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אעורר הנפשות הישנות
בתוכחות כמו חצים שנונים
ותמיד אפתחה שערי תשובה
לגוי צדיק וגם שומר אמונים
אחלץ הגויה מיקוד אש
ואציל הנשמה מחרונים
והיצר והתאוה יסופון
כמו קש או כמו אודים עשנים
לזאת אשרי אנוש יפיק רצון אל
ויתעורר בעת אישים ישנים
ויעקור מלבבו חטא ואון
ויטע בו נטעים נעמנים
ואז יאור באור חיים ויוכה
ראות אור יוצרו פנים בפנים
(Judah Harizi, Tahkemoni,
שער י"ג edition אחיאסף
p. 143.)
Rabbi Bernard Illowy, Ph.D., was born in Kolin, Bohemia, in the year 1814. He came of a
family distinguished for its Talmudic learning and its piety. The great-grandfather, the
first of the name of whom we have any record, was Rabbi Phineas Illowy, who resided in
Ungarisch-Brod, province of Moravia, Austrian Empire. In the collection of Responsa of the
great Rabbi Meir of Eisenstadt, the פנים
מאירות, there is found a
שאלה from him in the matter of an Agunah and a reply thereto
addressed to him. At that time, as appears from his signature, he was Haus-Rebbe or
private chaplain to the banker Emmanuel Oppenheim, the son of Samuel Oppenheim, Court Jew,
and in his day the foremost and most influential Israelite in the whole Austrian empire.
His son, Rabbi Jacob Illowy, was called from Moravia to the Rabbinate of the City of
Kolin and the district of Maurszim, the second largest congregation in the kingdom of
Bohemia. As was the custom then, the occupant of the rabbinical chair also became, by
virtue of his office, the presiding officer of the Beth-Din, the Resh-Mesivta. Rabbi Jacob
was a great scholar, profoundly versed in the learning of the Rabbis; he conducted a
Yeshivah and wrote voluminously elucidations, explanations and novellae to the Talmud, all
of which are as yet in manuscript.
The father of Rabbi Bernard (Rabbi Jacob Judah) was, as had been his fathers before
him, a man well grounded in the Torah, a thorough Talmudic scholar, and, moreover, was
possessed of much secular learning. Though only a private individual--he had been in trade
in his younger years--he was one of the most distinguished members of the Jewish
community, and such was the regard entertained for his character and his learning by his
coreligionists, that, when he walked through the streets of the Jewish quarter, the people
would rise and remain standing until he had passed. Although not professionally a teacher,
he always had a number of pupils,--Bachurim--young men whom he instructed not alone in
Mishnah and Talmud (though this was the sole purpose of his having pupils) but also in
some branches of secular learning, more especially mathematics and German.
Bernard Illowy received his early education in Mishnah and Talmud from his father who
had destined him to be a teacher in Israel, almost from his birth. He completed his
theological studies in the famous rabbinical school of Rabbi Moses Sopher (the Chasam
Sofer) in Pressburg, Hungary, from whom he received the Hattarat Horaah, and
received his Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Budapest, Hungary. He
studied Hebrew and exegesis in the rabbinical school of Padua, Italy. For some years after
his graduation he was engaged in teaching; he was at one time tutor (Hofmeister)
to the son of a high official in the City of Znaim (in which at the time, and for many
years later, no Jew was allowed to have permanent residence*), also Professor of French
and German in the college (Gymnasium) for high-born young ladies in the same city. About
the year 1845 he married Katherine, the daughter of Wolf Schiff, a prominent merchant of
Raudnitz, Bohemia.
On account of political complications arising out of the revolt of the Bohemians, in
1848 (an address to the revolutionary army as it passed through Kolin on its way to
Prague, the capital--which the force of circumstances compelled him to deliver), and the
finding in his baggage, some time later, on his return from a journey to France, of a seal
with the revolutionary inscription Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité! he was
precluded from filling a rabbinical position in his native land. He was called to Cassel
(Germany) to candidate for the position of Chief Rabbi (Landesrabbiner) of the
Principality of Hessen. The congregations of the whole electorate unanimously favored his
selection, but the then Minister of the Interior, Hassenpflug (nicknamed Hessenfluch
[Hessian curse], a man of most reactionary tendencies, whose whole aim was the
reestablishment of a medieval Germany, refused to sanction his election, because of his
involvement in the Revolution aforementioned.) He then came to this country. the United
States, and filled the position of Rabbi in New York City in Congregation Shaare Zedek, in
Philadelphia in Congregation Rodeph Shalom, in St. Louis in the United Hebrew
Congregation, in Syracuse in the Congregation Kneset Shalom, in Baltimore in the Stadt
Shule (Lloyd St.), in New Orleans in Congregation Shangarai Hased, and in Cincinnati in
Congregation Sheerit Israel.
