Name Joseph Kornfeld | ||
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Joseph Saul Kornfeld (February 12, 1876 – June 29, 1944) was an American reform rabbi and diplomat. He served as ambassador to Persia (Iran) from 1922 to 1924.
Early life
Kornfeld was born in 1876 in the Austro-Hungarian empire to Jewish parents. He went to US as a child. He served as a rabbi in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Montreal and Columbus. He was selected as the ambassador to Persia in 1921. He became the first rabbi in the history of the United States who was selected to serve at a foreign post on a diplomatic mission. During his time in Iran he made contact with Iranian Jewry and helped fight antisemitism in many cases. In one specific case in September 1922 he helped restore the water supply to the Jewish neighborhood of Oudlajan when Reza Khan blocked it. He finished his diplomatic mission in 1924 and returned to United States. In 1925 he became the rabbi of the Collingwood avenue temple in Toledo, Ohio.