The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America

Marc Lee Raphael

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780231507066
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

This is the first anthology in more than half a century to offer fresh insight into the history of Jews and Judaism in America. Beginning with six chronological survey essays, the collection builds with twelve topical essays focusing on a variety of important themes in the American Jewish and Judaic experience.

The volume opens with early Jewish settlers (1654-1820), the expansion of Jewish life in America (1820-1901), the great wave of eastern European Jewish immigrants (1880-1924), the character of American Judaism between the two world wars, American Jewish life from the end of World War II to the Six-Day War, and the growth of Jews' influence and affluence. The second half of the book includes essays on the community of Orthodox Jews, the history of Jewish education in America, the rise of Jewish social clubs at the turn of the century, the history of southern and western Jewry, Jewish responses to Nazism and the Holocaust; feminism's confrontation with Judaism, and the eternal question of what defines American Jewish culture.

The contributions of distinguished scholars seamlessly integrate recent scholarship. Endnotes provide the reader with access to the authors' research and sources. Comprehensive, original, and elegantly crafted, The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America not only introduces the student to this thrilling history but also provides new perspectives for the scholar.

Contributors: Dianne Ashton (Rowan University), Mark K. Bauman (Atlanta Metropolitan College), Kimmy Caplan (Bar-Ilan University, Israel), Eli Faber (City University of New York), Eric L. Goldstein (University of Michigan), Jeffrey S. Gurock (Yeshiva University), Jenna Weissman Joselit (Princeton University), Melissa Klapper (Rowan University), Alan T. Levenson (Siegal College of Judaic Studies), Rafael Medoff (David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies), Pamela S. Nadell (American University), Riv-Ellen Prell (University of Minnesota), Linda S. Raphael (George Washington University), Jeffrey Shandler (Rutgers University), Michael E. Staub (City University of New York), William Toll (University of Oregon), Beth S. Wenger (University of Pennsylvania), Stephen J. Whitfield (Brandeis University)

Topical Essays

7

THE EVER DYING DENOMINATION

American Jewish Orthodoxy, 1824–1965

KIMMY CAPLAN

In a newspaper interview in 1912, Rabbi Leon Harrison (1866–1928) of the Reform congregation Temple Israel in St. Louis, declared that “Reform Judaism holds the future of American Judaism in its hands. . . . Under the conditions that prevail, orthodoxy [in America] is impossible.”¹ Several Orthodox rabbis and lay leaders of the mass immigration period, such as Rabbi Zalman J. Friederman (1865/66–1936) of Boston, shared a similar grim view regarding the future of Orthodoxy in America, although for different reasons.² This pessimistic outlook prevailed over several decades. For example, in a sermon published in 1946, Orthodox Rabbi Jacob D. Gordon wondered whether “there will, God forbid, come a time in which one will see the type of a real [i.e., Orthodox] Jew in a picture in chronicles or in an antique house.”³

The future of American Judaism and American Jews in general, and that of the Orthodox community in particular, has been and remains an issue of primary concern and interest for Jewish religious leaders, intellectuals, and scholars of American Judaism and Jewish life, and, although much less documented, rank-and-file Jews. This topic has been continuously discussed for over a century in various lectures, presentations, and sermons, as well as in texts, in both religious and nonreligious contexts and has been used as a platform for ongoing fundraising among numerous Jewish organizations for several decades.⁴

As far as the mostly pessimistic scenarios regarding the future of American Jewish Orthodoxy are concerned, this ongoing discussion is obviously tied to the ideological opinions of those relating to this topic, but also to the scholarly interest in American Orthodoxy, both directly and indirectly. These pessimistic scenarios are common among various Orthodox leaders no less than among their opponents and observers. The origins of this Orthodox self-perception regarding its uncertain survival in the future lay in this camp’s widespread historical outlook, according to which all Jews were traditional (i.e., in according to their understanding Orthodox) until the second half of the eighteenth century, and, within half a century (1800–1850), that number shrinking considerably. As a result of this quick and consequently most threatening development, Orthodoxy perceives itself as being in an ongoing struggle for its existence, and in order to exist its leaders developed various and at times different counterculture and enclave-culture strategies in order to survive.⁵

This chapter provides an overview of certain stages in the development of American Jewish Orthodoxy between 1824 and 1965, emphasizing several crossroads in which the perceived threat was that Orthodoxy is in a battle for its very survival. This discussion begins in 1824, the year in which Isaac Leeser (1806–1868) immigrated to America and the Reformed Society of Israelites was founded in Charleston, South Carolina—both landmark events in the history of Orthodoxy in America. Toward the mid-1960s it became evident that Orthodoxy survived all the pessimistic predictions, wishes, and prophecies regarding its probable disappearance, notwithstanding additional grim forecasts regarding its future that have appeared in later years, and therefore 1965 ends an era insofar as this article’s main theme in concerned.