Dr. Illowy was known as an eminent Talmudist and thorough scholar. He was a strict
adherent, in principles and practice, of Orthodox Judaism and from this he never swerved.
He preached it in the pulpit, taught it to the children in the congregational schools
which he always established wherever he officiated, and championed it in a fierce
polemical warfare, extending over many years, with the leaders of the Reform movement in
this country, principally Doctors Wise and Lilienthal. He had the distinction of being in
his day in this country, the only rabbi with a thorough Talmudic education and a
university training to stand for the cause of Orthodoxy.
He was one of the signers to the call for the Cleveland Conference, but becoming
convinced that he would be in the minority, in the great minority, he did not attend it.
His polemical letters were published in various Jewish periodicals of this country (The
Asmonean, the Israelite, the Jewish Messenger, the
Occident) and of Europe.
He was a powerful and fascinating speaker and convincing preacher, and his
ministrations were so successful that his synagogue on Sabbath and holidays was always
crowded with worshipers, and many who had strayed away from the fold were brought back
again. Many valuable gifts received by him attested the esteem in which he was held by his
congregants. Many of his English sermons and addresses were published in both the
denominational and the daily press. He was an accomplished linguist, and besides a
thorough knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, spoke fluently German, English, French,
and Italian. His command of Hebrew was remarkable, and some of his polemical letters
written in that language were cited as models of elegance of Hebrew composition.
He had at one time planned a large work on the ceremonies of the Jewish religion and
had mapped out the ground work therefor, but the onerous duties of an orthodox rabbinate,
the teaching in the school and its supervision, the controversies with Reform, left him no
time for anything else, and he was compelled to abandon the idea.
He was of most generous disposition, and his purse and personal service were always at
the command of the needy of any faith or no faith. During his rabbinate in New Orleans
(1861-1865) he was honored with the friendship of Major General N. P. Banks (at one
Commander-in-Chief of the forces there and of the Department of Louisiana) and of many
other high officials, both of the military and the civil administration, and was enabled
thereby to do much good to many of his brethren.
In person he was of a rather commanding figure, with piercing gray eyes that quickly
subdued the unruly, and altogether made an impressive appearance.
Although strictly observant of all the injunctions incumbent upon an Orthodox
Israelite, he was nevertheless a man of the world who delighted in pleasant company and
loved to see the young people enjoy themselves, and his witty and entertaining
conversation and his charm of manner made him much sought after by both the old and the
young, and even more so by the latter, of his congregation.
Despite the sharp polemics, he was personally on terms of friendship with Doctors Wise,
Lilienthal, Einhorn, Szold, and the first two pronounced the most eloquent eulogies at his
bier.
He died on the twenty-first day of June, 1871, in consequence of an accident, on his
farm at Foster's Crossing, Warren County, Ohio, to which he had retired on account of a
chronic dyspepsia which had troubled him much, off and on, for many years, and was buried
in the graveyard of the Congregation Adath Israel at Lick Run, Cincinnati, Ohio.
He was survived by his widow, three sons, and one daughter.
In the course of his long ministerial career my father
זצ"ל always held it as a matter of first
importance that the children of his congregants should be taught Hebrew, the Bible, and
the tenets of their faith, and where no schools for this existed, he established them, as
in Syracuse, in Baltimore, in New Orleans, in Cincinnati. In these institutions all the
branches of instruction of the public schools were taught by a full corps of competent
teachers, besides having Hebrew, the Bible, and the principles of the faith (Isaac Leeser's Catechism was the
text-book chiefly used for this) in the curriculum.
