'Solomon Goldman: Rabbi's Rabbi,' Biographedby Weinstein, Reveals Era of Many Disputes
Solomon Goldman, author
of a number of classics on
the Bible and Jewish histori-
,a1 and literary research,
one of the great' rabbis of
our time, a distinguished
Zionist and a great orator,
left us a remarkable legacy.
Another eminent rabbi, Dr.
Jacob J. Weinstein, who be-
friended him in many co-
operative efforts, especially
in congregational matters
that linked their interests in
CFI' -0, pays him great
honor in the Ktav-published
"Solomon Goldman: A
Rabbi's Rabbi."
While Dr. Weinstein, who
is Rabbi Emeriturs of KAM
(Kehillat Anshe Maariv)
Temple, the oldest synagogue
in Illinois, reviews the con-
troversies in which. Rabbi
Goldman was involved—in
a law suit with the Ortho-
dox, the policies of Reform
Jewish leaders, the pre-
Israel tactics of JDC leaders,
the inner struggles in the
Zionist Organization — the
chief value of his biographi-
cal study of an eminent
friend is the evaluative por-
tions of Rabbi Goldman's
writings.
Rabbi Weinstein correctly
states that one of the major
— if not the major — in-
terests of Dr. Goldman were
in the advancement of the
Hebrew language. Defining
his friend's legacy to the
Jewish people he states:
"He was a pioneer in the
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
- Friday, August 24, 1973-13
SOLOMON GOLDMAN
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Rabbi Goldman's deep in-
terest in educational move-
ments and in cultural obliga-
tions also receives tribute in
this statement by the bi-
ographer:
"He was the first of the
Conservative and Reform
order your
rabbis to recognize the fact
that neither the Sunday
school nor the week-day He-
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brew school would be able
to convey adequately the
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essential facts or guiding
purpose of the Jewish story
to American Jewish youth."
Even the controversies are
incorporated in the "legacy"
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'Something for
all Parties
judgments was that he em-
bodied them in action. He
gave them high priority in
the programmed schedule of
his daily work. He actually
refused to campaign for
remedial charity in the Pale
of Settlement when Pales-
tine was available as a more
hopeful alternative. While
Mordecai Kaplan spelled out
with exquisite detail and
clarity the Israel-centered.
ness of a viable Judaism,
Goldman was meeting with
the decision makers in many
large communities to estab-
lish the ratio of allocation
between local civic and char-
itable needs and Palestine.
centered overseas needs. Ile
accented the onerous burden
of the presidency of the
American Zionist Organiza-
tion to convert an almost
moribund bureaucracy 'into
a more effective instrument
of the Zionist ideal. He was
not satisfied to bemoan the
inadequacy of the Sunday
religious school or the three-
afternoons - a - week Hebrew
school. He set about organ-
izing a day school which
would place Jewish learning
on a par with secular learn-
ing and provide a much
better opportunity to inte-
grate the value-forming and
character-forming potential
of both traditions—the Jew-
ish and the American. Just
as he refused to reject the
Diaspora in frenetic aban-
donment to Israel. so he
would not reject the adults
in over-compensating guilt-
ridden enthusiasm for the
messiahship of the young.
He set about to shore up and
redeem the neglected, shal-
low Jewish education of
those who were nominal
Jews and still willing to bear
the label of Jew. Therefore.
he organized one of' the most
complete and far-reaching
systems of adult education
to be sponsored by any con-
gregation in the land. He
participated in the active
teaching of classes—especial-
ly Hebrew classes, to satisfy
himself that the adult Jew
could successfully be brought
back to the tradition of
Talmud Torah."
That is why Weinstein
calls Solomon Goldman "A
Rabbi's Rabbi" and de-
clares: "The life of So'omon
Goldman offers convincing
testimony that one man in
his time can make a gift
without which his generation
and those that come after
would be much poorer in-
deed."
The proof of the literary
and rabbinic research
achievements of Rabbi Gold-
man is in the second part of
this volume in which tho
biographer has incorporated
very lengthy excerpts from
Rabbi Goldman's "The Book
of Human Destiny," and cor-
respondence Rabbi Goldman
had with Louis Marshall,
Louis Finkelstein, Albert
Einstein, Chaim Weizmann,
Stephen S. Wise, Judge
Julian W. Mack, Louis D.
Brandeis and Martin Buber.
It is in some of these
letters that the reader will
find documentary data on
the disputes in which Gold-
man was involved in his
busy lifetime.
When Goldman became
rabbi of the Cleveland Jew-
ish Center, the Orthodox
minority objected to the re-
forms he instituted in the
introduction of Conservative
Judaism's methods of ob-
servance, including the seat-
ing of men and women to-
gether at services. The case
was taken to court and the
list of grievances appears in
Weinstein's description of the
case which he calls the first
Jewish "heresy trial" in this
country. Goldman personally
answered the charges and
the court ruled against the
Orthodox complainants.
(A similar case was the
famous protest under the
leadership of Baruch Litvin
in Mt. Clemens, Mich., many
years later. The verdict in
that case was in favor of the
Litvin Orthodox group).
Then there was the con-
troversy that involved the
Joint Distribution Commit-
tee, when Goldman rejected
an invitation from David A.
