Queens Public Library Connection

Rabbi I. Usher Kirshblum (1911-1983) served as the spiritual leader of the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, an association that began in 1946.

Born in Bialystok, Poland, he immigrated to the United States as a child. He attended New Utrecht High School and graduated from Brooklyn College. Furthering his education at the Jewish Institute of Religion, he was ordained as a rabbi in 1944.

Rabbi Kirshblum was active in numerous Jewish communal and Zionist organizations, including serving as membership chairman of the Zionist Organization of America and as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, where he was a prominent voice against the ordination of women as rabbis. In 1971, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His community involvement extended beyond Jewish organizations; he was a board member of the Queens Legion of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and president of the Queens Interfaith Clergy Council. Additionally, he dedicated 33 years to the Board of Queens Public Library and 12 years to the NYS Advisory Committee for the Aging. Rabbi Kirshblum also served on the American Bicentennial Committee and the New York State Advisory Committee for the Aging.

He passed away at the age of 71 due to heart failure while vacationing in Hollywood, Florida, in February 1983.