For the same reason, and because in this way children could be reached, who for one
reason or another did not attend the congregational school, he introduced the confirmation
on Shavuot. He held confirmations in Syracuse, in Baltimore, and in New Orleans.*
Six months before Shavuot the class began its work, instruction in Bible history, in
the tenets of the faith and its ceremonials, in the ceremonial laws and in the prayers.
Boys who had not learned to lay Tefilin were taught to do so and were impressed
with the necessity of doing so every morning. The Tefilin were explained to them
and what the laying of them meant to teach us, and therefore their importance to every
true Israelite, was made clear to their understanding.
And in almost every instance the confirmation had the desired effect (at least during
the incumbency of my father and for some time thereafter, in fact it was never altogether
obliterated) in making the young ladies and gentlemen of the classes good and faithful
Jews and Jewesses.
Then came other matters of religious and communal import. The Shechitah
(kosher slaughter) always had his attention, and wherever he was located, he compelled the
Shochatim to come to him for examination as to their proficiency in the laws of Shechitah
and Bedikah, and to demonstrate to him their expertise in keeping their knives in
proper condition.* He even went so far at one time as to compel the Shochatim who
were more directly in his sphere of influence to give him a tekias kaf that they
would not kill late on Friday afternoon, for meat that was to be sold on the Sabbath
morning.
The Mikvah was of no less importance. This was inspected immediately after his
assumption of office and at intervals thereafter. He saw to it that it was kept in a
perfectly sanitary condition, and that absolute cleanliness which the character of the
institution implied was maintained, so that none of the numerous charges that were and
still are so frequently made against the Mikvah could be set forth against the
institution pertaining to his congregation and under his supervision.
All these things were not always easy of accomplishment; in fact, many difficulties
were cast in his way, and it must be said, though I say it with great regret, not by those
who were rather lax in their observance, but by those very persons from whom, from the
great show of piety they made, a most warm, a zealous support could have been expected.
The Shochet who openly violated important ceremonial laws, the Shochet, who from age
had lost all הרגשה and therefore could not tell whether his knife was fit or not,
would not quickly surrender a livelihood because an honest compliance with the law
demanded such, but cried out loudly and clamorously, and found advocates among the many
self-made rabbis who posed as authorities in religious matters and brought disgrace and
shame upon Judaism.
He would have order and decorum in the Synagogue in which he officiated. Soon after
entering upon the Rabbinate of a congregation, he took occasion to preach upon the text
"Know before Whom you stand" דע
לפני מי אתה
עומד, and told his members in no uncertain
phrase, that every man who attends divine worship must remember that he is in the house of
G-d, in the presence of the King of Kings, and that the least he can do is to demean
himself in as respectful a manner as if he were in the presence of an earthly judge, or of
some other high official. He would have no screeching, or screaming, or shouting, each one
endeavoring to make his voice heard above the others, but all should pray together in
unison. He prohibited the rattling off of the שיר
היחוד and of the
אנעים זמירות and
forbade, through the officers of the Congregation, the pulling off of the Talith,
immediately after the שיר הכבוד and the indecorous scramble and rush to get
to the Kiddush table between concluding prayers, so common to orthodox houses of worship.
The שיר היחוד and the
אנעים זמירות had to be
chanted in as proper a manner, even as the most important of the prayers, and no one was
permitted to take off his Talith or to leave his seat before the last echoes of the
אדון עולם had died away. Besides these there were many other and minor
regulations concerning the service, all tending to the same purpose -- a decorous, a
beautiful service, one that could more than vie with that of any temple in the land, and
would thus keep young Israel from straying after strange gods.
There was to be no tramping in and out of the Synagogue. Every one must come into the
House of G-d or walk out of it in as decorous a fashion as he would walk into the house of
the Chief Magistrate of the city. In the school attached to the Synagogue, the children
were taught the importance of this, as a demonstration of their fear of G-d, the one thing
which the Lord, according to our Torah, demands of His People.
All this was accomplished only after a severe struggle. It aroused the violent
opposition of the ignorant fanatics, of the fanatical pseudo-scholars, and of that
disorderly element in all congregations, that is always opposed to any and all rabbis and
teachers of true Torah. My father, however, persevered, and in due time it was fait
accompli.
