Sidney, Hoenig Dead at 72

Funeral services were held yesterday for Dr. Sidney Hoenig, noted educator, rabbi and authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Sanhedrin, who died here last Friday at the age of 72.

At the time of his death he was president of the Jewish Welfare Board Jewish Book Council, a member of the JWB Board of Directors and a member of the JWB Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy. A former dean of the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University, he served on the university’s faculty for more than 40 years. He was also Adjunct Professor of Talmud at Dropsie University.

For the JWB’s Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy, Hoenig edited a Prayer Book for Jewish Personnel in the Armed Forces of the U.S., a High Holiday Prayer Book and a Passover Haggadah. Earlier this year he represented the JWB Jewish Book Council at the Second International Book Fair in Moscow.

In 1975, Hoenig was named a Congressional Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The New York Board of Rabbis named him Chaplain of the Year in 1973. He had been a member of the Joint Distribution Committee’s Cultural Committee, the Rabbinical Council of America, the National Council of Jewish Prison Chaplains and the Society for Old Testament Study.

Born in New York City, Hoenig received the Bachelor of Science degree at City College in 1927 and the Ph.D. from Dropsie University, Philadelphia in 1934. He was ordained at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University in 1931.

Widely known for his writings and lectures, he was the author of numerous books. His articles appeared in major Jewish and other scholarly publications, including the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Jewish Quarterly Review. In his long association with Yeshiva University, Hoenig was also director of the Department of Adult Education of the Division of Communal Services of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He authored several of the Department’s “Guide Series” of books.