I. Edward Kiev Biography

Isaac Edward Kiev was born in New York City in 1905, to Nathan and Anna (Radin) Kiev. In 1923 he came to the attention of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and entered Rabbi Wise's new rabbinical seminary, the Jewish Institute of Religion. While a student, Kiev worked as a page in the JIR library, thus getting an early start on what was to become his career.

He was a chaplain at the Sea-View Hospital, a tuberculosis sanitarium, and rabbi at Congregation Habonim. He also served as Assistant Librarian at the Jewish Institute of Religion under Librarians Salo W. Baron (1927-1930) and Shalom Spiegel (1930-1942). In 1942 Rabbi Kiev was named Chief Librarian of the JIR, and he held this position until his death in 1975.

He married Mary B. Nover, on December 20, 1930. Mary shared his profession, and was the librarian at Temple Emanu-El from 1949 until her death in 1964. They had two children, Ari and Aviva. Over many years, Rabbi Kiev developed an extensive personal literary collection. In 1996 his collection was donated to Gelman Library by Dr. Ari and Phyllis Kiev and their children, Dr. Jonathan Kiev and Marshall Kiev.

After World War II, Rabbi Kiev actively participated in efforts fostering the restoration and growth of Jewish libraries. He served as secretary to the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, which was responsible for the inventory of Jewish artifacts after the Holocaust, from 1949 to 1951. He was president of the Jewish Librarians Association, the predecessor of the current Association of Jewish Libraries, from 1951 to 1959. He worked with the Council of Archives and Research Libraries in Jewish Studies and the Jewish Book Council. He served as treasurer of the latter from 1954 to 1958, secretary from 1958 to 1966, and as an associate editor of the Jewish Book Annual from 1952 to 1975, contributing the bibliography of American non-fiction books. He was also an editor for Library Trends and Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, and a contributor to many other publications such as the American Jewish Year Book.

In 1956 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. In his letter informing Rabbi Kiev of the honor, Nelson Glueck, the president, said:

"Your devotion to the knowledge and history of our people and your meticulous care and splendid talents have contributed greatly to the building of our library to its present fine reputation. You have brought honor to our institution."

The library of the Jewish Institute of Religion had always collected modern Hebrew literature. Rabbi Kiev served as chair of the Israel Matz fund, a foundation to support Hebrew writers. Contemporary Authors calls him an "expert on Judaic and Hebrew literature." In his obituary, the New York Times quoted Alfred Gottschalk, the president of the HUC-JIR, as saying that "generations of students and scholars were helped by his phenomenal knowledge of Jewish and general literature." His stature was such that he was listed in Who's Who in America (1974, 1976, 1978); Who's Who in the World (1964, 1976), and Who's Who in World Jewry (1972).

In addition to his contributions to journals in bibliography and librarianship, he translated the Kafra Haggadah, published by Feldheim in 1949. In 1971 Ktav published a festschrift called Studies in Jewish bibliography, history, and literature in honor of I. Edward Kiev. During his tenure at the JIR, the library's collection grew from under 10,000 volumes to more than 100,000. Rabbi I. Edward Kiev was truly a person in whose life books played an indispensable role, and Gelman Library is honored to house his collection.

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