As already stated, his sermons were all religious and moral lessons. He taught these
lessons as they came in rote in the Bible and did not pass over, did not skip this or that
one because it might give offense to this or that prominent member of the congregation. It
was this fearlessness of speech that here and there gave to some of the demonstratively
pious grave offense--not to be forgiven, because it removed the balm that a supposedly
pious soul had laid to itself and again exposed to its own view the wrongdoing. He
preached the Sabbath and Kashruth and Tefilin and the moral lessons they
inculcated, and did not hesitate to preach to the daughters of Israel of the Mishnah
על שלשה דברים
'נשים מתות
בשעת לידתך
וכו when the Sedra
of the week brought it around.
He preached persistently the necessity of religious observance, especially of the
Sabbath. One day, whilst attending a funeral, a prominent member of his congregation who
sat with him in his carriage said to him: "Doctor, we do really like you better and
more than any other Rabbi we have ever had, and we will do all that lies in our power for
you, but for Heaven's sake do not keep pounding at us the observance of the Sabbath. We
know that we ought to keep Shabbos, but we cannot. Preach it to us once in three
or four months, and you will have done your duty and we will feel more at ease. (This
happened in New Orleans)
On the ordinary Sabbaths he usually preached for three quarters of an hour, and not
infrequently an hour and even more. On the days when the prayers were longer than usual,
twenty minutes, or at most, half an hour. At no time was complaint made that he preached
at too great length; on the contrary, he was not infrequently told that he had cut it too
short. If, as occasionally happened, he preached a rather short sermon, his members would
gather about him after the service and ask him if he were not feeling well.
He was a convincing preacher, and his fervor and his consistency carried conviction to
others, and brought back to Judaism many who had strayed far away. To illustrate: In one
congregation in which he entered upon his duties on the first day of the New Year there
were but four or five members who kept a kosher house, and upon the festival of Sukkot
there was not a Sukkah in the whole membership. A year later there were over forty Sukkot
in the congregation, and almost every house strictly kosher, although in some of the
wealthier families this was attended with considerable difficulty, because of the slaves
(Negroes), who, it was said, must have pork in one form or another.*
He was also a very pleasing speaker, and with the art of the practiced orator, knew
when and how to weave in the startling Midrash, or Aggadah, or sprightly anecdote, so that
his hearers never became wearied. There occurred an incident in his ministerial career,
which is, I believe, unique in the history of preaching.
It was Yom Kippur, the synagogue was packed with worshippers. The Mussaf Hazzan had
finished, Minchah and Neilah had already been read, all too hurriedly,
and the broad day was still there. The congregation was becoming restless, and some seemed
about to leave. My father mounted the pulpit and began by saying that although he had
already spoken that day, he would take advantage of the hurry of the Hazzanim to say a few
words more to them. Relating an amusing and also somewhat strange Midrash, he immediately
had the attention of the congregation and continued on in the pleasant vein befitting the
hour till, noticing that the stars twinkled in the heavens, he concluded with the best
wishes for all, and the hope that they would break their fast well, and that all would be
here the year following, none missing. He had hardly concluded when, as if oblivious of
the time and place, the audience broke out in a thunder of applause and shouts of "go
on!" It took another word from the Rabbi to recall them to the realization that they
were in the synagogue and that they had fasted for the last twenty-four hours, and so on,
then the shofar sounded. [This occurred in Syracuse, New York.]
Although a strictly observant Orthodox Jew, he made no display of his piety, in fact,
had a dislike or rather a distrust of those who did, his maxim being
הצנע לכת עם ה
אלהיך. And yet,
with all, he was of a most agreeable disposition, and always ready to participate in the
festivities of his parishoners. He visited his members socially--he made a point to do
so--and was everywhere a most welcome guest, for he was a brilliant conversationalist and
his interest in all the questions of the day, his extensive and varied reading, and his
great fund of anecdote and Mashal made these visits pleasurable events. No doubt
this greatly added to his influence in promoting religious life and religious
observance--especially Kashruth--as many a word thus spoken in the home fell upon
fruitful ground and bore good fruit.
