Born in the Galician town
of Narol, Poland, he was ordained as a rabbi and settled in
Lvov (now Lviv, in the Ukraine). From 1922 to 1928 he was a
member of the Sejm, the Polish Parliament. Active in the
Mizrachi movement; he helped found Ha-Poel ha-Mizrachi and
was president of the Galicia Zionist Organization from 1924
until 1930, when he was appointed rabbi of the United Hebrew
Congregation of Helsinki and from 1931, Chief Rabbi of
Finland. Federbusch fostered Jewish-Christian understanding,
helped to defeat a bill banning kosher slaughter and worked
to obtain entry visas for refugees from Nazi Germany. From
1940 Federbusch served as rabbi in New York and principal of
the Salanter Yeshiva in the Bronx. He was president of Ha-Poel
ha-Mizrachi of America, 1942-48 and from 1944 was chairman
of the Histadrut Ivrit Hebrew-speaking association. A
prolific author, he wrote in several languages on rabbinical
literature and Jewish and Zionist thought.
Bibliography
FEDERBUSCH, Simon,
H-Lashon ha-`Ivrit be-Yi´sra'el uva-`anim. Pp. 406.
Yerushalayim, Mosad ha-Rav Kuk [1967]
FEDERBUSCH, Simon.
Ha-Musar veha-mishpat be-Yi´sra'el. Mahad. hadashah `im
tosafot. Pp. 203. Yerushalayim: Mosad ha-Rav Kuk, 739
[1979]
