Funeral services were held today for Dr. Joshua Bloch, former chief librarian of the New York Public Library’s Jewish Division and an ordained rabbi, who died here Friday of a heart attack suffered while delivering a sermon at Creedmoor State Hospital. Dr. Bloch, who had been head of the library’s Jewish Division for 33 years until his retirement last year and who was senior visiting chaplain of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene for 35 years, was 67.
Dr. Bloch was born in Lithuania and came to the United States in 1907. He studied at Hebrew Union College where he was ordained, and at Dropsie College, Columbia University, Jewish Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary and New York University. An author, scholar of early Hebrew printing, Jewish literature and bibliography. Dr. Bloch also served on the faculties of NYU and the Jewish Institute of Religion and was a vice president of the American Jewish Historical Society and a member of the national committee of the National Jewish Welfare Board.
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