The following incident is illustrative of the strictness of his observance, and of
interest otherwise. It was in the summer of 1867, my father had not been well for some
time and his physician had ordered him away. He decided to make a trip East (Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York) to visit old friends, taking me with him. We left Cincinnati at
midnight over the Marietta and Cincinnati R.R., arrived at Belpre very early in the
morning and crossed over on a steamer to Parkersburg, W. Va. The only train out we could
take was the one which carried the B. and O. R.R. laborers, mostly all Irishmen, and
distributed them to their various stations along the road. We got into an ordinary box car
with an aisle in the middle and wooden seats (two benches always facing each other) on
either side of it, and found two vacant seats one on one side of the aisle, and the other
just opposite, on the other side of the aisle. My father took one seat with a laborer at
his side and two facing him, and I took the other. As soon as the train was under way, he
took out his Tefillin (he had not had the time to do so before, as he had slept
soundly--for the first time in many weeks--up to within a few minutes of our getting off
the train, when the porter awakened him) and rolling up his sleeve, bared his arm and
began to lay them. As if divining that he was about to pray, his neighbors, those in the
seat with him, immediately stopped smoking, laying their pipes on the window sill, and
ceased all conversation. And not alone these, but also those immediately behind, and in
front, and on the opposite side in the seat with me, lapsed into silence. When he was
through and began to remove his Tefillin and to fold them up, the pipes were
relit and the conversation resumed.
What a lesson of reverence for religion do these laborers teach the sons and daughters
of Israel!
He was always at the beck and call of every one for favors, never expecting thanks or
wanting any, and frequently being repaid with the blackest ingratitude. At one time, and
this was in the city of New Orleans, I was kept busy day by day writing applications and
recommendations for poor peddlers for relief from the various forms of taxes, state, city
and national that were exacted at the time. So numerous were these applications that a
collector of one of these taxes wrote to my father to be good enough and not send him any
more applications or supplications, but to just indorse his name on the notice and the
party would not be troubled any more.
When during the days of the Civil War the military lines of the combatants in certain
parts of Louisiana were in close proximity to each other, and when officials both civil
and military changed repidly, and men who had been in business in some of these country
towns for the past thirty or forty years were forced to close their places of business,
they always burned to my father and he invariable obtained for the permission to reopen.
He was never refused by the authorities, civil or military, but never asked for anybody
as a favor what could be legitimately obtained in other ways, and even then only when in
concerned vital interests, as the livelihood or liberty of a person. This is well shown by
the following incidents:
- A certain person to whom my father had previously done a great kindness, not succeeding
in business, obtained a sutlership (selling goods to the army). One day he came to my
father and saying to him that the military authorities would not permit him to take his
goods out to the camp, (somewhere in the lower part of Louisiana) wanted him to go at once
to the General (N.P. Banks) and obtain for him the necessary permit. My father asked him
how it came that he, a quasi-military man, a part of the regiment, was not permitted to
take his wares out. He did not know. After long talking and much cross-questioning, my
father elicited that the prohibition was not at all upon this man, but upon the Captain of
the schooner into which he had loaded his goods, against whom charges for grave
infractions of military regulations had been filed, and who was not allowed to leave the
city. When asked why he did not just take his wares off from this schooner and load them
upon one of the many others that were ready to go out and were only waiting for freight,
he answered that he did not want to do that as that would entail upon him the extra
expense of unloading and reloading (some fifty dollars), and diminish his profits to that
extent. My father then told him that though he regretted it, he could do nothing for him
in the matter; he had made it a rule never to trouble the high military authorities by
asking as a favor that which could be legitimately obtained otherwise.
For this the man became one of his bitterest enemies.
- Shortly after General Butler had taken possession of the residence of Dr. Campbell (on
upper Carondelet St.) and established therein his headquarters, an Israelite by the name
of Lefkowitch, a watchmaker and jeweler who kept a small shop opposite, was arrested on
the charge of having purchased from one of the soldiers of the guard about the house, who
had stolen it, a massive silver soup-tureen, a part of the treasures the Doctor had left
in the house. It had been missed from the accustomed place; the soldier was suspected,
confessed and avowed that he had sold it to Mr. Lefkowitch. The jeweler was tried (by a
military court, we understood) and sentenced to six years at Fort Jackson with ball and
chain. This man Lefkowitch had always borne a good name in the community, was a hard
worker, and supported with his earnings a wife and six children, and an old father and
mother--all of whom were still in Russia. It was a great calamity to them. His friends
turned all his possessions into money, and employed the most prominent lawyers and the
most influential persons in the city to obtain his release, but without avail.