Brown to join a JDC task.
Out of it emerged the cor-
respondence between Gold-
man and Louis Marshall —
the latter excoriating him as
one who ignores the needs
for relief of East European
Jews out of a zealousness
for the settlement of Jews
in Palestine. Goldman, of
course, denied the charge.
(There were similar con-
demnations of Zionists by
Christian anti-Zionists, nota-
bly those who were aligned
with Dorothy Thompson. The
charges were that Zionists
ignored other havens of
refuge for the one in Eretz
Israel. History proved the
injustice of the charges and
the reality of Zionist ap-
proaches).
This dispute is played up
considerably by Weinstein
who indicates how Dr. Go'd-
man had condemned the
"yahudim" when the rich
Jews dominated the Jewish
scene while failing to ap-
preciate the vastness of the
Zionist program.
It is as a Zionist that Gold-
man emerges here in great
glory, both in his corre-
spondence with Brandeis,
Einstein, Mack and Weiz-
mann, and in his role as
president of the Zionist Or-
ganization of America. _
Dr. Goldman was elected
ZOA president at the conven-
tion in Detroit, July 3, 1938.
It was an exciting time when
Goldman contested fo rthe
post with Rabbi Israel Gold-
stein. If this reviewer's
memory serves him correct.
ly, Rabbi Israel Levinthal
also was a candidate but
withdrew.
Weinstein makes much of
Goldman's eventual struggle
within the movement and his
strife with staff in New
York. He had established na-
tional headquarters in Wash-
ington. Mention is made of
the secretaryship of Rabbi
Isidor Breslau, but there is
not a word about Breslau's
successor, the late Simon
Shetzer of Detroit, who
served under the leadership
of Rabbi Israel Goldstein, the
man Goldman defeated and
who became the 1938 victor's
successor.
As a matter of fact, Wein-
stein's story of the Detroit
ZOA convention is incom-
plete and it fails to indicate
the basic interests and the
Goldman role. At that con-
vention, the Goldman friend-
ship with the late A. H. (Hes
Aleph) Friedland assumed
an extraordinary role. Wein-
stein did not look into the
fact that Goldman had op-
position and that one of his-
toric ZOA sessions was when
Goldman- presented his quali-
fications for the presidency
at the same meeting with the
other contestants, Rabbis
Goldstein and Levinthal.
It was an exciting time
because Hes Aleph Fried-
land was joined in advan-
cing the Goldman candidacy
by Dr. Wise, Si Shetzer and
this reviewer who also count-
ed Rabbi Goldman • as a
friend in his many interests,
especially the Zionist. Our
friendship commenced when
I interviewed him during
what Weinstein now chooses
to call the "heresy trial."
And the special features of
this reviewer that were syn-
dicated by JTA, honoring
Goldman, viewing his life
and achievements, were un-
doubtedly the first biograph-
ical pieces written about the
"Rabbi's Rabbi."
Goldman criticized Reform
and also had differences
with Reconstructionism; yet
his friendships with leaders
of both movements, especial.
ly with Weinstein and with
Mordecai Kaplan, constitute
other important factors in
the Goldman story. Students
of Reform-Conservative dif-
ferences will find Weinstein's
biography of Goldman of
special interest on this score.
Weinstein could have done
much better in his treatment
of the A. H. Friedland role
in Goldman's life. Hes Aleph,
who was one of the very
great educators of this cen-
tury, was very close to the
Goldman family. Perhaps it
is well that only one refer-
ence is made in the book to
the "hostility" displayed to-
ward Goldman by Abba
Hillel Silver; and one other
reference to an alleged
lesser achievement of Dr.
Silver in advancing Jewish
education. If the Goldman-
Friedland alliance in rela-
tion to the antagonism from
Silver were to be fully re-
lated, is would be a sad
chapter indeed.
Goldman as a synagogue-
centered man is adequately
elaborated upon by Wein-
stein. The cultural achieve-
ments of the man who took
over the pulpit of Anshe
Emet in Chicago when he
saved it from collapse — it
had 90 members left when
he came to Chicago and it
grew to one of the largest
congregations in the country
under his guidance. He drew
young people to his classes.
He created a day school that
established a precedent for
the country at large.
He began a 13-volume
library based on his Bible
studies and was able to com-
plete only three — but to his
death in 1953. A serious ac-
cident a few years prior to
that curtailed his activities.
It is regrettable that Wein-
stein's view of Goldman's
struggles with the ZOA ad-
ministrative forces should be
tinged with a measure of
bias. There are internal con-
flicts that are inevitable in
a movement as important as
the Zionist was 'in those
years. To place all blame on
unmentioned forces in the
New York ZOA office as if
they were ruthless is unfair.
Weinstein should have
searched for facts more
thoroughly before condemn-
ing jobholders.
At any rate, the tribute to
Solomon Goldman is a cor-
rect one: he was, indeed, the
"Rabbi's Rabbi," as the Re-
form biographer-admirer de-
scribes the . eminent Con-
servative rabbi. Those of us
who worked with Solomon
Goldman will readily attest
to the encomia contained in
the Weinstein biography.
—P.S.