THE
N E W A M E R I C A N JEW
American Jewish Life
as seen from Albany, New York,
September, 1847
by
ISAAC MAYER
WISE
a translation from the German
of Rabbi Wise's
earliest known published writing
by Sefton D. Temkin,
Professor of Jewish History
State University of New York at Albany
issued on the occasion
of the annual meeting of the
American Jewish Historical Society
April 2 9 - M a y 1, 1977
CONGREGATION BETH EMETH
100 Academy Road
Albany, New York
founded March 25, 1838
P U B L I S H E D IN M E M O R Y
OF THEIR PARENTS
by
Mr. and Mrs. William Barnet II
on behalf of
CONGREGATION BETH EMETH
established December 1, 1885
as a merger of
Congregation Beth El
founded 1838
Congregation Anshe Emeth
founded 1850
B E R N A R D H. BLOOM, Rabbi
M A R T I N I. S I L V E R M A N , Rabbi
HOWARD M. S T A H L , Cantor
N O R M A N M. P A U L , Executive Secretary
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Ernest 0 . Berman . .
Edward L. Bookstein
Audrey P. Kaufmann
Jason A . Baker . . . .
President
.1st Vice President
2nd Vice President
Treasurer
Judge Milton Alpert
Laurence Barnet
Evan C. Teinman
Marvin A. Freedman
Arnold W. Grushky
Robert S. Herman
Alan V . Iseiin
Dr. Robert C. Lieberman
Hon. Harvey Lifset
Dr. Leonard Miller
Frederic Paul
Adele Pickar
Patricia Snyder
Charles M. Stern, III
Harvey Stulmaker
Morton H. Swartz
Merton L. Zubres
PAST PRESIDENTS
Lazarus S. Bach
William Barnet, II
Frederick S. deBeer, Jr.
Alan V. Iseiin
Frank S. Lyons
Hon. Sol Rubenstein
ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG DES JUDENTHUMS XI: 51
Leipzig, December 13,
1847
A L B A N Y , September 9
(A private communication from Rabbi Dr. Wise)
It will certainly be of gratifying interest to you, as to
every friend of Judaism, to hear of the splendid development
and the fine progress of German-American Jewry. A new life
- Liberty — courses through its veins, and it breathes with a
free spirit and expresses a rejuvenated strength in all of its
doings.
Benevolent Providence opened for us this vast dwellingplace, this magnificent homeland, to protect us when the
Northern storm burst over us, and dense clouds encircled the
Morning Sun, the East. It would be superfluous to tell you
that Judaism develops far more swiftly and splendidly in the
sunlight of freedom, than when spiritual or secular authority
forces progress — or rather, suppresses it.
New congregations are arising everywhere in the United
States: in Rochester and Buffalo, in the State of New York;
in Bangor, Maine; in Hartford, Connecticut; Newark and
Patterson, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; and in Montgomery,
Alabama, new German-Jewish congregations have recently
formed. To be sure, they all begin by merely furnishing a
room for worship, buying a Sefer Torah [a Torah scroll], and
appointing a Chazan [Cantor], since at the beginning such a
congregation usually consists of a mere 20 to 40 members.
But i f one returns to such a congregation after two or
three years, one is sure to find a fine building on an elegant
street, bearing the inscription: Synagogue for the Children of
Israel. Likewise, the congregation possesses excellent laws
completely determined in conformity with the Constitution
of the United States, and a Charity Association with the
humane duty of helping the poor and sick, and burying the
dead.
And i f you ask me how things look in these quickly
mushrooming synagogues, I can answer you thus: order,
silence and decorum are strictly observed in every synagogue,
since each person is zealously devoted to maintaining and
glorifying the undertaking which he himself has founded, and
since they are often visited during worship by Christian
brethren. Silence and decorum in houses of worship are the
national custom here, and the Israelite cheerfully complies.
A t present choirs are found in only three congregations:
in the Temple of Congregation Emanu-El, in New York —
(this congregation recently bought a magnificent church for
$12,000 which it has refurnished as a synagogue) — in Albany,
and in Philadelphia. Since the new Temple affords them considerable competition, it is confidently expected that the three
[New York] synagogues under Dr. Lilienthal's rabbinate will
now quickly push through the formation of choirs for their
synagogues. Once the German congregations in New York
have improved their ritual, this rejuvenation of public worship
would spread throughout the United States — New York being
the model for the other congregations — were it not that we
completely lack musically trained Chazanim [Cantors]. This
is the only reason why the old form of service is still favored
nearly everywhere.