I will highlight certain major themes and processes in the history of American Jewish Orthodoxy and the connections between these processes, including Orthodox perceptions of and attitudes toward America, the shift from Orthodoxy in America to American Orthodoxy, changing levels of openness and closeness, inclusion and seclusion, within Orthodoxy toward the surrounding Jewish and non-Jewish societies, as well as the development of certain subgroups within American Orthodoxy such as the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. In addition, this essay indirectly addresses certain Orthodox perceptions and images regarding American society, culture, and religion and the strategies of survival Orthodox leaders created and implemented in this distinctive Jewish Diaspora. Understanding these perceptions, images, and strategies would shed light on why, despite all the aforementioned predictions, American Jewish Orthodoxy has not disappeared but rather emerged as a vibrant community within contemporary American Judaism.

JEWISH ORTHODOXY SETS FOOT IN AMERICA

During the colonial period strictly observant Jews settled in America. The Spanish-Portuguese congregations were traditional in nature and demanded adherence to certain publicly noticeable aspects of religious observance, such as Sabbath observance in the public sphere. However, conservative religious practice is not identical with Orthodoxy. Neither these congregations nor their members were Orthodox. Rather they were traditional. Another expression of their traditional outlook is the fact that they did not consciously recognize definitions, such as religious and secular, and certainly had no sense of denominational-theological differences within Judaism, which did not seem to exist in their world-view.⁶ This is in complete contrast to later developments within American Jewish religious trends, which were self-conscious of these definitions as well as the differences between them and other religious denominations.

Ethnic differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews in America created tensions in many congregations, some of which did result in a split into two congregations as early as the second decade of the eighteenth century. These splits were not ideologically or theologically motivated, but rather related to different customs, liturgy, and pronunciation of prayers that Jews wished to maintain.⁷ In sum, ethnic differences, just as strict observance, may characterize a group or a congregation as Orthodox only when it is accompanied by a self-conscious traditionalizing approach.

Isaac Leeser is arguably the first self-conscious Orthodox Jew in the New World who left a notable mark on American Jewish history.⁸ Leeser immigrated to America from a village in Westphalia in 1824 and settled in Richmond, Virginia. In 1829 he began to serve as a hazan at Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia and thus embarked upon a career as a preacher, educator, scholar, and author of numerous publications.⁹ Leeser, who was influenced by German Orthodox rabbis and leaders prior to his arrival in America, strongly advocated religious observance, devoted time to improve what he perceived as the low level of Jewish education in America, as well as communal activities such as charity and battling Christian missionaries’ efforts, and, most important, began to set forth the grounds for the future organized Orthodox response to Reform Judaism, which, at the time, was not yet an organized movement.¹⁰

A portion of Leeser’s response to acts of reform within American congregations and their dangers to the future of Judaism in America was directed at an unprecedented development, which took place toward the end of 1824, just a few months after Leeser immigrated. The Reformed Society of Israelites, formed in Charleston, South Carolina, in December 1824, represented the first ideologically motivated split within an American Jewish congregation. Led by Isaac Harby, a group of young members of Congregation K.K. Beth Elohim decided to set up the Reformed Society, which developed into another congregation, after leaders rejected their petition requesting certain changes within the synagogue service. This society disintegrated toward the end of the 1830s, nevertheless, it influenced the religious atmosphere in Beth Elohim and ultimately was a strong force in the reforms that took place at Beth Elohim during the early 1840s.¹¹ In a sermon at Philadelphia’s Shearith Israel Congregation in February 1841, Leeser denounced Reform Judaism and its potential danger to the future of the Jewish people.¹²

While the debates around the split in Charleston waned gradually after Beth Elohim became the Reform congregation and Shearith Israel the Orthodox split-off alternative, the first ordained rabbi arrived in America. Rabbi Abraham J. Rice (1802–1862), originally of Bavaria, an observant and staunch Orthodox Jew who studied at Orthodox academies in Fuerth and Wuerzburg and was ordained by Rabbis Abraham Bing (1752–1841) and Abraham B. Hamburger (1770–1850), immigrated in 1840 and settled in Baltimore.¹³

