	1891 Lithuania
Died	1976 New York
Religious career
Ordination	Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Philip Reis Alstat (1891–1976) was a well-known American Conservative rabbi, teacher, chaplain, speaker and writer. Born in Kaunas (formerly, Kovno), Lithuania, he came to the United States in 1898, studying at City College of New York (A.B., 1912), Columbia University (A.M., 1915), and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), where he received semikhah, rabbinic ordination, in 1920, and the Doctor of Divinity degree (honoris causa), in 1966.

For many years, he lived at JTS, serving as an informal and unofficial in-house counselor and mentor for generations of rabbinical students. In addition to his experience as a pulpit rabbi in New York synagogues including Congregation Shaare Zedek (New York City) on Manhattan's upper-West side, he was a chaplain for a number of New York institutions, including The Tombs, the Manhattan Detention Complex, and oversaw courses for prospective converts to Judaism in New York City. For more than four decades, he wrote the widely syndicated weekly newspaper column, Strange to Relate.

Alstat, the brother of Rabbi Murray Alstet, was "one of the early pioneers" of the Conservative movement, attending rabbinical school with classmates who would become many of the teachers and leaders of the movement. He graduated in 1920, in the same class as Max Kadushin, and one year before future JTS Chancellor, Louis Finkelstein. Early in his rabbinic career, he served in a number of synagogue pulpits, including Temple Sons of Israel, in White Plains, New York, 1920–21; Temple Beth Elohim, 1921–25; Temple Adath Israel, The Bronx, NY, 1925–30; and Temple Bnai Israel-Sheerith Judah, in upper Manhattan, 1933–1955., before leaving to focus on other endeavors, including teaching, writing, and chaplaincy service in New York prisons, hospitals, and senior citizen facilities.