Remembering Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut

The Jewish communities of Windsor, Ont., and Jackson, Mich. are mourning the loss of Rabbi Jonathan V. Plaut, who held many civic and religious posts throughout his illustrious career. He died April 17 after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 69.

His family was of the utmost importance to him. He was a devoted son to both his mother, the late Elizabeth Strauss Plaut, and father, Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut, the former spiritual leader of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple and president of Canadian Jewish Congress, who passed away in February.

Ordained in 1970 by Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati, Ohio, the younger Rabbi Plaut first served Congregation Beth El in Windsor as senior rabbi until 1984. During his time in Windsor he was also editor of the Journal of the Canadian Historical Society and Through the Sound of Many Voices: Writings Contributed on the Occasion of the 70th Birthday of W. Gunther Plaut. He then assumed the pulpit of Temple Emanu-El in San Jose, Calif., where he remained from 1985 to 1993.

Rabbi Plaut, earned a doctorate from HUC in 1977, then taught for eight years at Santa Clara University. Since October 2000, Rabbi Plaut had held the position of spiritual leader at Temple Beth Israel in Jackson, Mich.

Funeral services will be held at Holy Blossom Memorial Park in Toronto, and there will be a memorial service at Congregation Beth-El in Windsor. Further accounts of the rabbi’s accomplishments are listed here. May his memory be for blessing.