Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X THE RABBI OF CONGREGATION BENE YESHURUN On April 26, 1854, Isaac Mayer Wise arrived in Cincinnati, and during the next forty-six years his entire life was devoted to the cause of Judaism in America. This successful career covering the last half of the nineteenth century can be appreciated best if his many-sided activities are considered separately. Naturally they overlap and are so interwoven one with the other that it will be.difficult to portray any one without reference to the others. However, a clear insight into his power, force, and influence can be had by setting forth in greater detail each phase of his activity, that of rabbi of the congregation Bene Yeshurun, editor of the American Israelite, founder of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Hebrew Union College, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. In 1854, Cincinnati had a population of about 155,000 of whom four thousand were Jews. The first Jew settled in Cincinnati in the first week of March, 1817. He was a native of Plymouth, England. About the time of his arrival another Jew from Portsmouth, England, settled at Connersville, Indiana. Other English Jews settled in Cincinnati between 1820 and 1830, and during the same period some Dutch and French Jews arrived. About 1830 the Polish and German Jewish immigration began, and within a decade the English Jews were outnumbered by the Germans, who continued to arrive in large numbers during the succeeding decades. In the fall of 1819 the English Jews in Cincinnati held the first Jewish services in the West, and on January 4, 1824, a meeting of the resident Jews of Cincinnati was held at the home of Morris Moses when steps were taken to organize a congregation, and on the 18th day of January, 1824, the...