When the funds, some two thousand dollars, were exhausted, they came to my father and
begged him to intercede for the prisoner. The Department had by that time changed
Commanders, and General N.P. Banks, who held my father in great esteem, had taken the
place of General Butler. The following morning (bright and early -- it was in the summer
months) my father wended his way to Headquarters, but could not see the General. For
almost six weeks he made this trip day after day (except Saturdays and Sundays), but never
could he see the General; he was busy, or he asleep, or he was out. Finally, one morning,
after another rebuff, seeing the General's carriage at the door, he determined to wait
till he came out. He had not waited long when the General appeared, and seeing my father
standing there near his carriage, under the shade of a tree, greeted him pleasantly, shook
his hand, and asked him what had brought him there. My father told him that he had come
almost every day for six weeks to his door on a matter of great moment, but that he had
not been able to get to him. At this the General turned to his orderly, and directed him
to instruct the men at once, that no matter at what time the Rabbi came, he was to be
admitted immediately and without ceremony, and turning to my father, asked him to be good
enough and to call the following morning, about 8:30 a.m. He did so, and told his mission.
The General replied that he was just then head over heels in the preparations for the Red
River Expedition, and could not give his attention to anything else, but that when he
returned therefrom, the Doctor should call upon him and bring the matter before him and he
would then see what could be done.
After a campaign of four months the General returned to New Orleans, and amongst his
earliest callers was my father. He congratulated the General upon the successful issue of
the campaign, recalled to his mind that victors were merciful, and in behalf of the wife
and six children and the old father and mother who were starving in Russia, he prayed that
the man be released. The General promised that he would look carefully into the case, and
that my father should hear of it in a short time.
A few days later (I believe it was on New Year's Day) the General was down at the Fort,
had the man Lefkowitch brought before him, and questioned him, and shortly after this his
release followed.
All this without price or reward.
The following incident shows in what high esteem my father was held in the community
and how great was his influence. A messenger from a banking house in New Orleans was
taking three thousand dollars in gold (considering the premium at which gold stood in
1862-1863, particularly in the Confederacy, it was quite a large sum) somewhere up the
Mississippi on a steamer. About halfway up it was seized by United States officers on the
ground that it was being taken into the Confederacy, and gold was contraband of war.
The owners thereof, being naturally anxious to recover it, called in the services of a
gentleman who had come down with the army as a Judge Advocate thereof, but had resigned
soon after, and settled down to the practice of the law. He studied over the case for a
few days and then told them that nothing could be done in the usual way. He suggested,
however, that a personal appeal to the General commanding the Department (Banks) by some
influential person might have a better chance; told them to call on my father, and if he
consented to do so he would call with him upon the General in their behalf.
The parties called on my father and put the matter before him, and held out promises of
remuneration. Though they were members of his congregation, he refused at once, saying, as
he had said once before, that he never went to the General except on vital matters.
Long before the present so-called scientific methods of dealing with poverty were
thought of, he had held that the only true way of helping the needy was to put them in the
way of earning a livelihoos, whenever that was possible. To recall only one instance: It
was in the City of Cincinnati. One day before the Festival of Booths (סכות), a young
man, Hayyim A., a wandering Polish immigrant, came in and begged for assistance. To the
question as to what he would do then, he answered, "go further." My father
thereupon told him that that was not the way for a young and strong man, as he appeared to
be, to do. He must earn a living and not beg it. He would see to it after the holidays.
Meanwhile, he secured lodgings for him in a Jewish lodging house for peddlers and had him
eat at his table. (He had been brought up in the practice of our forefathers, who declared
it specially meritorious to feed the poor at your own table.) The holidays over, he looked
about, and learning that a certain person was about to give up his business of glaziering
to pursue another vocation, he negotiated with him for his box, diamond and what glass he
had on hand, with two weeks' instruction (by going around with him and showing him how the
glass was put in) for the beginner. With the aid of a few charitable friends, the sum of
twenty-five dollars was made up, and the young man started on his career. He was a hard
worker, very economical and saved his money, except what he sent to his wife and his
parents. His expenses were small, he lived very frugally; clothes were supplied to him by
some members of the congregation, and on Friday night and Saturday noon (the only days
when he had a full meal), he ate with us.
