Friday, September 12, 1969 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-51 Story of Turbulent Era: U.S. Reform. Ilabis Recalls Their First 'Meeting 100 Years Ago 11 Happy Holiday By BERTRAM WALLACE KORN attempt to find areas of agreement of the state in regard to both mar- Editors Note: Dr. Bertram W. Korn. rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Philedelphla, was, in its early days. associate director of the American Jewish Archives. The Archives, on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Is under the direction of Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, professor of American Jewish history.) * • This fall marks the 100th anni- versary of the meeting in Phila- delphia of the first American Re- form rabbinical conference. From Nov. 3-6, 1869, 15 rabbis, all of them immigrants from Europe. dis- cussed and argued over a series of theological and ritual matters of importance to them and to their fellow Jews. That the meeting was held at all was a deep significance. It was an admission that all hope had been abandoned for the formation of a transsectarian rabbinical associa- tion which would bring together rabbis whose positions ran the gamut from orthodox to traditional to moderate to liberal to radical. One such gathering which had been held in Cleveland in 1855 under the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise was followed by bitter at- tacks and recriminations. The Philadelphia sessions, called at the bequest of Rabbis Samuel Adler of Temple Emanu-El and David Einhorn or Adath Jeshurun Con- gregation, both of New York City, and both radicals, were an indica- tion that many if not most of the Reform leaders were unwilling to and compromise with their Con- servative colleagues. All of these sessions were held in the home of Rabbi Samuel Hirsch of Keneseth Israel Con- gregation of Philadelpiha, pos- sibly the first and only American rabbinical convention to have its business conducted in a private home. Hirsch was elected presi- dent, but he withdrew from the position when he found that he had voted with the minority on a theological matter. He was suc- ceeded by Adler, who served as vice-president. Adler's replacement in that office was James h. Gutheim, also of Temple Emanu-El. Rabbis Bern- hard Felsenthal of Zion Congrega tion, Chicago, and Moses Miel- ziner of Anshe Chesed Congrega- tion, New York, were the secre- taries. Isaac Mayer Wise of Cin- cinnati served as acting president for a time during Adler's absence. Rabbis from Albany, Baltimore, Detroit, Selma and St. Louis were also in attendance. The language of the meetings was German, and the final record of the proceedings was published in Ger- man, but extensive reports were printed in English in the Jewish Times of New York and the Israel- ite of Cincinnati. The pronouncements of the con- ference were divided into three categories. The first, religious prin- ciples, included opposition to the idea of the restoration of a Jewish ************* HOLIDAY GOOD CHEER state, to the perpetuation of distinc- r**** tions between Cohanim and other Jews, and to the belief in resur- rection, and support for the con- .5 * cept of the mission of Israel, for II the belief in immortality of the soul 33 Vernier Rood . * * and for worship in the vernacular. it Grosse Pointe Shores * ' The second section of statements TU 4-3980 * related to marriage and divorce: .....,,..1 the bride, to be regarded as an I equal partner in the weddings, was Season's Greetin gs given an appropriate pledge to make to her groom; changes were made in the text of the wedding service: any possible rabbinic or Flowers - Gifts biblical warrant for polygamy was Shops in Sheraton - Cadillac Hotel scorned: religious divorce and the Statler Hotel i ceremonies relating to levirate WO 1-1992 marriage were rejected; the law i........................ ■ .........—..i CHARLES M * CLAPSADDLE *** 1 — I I KAY DANZER 1 1 i Holiday Greetings SUSIE Q RESTAURANT Fish and Chips—Chicken—Jumbo Shrimp Lobster Tails that you will enjoy—Home-mode Pies Beautiful dining room—Large Parties 2216 N. Woodward, Mile N. of 12 Mile Rd., Royal Oak LI 3-7300 Wishing Our many friends and customers-, A vedy Happy and Prosperous New Year Diamonds are our Specialty. Any size and any shape. WIDENBAUM JEWELRY 35 West Grand River, 8th Floor Detroit, Michigan cision, the status of the uncir- cumcized son of a Jewish mother as a Jew was declared to be unconditional. The mood of the convention was vigorous and resolute. The rabbis had no doubts about their author- ity, although Mielziner did indi- , cate that he was not authorized to speak for his congregation and would not bind them to accept the ' decisions of the rabbis. r Rabbi David Einhorn, the most outspoken radical reformer in America. believed that "the con-1 gregations in general are not yet mature enough to rise to the heights of Judaism." He meant that the average Jew was still too sentimental about traditional cus- toms, too attached to the past to be intellectually free. Wise tried at the very end of the convention, to steer his colleagues toward the pro- gram which he had been advocat- ing for 20 years: "a congregational meeting, the founding of a semin- ary, the providing of Bibles and schoolbooks . . ." But Einhorn's view won out when the matter was put to a vote: the laymen were not to be involved in these discussions. The radical in the East, under Einhorn's leadership, were content to continue discussing theories and rituals, in German, and to an- nounce their views to their lay followers. Wise and other moder- ates in the mid-West and South were passionately convinced that the survival of Reform, indeed of all American Judaism, depended upon the organization of a congre- gational union and the establish- ment of a rabbinical seminary. Other meetings of rabbis were held in the following years. but they did not lead to anything significant. The first real American rabbinical organization was created many years later, in 1889. Its numbers were flushed out by the rabbis who had been educated at the Hebrew Union College which Wise opened in 1875, two years after the forma- tion of the Union of American He- brew Congregations which he and the lay leaders of Cincinnati called into being in 1873—four years after he realized that his distinguished Reform colleagues did not have the vision to do this. Perhaps the reason was so simple that no one realized it: their Ger- man predecessors had not organ- ized a congregational union or es- tablished a rabbinical seminary. One curious fact about the Philadelphia meeting — in stark contrast to any rabbinical assem- bly of our day—is that neither Einhorn—who had been the great Jewish champion of abolitionism in the Civil War period—nor any- one else, said anything about social, political or economic con- ditions in the United States, or about anti-Jewish prejudice, or the relations between Judaism and Christianity. 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