Since the majority of our Chazanim [Cantors] are as
well versed in teaching as in music, they must also bear the
blame for the complete neglect of the Religious School. (Each
child enjoys free elementary education in the public schools,
where religious instruction is not allowed.) In most communities there is no Religious School of any kind. In a few the
Chazan [Cantor] teaches Hebrew reading and has the children
read a little in various catechisms, and frequently the miracle
occurs that a boy learns to render the Neginah [chant] and a
few chapters of Chumash [the Pentateuch — the first five
books of the Bible] into German.
In this connection it must be taken into consideration
that the children usually understand very little German, since
they have to attend English schools. In other congregations
they have introduced a phantom affair called a Sunday School.
There religious instruction for children is imparted each
Sabbath or Sunday by good-hearted young women. What
fruits these few hours can bring forth hardly necessitates
further description.
But don't shudder for Judaism in our America! This
snake [of inadequate education] too will have its head
crushed.
Isaac Mayer Wise
as a young rabbi
There was a time here when the Israelite denied his
religion out of false shame, but now he acknowledges with
pride, "I am a German Jew." Not long ago he celebrated
neither Shabbat [Sabbath] nor Y o m Tov [festival], but now
there are few Israelites who profane their days of rest. Only a
few ministers and a few sermons have acquainted the people
with their spiritual needs, with the inner values of Judaism.
Yet this stimulus has been sufficient to bring about a rapid
turn for the better.
The spoken and written word possess indescribable power
here, especially when directed to Germans in their native
tongue. The people are easy to convince of the need for essential things and the truth of genuine ideas, and to inspire with
enthusiasm for the most vigorous action. Thus the day will
most surely come when our Religious Schools will be judged
more favorably. The beginning — a beginning that is full of
vigor — has been made, and like the choirs, schools too must
spread quickly as soon as we have here a few Chazanim
[Cantors] with knowledge and purpose.
I am greatly pleased to be able to draw your attention to
a young vigorously-flourishing "Hebrew-English Institution"
in New York, and to others in Albany, New Orleans and Cincinnati where Hebrew, English and German instruction is
carried on zealously and with the best results by qualified
teachers. The biggest of these institutes is undoubtedly "the
Union School" in New York, founded by Dr. Lilienthal and at
present directed by him.
Three hundred children are brought together there from
all the German congregations, as well as from the Polish,
Dutch and English, to be instructed by six teachers. The permanent body for maintaining this school and providing free
education for poor children numbers 400 members.
Though the outcome of New York's having only one
school may be unfavorable, it is nevertheless desirable that
only one school should exist. For " U n i o n " is the significant
word which has given the Western continent such an important
significance in world history. Only through " U n i o n " can we
expect something great from New York.
The "Union School" is an excellent tie which gently
binds the ten congregations together. If the present plans are
carried out, for which active committees of the various charitable organizations have been appointed, so that a general
Chevrah Kedishah [Burial Society] and a general "Jewish
Hospital" be established, then a solid foundation-stone for
Union for all things good and great will have been laid.
Don't shudder at all for Judaism in our America! Things
are better established here than people in Europe think. While
the complete freedom of conscience which people enjoy here
causes immense trouble in other religions, and splits up the
church into sects which conflict on the most trivial absurdities and condemn each other altogether intolerantly, pursuing
one another with an endless number of missionaries, Judaism
— unhampered and of one opinion — makes use of this freedom to develop, seeking to establish a firm footing everywhere, and thereby attain its goal more swiftly.
Thus far, freedom of conscience has worked favorably
for Judaism. Indifference has disappeared, since the Jew may
be assailed by missionaries and other sectarians, and so must
always put himself in a state of defense. People delve into the
Bible, enter readily into discussions with more knowledgeable
associates, listen attentively to sermons and religious instruction, because they hope to find useful weapons. But the
searching, the talking, and the listening are the death of
Judaism's two fierce enemies — indifference and ignorance.
Freedom of conscience here has another consequence for
Judaism. Many individuals and families who had been baptized into the Christian faith in Europe, live here once more
as Jews quite strictly. Dr. Lilienthal at their request recently
ordered two Meshumadim [Apostates] to perform Teshuvah
[acts of penitence].
That is still not all. Consider, for example, that in the
last six months ten Christians were received into the bosom of
Judaism - seven in New York and three in Albany — and last
week a man of thirty allowed himself to be circumcised so as
to become a Jew. A l l this, although we do not disturb the
world with missionaries, and would as soon send each dear
fellow back as to receive him into Judaism.