There are several similarities between Rice and Leeser. For example, they both targeted reforms as a major problem for the future of Judaism in general and in America specifically, and both understood the pressing need for weekly sermons in the English language, although for different reasons than contemporary Reform rabbis.¹⁴ But unlike Leeser, Rice chose a much stronger anti-Reform strategy. Furthermore, Rice opposed any association with Reform rabbis, such as Leeser’s idea in 1848 to establish, together with Rabbi Isaac M. Wise (1819–1900), a national assembly of rabbis. By 1849 Leeser and Wise understood that this idea would not materialize and blamed each other for this failure.¹⁵

The basic difference between Rice and Leeser lays in the fact that whereas the former “gloomily predicted the demise of Judaism in the United States and stressed the absolute incompatibility of the faith of Israel with the spirit of America,” Leeser, like another of his Orthodox contemporaries, Rabbi Morris Raphall (1798–1868), was willing to recognize the need to address the conditions of Jewish life in America with an understanding that certain modifications must be made within Orthodoxy for it to survive.¹⁶

Leeser and Rice were not the only Orthodox rabbis in mid-nineteenth-century America who perceived the religious reforms as a major threat to Judaism and had a pessimistic outlook on the future of “true” Judaism (i.e., Orthodoxy) in America. Another example is Rabbi Dr. Bernard Illowy (1812–1871), who immigrated to America in the early 1850s and for the next two decades served as a teacher, preacher, and rabbi in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Syracuse, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Cincinnati.¹⁷

It is important to keep in mind the Jewish religious communal-congregational scene in order to understand these rabbis’ fears. They observed rapid changes in synagogue rituals within several congregations in the 1840s and 1850s, all of them leaning toward Reform.¹⁸ In addition, they experienced the arrival from Europe of several Reform rabbis and personalities associated with European Reform during these years, including Leo Merzbacher (1809–1856) between 1841 and 1843, Max Lilienthal (1815–1882) in 1845, Isaac M. Wise in 1846, and David Einhorn (1809–1879) in 1855, all of whom ultimately contributed, although primarily Wise, to the founding of the institutions of the Reform movement in America. As a result of this influx of Reform rabbis, local observers as well as others who visited America and were not part of the local scene, such as Israel J. Benjamin (1818–1864), predicted “that in the next generation Reform will gain the upper hand and that Judaism will be transformed.”¹⁹

This pessimistic outlook was shared by several leading European Orthodox rabbis, although for a slightly different reason. Upon receiving information about Jewish life in America in the 1840s–1860s, they concluded that a “true-believing” Orthodox Jew cannot conduct a religiously observant life in America, and therefore should not cross the Atlantic Ocean. These Orthodox rabbis pointed, in addition, to the potentially bad influences life in America would have on Orthodox Jews.²⁰

However, several additional Orthodox congregations developed in America starting in the mid-nineteenth century, such as Beth Hamedrash of New York, later known as Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, in 1852,²¹ and additional Orthodox rabbis arrived during these years. They created a small but firm stronghold for the Orthodox camp for a few decades, until new challenges arose, which, once again, led certain American rabbis and lay leaders to predict the possible demise of true Judaism in the New World.

AMERICAN JEWISH ORTHODOXY FACES THE CHALLENGES OF THE MASS IMMIGRATION

As we have seen, various American Jewish personalities and observers in the mid-nineteenth century were pessimistic about the future of Orthodoxy in this land because of the expansion of Reform, the relatively small numbers of Orthodox Jews and congregations, and the fact that Orthodoxy was not organized as a movement. This outlook should have changed in the wake of the mass immigration from eastern and central Europe to America. But Orthodoxy faced new challenges, such as a new overflow of immigrants, and contemporary rabbis and lay leaders perceived this mass immigration as threatening Orthodoxy’s very existence. If one of the main fears of American Orthodoxy in the mid-nineteenth century was the small numbers of Orthodox Jews in America, during the mass immigration era these fears were replaced by contrasting ones that related to the massive numbers of Orthodox Jews in America.

A combination of limited economic opportunities, significant demographic growth throughout the nineteenth century, and changing pol...