Fonds consists of records relating to Rabbi Plaut's career as a Rabbi, community leader and author. These records are divided into twenty series: Emigration, Hebrew Union College; Washington Boulevard Temple, Chicago, Illinois (2 series); Chaplaincy Series; Mount Zion Temple, St. Paul, Minnesota; Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, Ontario; Publications; Ontario Human Rights Commission; Personal; Correspondence; Refugee Determination in Canada; Canadian Jewish Congress; Canada Israel Committee; Central Conference of American Rabbis Responsa Committee; City of North York Committee on Community, Race and Ethnic Relations; Autographs; Travels; Other Rabbinical Organizations; Other Organizations and Subject Files. Fonds also contains photographs depicting the activities of Rabbi Plaut at Holy Blossom Temple; photos with Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, L.B. Pearson, Jean Chrétien, Carol Ann Fainstein, Rabbi and Mrs. David Sherman, Rabbi and Mrs. Plaut, Hans Kramer, and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg; meetings of religious organizations; portraits of Plaut; Canada-Israel Committee; Plaut on trips to Israel; and photos of Plaut concerned with his W.W.II activities as a chaplin with the 104th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, [ca. 1940-1977]. Photos of his childhood, youth and of his family. Also included in fonds are sound recordings. Recordings consist of addresses by Rabbi Plaut; speeches; interviews; radio programs; religious services; a tape diary by Rabbi Plaut during a trip to South Africa; a taped letter, in Yiddish, to Rabbi Plaut from Rabbi Winter of Montevideo; United Nations Resolution on Racism; and part of the proceedings of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, n.d., 1955-1985.
Plaut, W. Gunther, 1912-2012 : Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut was born in Munster, Germany, in 1912 the son of Jonas and Selma Plaut. He received his LL.B in 1933 and a Doctorate, Iuris Utriusque in International law from the University of Berlin in 1934. Prevented from practicing law by Nazi racial laws he continued his studies at the Hochshule fur die Wissenchaft des Judentums. In 1935 he received a scholarship from the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati and was ordained a Rabbi in 1939. He served as Rabbi of Washington Boulevard (now Oak Park) Temple in Chicago from 1939 to 1948. During the Second World War he served for 3 years as Chaplain, 104th Infantry Division, United States Army in the European Theatre of Operations and was decorated with the Bronze Star. He was the first Rabbi to bring a Sefer Torah back to Germany. He also conducted the first religious service in the gutted shell of the Cologne Synagogue (March 1945). In the post-war period he served as Rabbi of Mount Zion Hebrew Congregation, St. Paul, Minnesota from 1948 to 1961. In that year he was called to Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada west of Montreal. He retired as Senior Rabbi in 1977 and became Senior Scholar in 1978. In 1975 he was the Toronto Negev Dinner honouree. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1977. Rabbi Plaut served as National President of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1977 to 1980. He was President of the World Federalists of Canada from 1966 to 1968. He was National Co-Chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee from 1975 to 1977. He served on the Ontario Human Rights Commission as Vice-Chairman from 1978 to 1985 and later as a member of a Board of Inquiry. He was President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1983 to 1985 and was Vice-President of the Governing Board of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Rabbi Plaut was a regular editorial contributor to the Globe and Mail and wrote a column for the Canadian Jewish News. His books include The Book of Proverbs - A Commentary (1961), Judaism and the Scientific Spirit (1962) (translated into Hebrew), The Rise of Reform Judaism (1963), The Growth of Reform Judaism (1964), The Case for the Chosen People (1965), (translated into French and Hebrew), Your Neighbour Is a Jew (1967), Page 2 (1971), Time to Think (1977), his autobiography Unfinished Business (1981), The Torah: A Modern Commentary (1981), Hanging Threads (1978). Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut died in Toronto on February 8, 2012.
1990/0064 MSS
1992/0150 MSS
1992/0260 MSS
1993/0423 MSS
1994/0246 MSS