For your complete reassurance I can still add that this
religious competition never leads to animosity, since the
American home and church are just as separate from each
other as state and church. Just as the political parties wrestle
and fight one another and confront each other, so that the
men of the differing parties are taken to be the bitterest enemies — yet without effecting the slightest impact on private
intercourse or occasioning the slightest animosity - so with
religious divisions. A n d here Judaism is considered a religious
denomination. It enjoys equal rights, but uses its privileges in
that respect only to maintain and develop itself.
Here the German Jew is energetic and an active participant in political just as in religious life. He is a patriot because
he has cause to be one. On July 4th you find all the synagogues filled with thankful hearts, although no one orders it.
In the army you find Jewish volunteers serving the fatherland.
When public offices are to be filled, the Jew is assuredly at the
polls to cast his vote for the best man. In the fire watch, the
militia, and other voluntary services, an enormous number of
Jews is found.
A t the laying of the foundation stone of the Washington
Monument in New York on October 18 this past year, Jewish
societies marched in the huge procession. "The German
Hebrew Benevolent Society" and the secret society B'nai
B'rith particularly stood out for their numbers and magnificence.
One has to live here and observe daily life in order to
understand it, for there are no words to describe it. Everyone
lives a free life, and each man tries, according to his manner
and his own inclination, to maintain and enhance this free
life in religious as in political affairs.
The death of Miss Grace Aguilar has touched us here the
more painfully, since there is an even greater lack of the kind
of literature she wrote than one might think. There are few
who champion Anglo-Jewish literature, but many opponents,
and this will long continue until we can get English works
from our Germans.
Your lectures, Herr Doktor, on the history, content and
role of Judaism have been read here with the most sincere
appreciation of their classical worth. We hope shortly to be
able to lay before the English-speaking public a good English
translation of them.
I beg leave in conclusion to request one more favor of
you — that you soon enrich us again with a volume of your
sermons, since in your last volumes you wrote such beautiful
truths, both numerous and eminent. Your last volume taught
me more than I had ever expected to find in sermons, which
immediately makes me zealous in my request.
Be assured of my respect, and I would be greatly obliged
if you would find space in your widely-read paper for my
letter, in which I have impartially described my surroundings.
DR. WISE, "RABBI OF ALBANY
TRANSLATOR'S
COMMENTS
Isaac Mayer Wise's written works are as diverse in character as
they are extensive in quantity. The books to which his name is attached
deal with history, theology, liturgy and fiction. From 1854 until his
death in 1900 he edited two weekly newspapers. The Israelite and Die
Deborah, one in English and one in German, and tossed off a great
number of editorials voicing his opinions on the affairs of the day. These
dealt not only with matters pertaining to the Jewish community but
with every topic that struck his fancy, whatever the quarter of the globe
from which it originated or the sphere of human activity which it concerned. He travelled every summer and wrote descriptions of the places
and persons he encountered.
His letter is, in a sense, a travel report following his first and
most important journey. It deals with conditions in the strange new
world, written to enlighten the people back home. It has special interest
because, as far as is known, it is the first occasion on which Wise appeared
in print and thus, the first rivulet which later swelled into a torrent.
This report was written in 1847, about a year after he had arrived
in the United States and settled in Albany. Already he was exhaling
American freedom. While he lived in the German world the opportunity
to express himself would not have come so readily. The world of letters
was affected by the general class consciousness, and his status as religious
functionary in a small Bohemian community would hardly have admitted
him to the circle of those whose description of current affairs would
have been considered worthy of circulation. But if he would hardly have
been considered a prophet in his own country, distance enlarged the
interest in his words. America was opening up; its vast spaces beckoned
the disinherited of the Old World; the land of freedom called those whom
restrictive laws deprived of the opportunity to make use of their talents.
That freedom and democracy would illumine the European sky seemed
a faint hope in 1847. The liberals yearned for the ideals of representative government, trial by jury, an unfettered press and religious equality,
but the political system erected by Metternich seemed secure, as did the
determination of the monarchs and their feudal clients to resist the
slightest incursion of new ideas. The sun was rising in the West where
unlimited freedom shed its rays on unlimited resources.
