Borrah Kavelin
Borrah Kavelin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 16, 1906 |
| Died | December 18, 1988 |
| NSA member | United States 1950 - 1963 |
| IBC member | 1961 - 1963 |
| UHJ member | 1963 - 1988 |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Hamilton m. 1936, div. 1963 Manijeh Flore Taheri m. 1970 |
| Children | Thomas, John, and Linda |
| Signature |  |
Howard Borrah Kavelin (March 16, 1906 - December 18, 1988) was a Russian-born American Bahá’í who served as a member of the International Bahá’í Council from 1961 to 1963 and a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá’í Faith, from 1963 to 1988.
Biography[edit]
Kavelin was born in Russia to a distinguished Jewish family but the family immigrated to the United States when he was three and settled in Denver, Colorado, where his father served as a Rabbi and his mother founded the Beth Israel Hospital and Old Folks Home. Kavelin worked as an usher at an opera house in his youth and moved to New York City to pursue music and he met Martha Hamilton, a student at the Julliard School of Music, through music and they married in 1936.[1] At some point he studied at the University of Colorado.[2]
Kavelin struggled to make a career in music and became the secretary of a real estate firm in the 1930's and eventually became a partner in the firm. He was also introduced to the Bahá’í Faith by Edward and Carrie Kinney in the 1930's, declared in 1940, and in 1941 he was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of New York City. In 1943 in his professional career he joined the real estate company Durand Taylor and Co. as a partner and executive vice-president which remained his job until he departed the United States in 1963.[1]
As of 1949 Kavelin was chairman of the National Teaching Committee for the Northeastern States,[3] and in 1950 he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and he stood down from the Local Spiritual Assembly of New York to serve on the body and he went on to serve as Treasurer some years. He often represented the National Assembly at meetings with government officials and he assisted the Bahá’í community in drawing public attention to the 1955 wave of persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran. In 1957 he represented the National Assembly at the formation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Benelux Countries,[1] and was selected to represent it at the 1958 Intercontinental Conference in Kampala, Uganda.[4] Shoghi Effendi invited him to go on Pilgrimage before the Kampala Conference; however, the Guardian passed away in London before Kavelin could make the journey, and he instead attended the funeral of Shoghi Effendi in England.[4]
Kavelin was elected Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1958 and served in the role until 1963.[1] In 1961 he was elected to the International Bahá’í Council, which the Hands of the Cause had made an elected body to prepare for the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, however he was granted permission to serve as a 'member-at-large' and remain in America serving on the National Spiritual Assembly rather than relocating to the Holy Land. He was able to serve the Council from America and in 1961 he helped organize a campaign against the execution of Bahá’ís who had been imprisoned in Morocco.[4]
In 1963 the First International Convention was held in the Holy Land to establish the Universal House of Justice and Kavelin attended as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and was also elected as an inaugural member of the Universal House of Justice. He also attended the World Congress held in London the same year as a member of the Universal House of Justice and returned to the United States to prepare to move to Haifa, Israel, with a farewell luncheon being held for him in New York by his business associates.[4] Unfortunately his marriage ended in divorce at this time and he moved to Israel alone.[5]
In addition to his duties at the World Centre Kavelin undertook missions abroad for the Universal House of Justice and he was sent to Iran to consult on the financial needs of the Faith in 1965 and 1970. On his 1970 visit he met Manijeh Flore Taheri who served as his translator and they married that year. He visited Iran a third time in 1975 to consult on plans to construct the Seat of the Universal House of Justice. In 1979 he toured Europe, the United States, and Canada to inform the community of the situation in Iran and the impact on the international Bahá’í community following the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In 1987 he announced he was retiring from the Universal House of Justice following the completion of his term in 1988 and two weeks after his announcement he was hospitalized for surgery on his cancer but made a full recovery.[5]
In 1988 Kavelin returned to the United States and the National Spiritual Assembly asked him to speak at six "Vision to Victory" Conferences to be held around the country that year. His cancer recurred but he was able to speak at the first Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. He briefly fell into a coma after flying to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the second conference and returned to his home in Albuquerque after waking where he passed away three weeks later on December 18, 1988.[5] He was survived by two sons, Thomas and John, and a daughter, Linda.[2]
The International Youth Conference held in August 1993 in Brest, Belarus was called Borrah Kavelin International Youth Conference. It gathered participants from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and other countries.
Talks[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 822. View as PDF.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/21/obituaries/howard-kavelin-82-ex-real-estate-broker.html
- ↑ Baha'i News (1949). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 218, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 823. View as PDF.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 824. View as PDF.
References[edit]
- "Members of the Universal House of Justice". Beliefnet. 2002-09-13. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
