H EADLINES
Temple Sinai prior to its move
to the suburbs. He became a
bar mitzvah at the synagogue
and attended Hebrew school at
Gratz College. In the summers,
Kazan went to Camp Ramah.

After graduating from
Central High School, Kazan
attended Temple University
and Hebrew University in
Jerusalem (he’d continue
his studies at Gratz College,
Dropsie College and UCLA).

As he learned Hebrew and
fell further in love with Israel,
Kazan was vexed by pressing
questions, both professional
and philosophical. Should
he become a rabbi or teach
philosophy? How would it
work with his soon-to-be-
wife, Marian Axelrod, if he
was in Israel and she was still
in Philadelphia?
Axelrod, who had known
Kazan since they were
teenagers, answered the latter
My father was an extremely charismatic person. Whenever you
walked in the room, you felt his presence.”
DEDE KAZAN
by traveling to Israel via sea and
air. Th e professional dilemma
was resolved when Kazan
had a meeting with David
Ben-Gurion. The meeting
with one of Israel’s founding
fathers convinced Kazan that
the American rabbinate would
the best way for him to serve
his fellow Jews.

Kazan and Axelrod were
married by Israel’s fi rst chief
rabbi, Isaac Herzog, in 1955,
when Kazan knocked on the
eminent rabbi’s door and asked
him for a little favor.

Prior to their return to
Philadelphia, Kazan and his
family lived in New York
while he attended the Jewish
Th eological Seminary, and East
Paterson, New Jersey, where
he was a student rabbi. He
led Congregation Ner Tamid
in Van Nuys, California,
also serving as an Air Force
chaplain. Back in Philadelphia with
Charities, served as a leader
within the Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia and was a
committed Zionist.

Rabbi Bob Layman, a
longtime friend and colleague
of Kazan’s, remembers Kazan
as a an exuberant, extroverted
presence, never afraid to share
an opinion or an idea, with “an
enormous capacity for work.”
However charismatic he was
with congregants, it was in
conversation with colleagues,
Layman said, where Kazan
“truly let his hair down.”
Kazan was predeceased
by his wife, Marian. He is
survived by his children, Liebe
Gelman, Dede Rachel Kazan,
Adam Kazan, Faith Kazan
and Linda Kazan; his sister,
Bonnie Kanefsky; and fi ve
grandchildren. ●
his family, Kazan took the
pulpit at his fi rst local congre-
gation, Congregation Melrose
B’nai Israel, and never looked
back. He loved Philadelphia
— its history, its Jews and its
football team. He led Jewish-
themed tours of Philadelphia,
and watched Eagles games
with the television on mute
and the radio broadcast of
the game turned up. He was
also a devoted supporter jbernstein@jewishexponent.com;
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