Wise wrote as a recent immigrant to the United States in a period
which saw a substantial stream of immigrants cross to Atlantic from
Central Europe to the United States. The periodical in which he wrote,
Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums had been established ten years
earlier. To say that it was the first Jewish newspaper would be to invite
controversy. It was certainly one of the first, and its appearance marked
a departure in Jewish journalism because it appeared regularly (once a
week sometimes more often) and was aimed at the layman, not at the
specialist. It is not difficult to imagine the interest of the laity in the
condition of their brethren in a remote part of the world. How did they
earn a living? What were their relations with the Gentiles? How could
Judaism survive without the protective bulwarks of an age old environment? No doubt Wise had heard the questions argued before he embarked for New York; he wrote to assure his friends that all was well.
The period was one of expansion for Judaism in America. In
particular American Jewry was ceasing to be a seaboard community but
was taking root in the West. This development the opening of the Erie
Canal in 1825 had facilitated; and of course it had given a fillip the
growth of Albany where Wise had made his home. What he had heard
about the establishment of new communities is generally correct, though
Augusta, Maine did not have a congregation till much later. Sometimes
Wise's enthusiasm for conditions in America goes too far. ". . .order,
silence and decorum are strictly observed in every synagogue," he
writes. That is difficult to believe of the husky pioneers who were involved in the backbreaking task of establishing themselves in America:
only a few years later Wise was involved in a fist fight in his synagogue
on Rosh Hashanah. "...Each person is zealously devoted to maintaining
and glorifying the undertaking which he himself has founded." That
zeal was apt to be mercurial, and congregations split as easily as they
were established.
In this very first article a word receives prominence which becomes
a lode-star in Wise's thinking: the word is "union." The liberals of that
day were seeking a union of the German princedoms which the legitimists
were thwarting; the union of the American states had preserved a liberal
form of government against the forces of European reaction — and Wise
was to denounce the Abolitionists because they put the Union in
jeopardy; and above all a union of congregations was in his eyes the
solution to the problems confronting Judaism in the New World.
The reader may be puzzled at the reference in the second paragraph to the bursting of "the Northern storm" and to "the dense clouds"
which encircled "the Morning Sun, the East." In 1847 press censorship
was the rule in Germany, and writers had to be circumspect in their
references to governments and political events. I have been unable to
ascertain any specific events to which these references may be an allusion.
Jeremiah i, 14, and iv, 6 alludes to the evil coming from the North, and
with St. Petersburg to the north of Leipzig, where the Allgemeine
Zeitung des Judenthums was published. Wise may have been referring to
the reactionary and severely anti-Semitic regime of Tsar Nicholas I. The
encircling of the Morning Sun may have been the Damascus Affair of
1840 when the leading Jews of the city were arrested and tortured on a
blood libel charge.*
* For this suggestion I am indebted to Professor Michael A. Meyer, of Hebrew
Union College.
Grace Aguilar (1816-1847), novelist and writer on Jewish history,
was born and lived in England and passed away on September 16. She
was one of the first writers to devote herself to Jewish themes in English
and her books received a warm welcome in this country. One of them.
Spirit of Judaism, had been published in 1842 with notes by Isaac Leeser;
and this and others went through several posthumous editions.
Wise saw already that despite the preponderance of German speaking immigrants, the language of American Jewry would be English and
that Jewish literature in the English language was an imperative necessity.
The Allgemeine Zeitung which was founded and edited by Dr.
Ludwig Philippson (1811-1889), first appeared in 1837 and continued
publication till 1922. It was an independent weekly, intended to appeal
to the intelligent laity and advocating civil emancipation for the Jews
and moderate reform in religious matters. The sub-title indicates the
range of its concerns: "Impartial Organ for All Matters of Jewish
Interest Pertaining to Politics, Religion, Literature, History, Philology
and Belles-lettres." At the period in question there was a considerable
migration from Germany to the United States and a corresponding
interest in the Old Country in what was taking place in the fabulous
New World across the seas.
The lectures to which Wise refers are "Die Entwicklung der
Religiosen Idee . . . " published in 1847.
Sefton D. Temkin
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*
Isaac Mayer Wise, the leading American Rabbi of the nineteenth
century, was born in Bohemia in 1819, and came to America in 1846.
He served as Rabbi in the young Albany Jewish community from 1846
to I854, when he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained until
his death in 1900. From Cincinnati Rabbi Wise was to lead the
formation of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (1873), the
Hebrew Union College (1875), and the Central Conference of American
Rabbis (1889). However his vision of " u n i o n " for American Jewry was
already firmly established during his Albany years, as can be seen in this
1847 article
BHB