William Herberg
| Will Herberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Herberg June 30, 1901 Liachowitz, Belorussia, Russian Empire |
| Died | March 26, 1977 (aged 75) |
| Occupation | political activist, theologian, writer |
| Subject | politics, theology, anti-communism |
| Spouse | Anna Thompson Herberg |
William "Will" Herberg (June 30, 1901 – March 26, 1977) was an American Jewish writer, intellectual and scholar. A communist political activist during his early years, Herberg gained wider public recognition as a social philosopher and sociologist of religion, as well as a Jewish theologian. He was a leading conservative thinker during 1950s and an important contributor to the National Review magazine.
William Herberg, commonly known as "Will," was born June 30, 1901 to an ethnic Jewish family in the shtetl of Liachowitz, Belarus, located near the city of Minsk in what was then part of the Russian Empire. His father, Hyman Louis Herberg (1874-1938) and mother, the former Sarah Wolkow (1872-1942) were themselves born in the same provincial village. Although no records remain to document the family's financial status, Herberg's biographer indicates that the family was not impoverished, with his father the recipient of a gymnasium education and successful enough as an electrical contractor to pay for the family's emigration from the anti-semitic Tsarist regime to a new life in America in 1904.
Arriving in New York City, the Herberg family took up residence in an poor Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The family's economic position deteriorated in America, however, and Will's parents were divorced about ten years after arriving in the United States, with Will and his younger brother raised by his mother, who earned money as a housekeeper and small-scale manufacturer of knit fabric belts. The boys aided the family income by helping with belt-making, although a very high priority was placed by his mother on education, and great financial sacrifices were made to ensure that the two boys stayed on an academically-oriented path.
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