Richard Saul Sternberger

Richard's Obituary Richard Sternberger, Rabbi and Navy Chaplain dies at 83 Rabbi Richard Sternberger of Falls Church, Virginia, formerly the Mid Atlantic Director for Reform Judaism and a long-time United States Navy Chaplain died Monday (January 11th) at Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia. He died from injuries received in a fall. Born August 10, 1926, Rabbi Sternberger grew up in Philadelphia and shocked his parents when he told them he wanted to become a Rabbi. Sternberger spent many summers of his youth in Lauderdale County with his first cousins Betty Berg and Sam Berg, Jr. of Ripley. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and then entered the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati where he was ordained as a Rabbi in 1952. In 1952, he joined the United States Navy and became a Jewish Chaplain, serving first in Korea. Rabbi Sternberger ministered to Sailors and Marines of all faiths. Sternberger once told of a time when a young injured Catholic Marine called him "Padre" and, according to Sternberger, there was no reason to correct the young man. Sternberger would stay with the Navy Reserves for the next thirty years, rising to the rank of Captain. Sternberger served the Navy on and off shore including a stint as the Jewish Chaplain at the United States Naval Academy. Sternberger became Assistant Rabbi at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in 1954 where he remained until 1958. In 1958, he was named Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of White Plains, NY later called Congregation Kol Ami. Rabbi Sternberger spent a lifetime fighting for social justice. In 1964, he worked in Macomb, Mississippi to help register black voters. Throughout that summer, African American homes and churches throughout Macomb suffered from bombings, arson, and vandalism. On October 26, 1964, during a non-violent sit-in on the McComb courthouse steps, Sternberger was arrested and jailed along with 26 other ministers and civil rights workers on charges of trespassing and refusing to obey an officer. In 1967, Sternberger joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union of Reform Judaism) where he ultimately became Regional Director of the Mid-Atlantic Council. In addition to overseeing relations with synagogues throughout the region, Rabbi Sternberger was responsible for starting and growing new congregations. In 1989, Rabbi Sternberger helped found the Temple Bat Yam on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He served the congregation as its Rabbi until 1999. For many years, Rabbi Sternberger attended and conducted services at Temple Adas Israel in Brownsville. Sternberger is survived by many cousins including the Feist family, formerly of Ripley, and the Levy family of Brownsville. He will be buried in the Temple Adas Israel Cemetery in Brownsville. Read More Read Less