Some eight or ten years later he left Cincinnati, and with a capital of over five
thousand dollars, which he had amassed, he established himself in business in one of the
large cities of Alabama.
In Cincinnati there lived a man, the father of a family, who kept a very small store of
mostly second-hand goods, and cheap notions. One day he came to my father and complained
bitterly that he had a hard time making a living for his family. His capital was too
small; if he had fifty dollars more he could do much better. My father, though a man of
but very small means himself, at once loaned him the fifty dollars without interest, of
course. It was repaid on the thirtieth of the month and loaned to him again on the first
of the following month--and this for thirteen months. The return was enmity and calumny.
My father made no distinction in his charity between coreligionists and those of other
faiths, following therein the dictates of our sages.
It happened whilst he was Rabbi in Syracuse, N.Y., that a German, a Catholic, living in
what was then called the Swamp, came to him for help. He said he was a cobbler and had
made a living at his trade, but that some weeks before his wife had sickened and died, and
he had been compelled to sell his bedding and his tools to raise the amount required for
the necessary funeral expenses. He and his children were now in dire distress. All he
wanted was tools to work with, and he would soon be earning a good living again.
My father took the man to the large hardware store of Mr. Leopold Schwartz, and
guaranteeing half of the bill, Mr. Schwartz taking the risk of the other half, he was
supplied with all the tools that he required, and allowed to pay for them in small
payments at his convenience. Besides this, my father gave him a small sum for his
immediate necessities, and it was but a short time until the cobbler was once more a happy
and prosperous man.
Although engaged the greater part of his time in an active feud, as one might say, with
the leaders of Reform, his personal relations with them were of the pleasantest and
friendliest character. This was largely due to the fact that in his controversies he never
resorted to personalities, though the other side was not always as considerate on this
point.
With Isaac M. Wise he was on intimate terms, almost from the time of his arrival in
this country,* and later on, when we resided in Cincinnati, they met frequently in the
friendliest intercourse. With Dr. Lilienthal he was likewise on friendly terms, though not
of familiarity, as with Dr. Wise.
*Dr. Wise, who was a countryman of his, came down from Albany, and called on my
father at his boarding house a few days after his arrival in New York. They had a long
discussion lasting far into the night, on the subject of Reform and his (Wise's) program
therefor. They retired about 2 a.m., but the murderers of sleep (the red creeping things)
gave them no rest, and they soon arose and continued the discussion till morning.
Shortly after our arrival in Baltimore, the Rev. Dr. Einhorn, the Rabbi of the Har
Sinai Congregation (radical Reform), called upon my father and from that time on was a
daily visitor at our house (Saturdays and Sundays excepted). He came about 1 p.m., drank
his cup of black coffee and smoked a cigar in the study, remaining usually till about 3
p.m. This continued for nearly six months (or longer) until the incident to be related
caused a parting of the ways, and it was Dr. Einhorn who broke friendship, and not my
father.
Some months after our arrival in Baltimore my father was invited to deliver the address
at the annual dinner of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, to be given December 21st, 1859,
and had accepted. About three weeks before the dinner, happening to meet the president of
the society, he casually and in an off-hand way, as if the matter were self-understood in
very conservative Baltimore, asked him whether there were arrangements made for the
washing of the hands before (נטילת
ידים),
and the saying of grace (ברכת
המזון) after the meal. To his great astonishment he was told that
both were prohibited by resolution of the Board of Trustees. He at first thought that the
president was joking, but when he became convinced that it was all meant in downright
earnest, he at once informed him that under those conditions he would not deliver the
address, would not dine with the society, and in so far as his influence went, none of his
members should.
He was told that this resolution prohibiting
נטילת ידים and
ברכת המזון had been passed by the trustees at the
instance of Dr. Einhorn, but this did not deter him from doing what he thought was proper
in the matter. He never allowed his personal interests, or friendships, or preferences, to
stand in the way when the cause of religion demanded action.
The following Sabbath at the close of the sermon, my father denounced the action of the
trustees of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, as of the most intolerant and sinful character,
and declared that attendance at this dinner would be as was attendance at the feast of
Ahaverosh! No man who had any regard for religion or had any respect for his own person,
would attend a dinner at which, by resolution of the Board of Trustees, he was forbidden
to give thanks to G-d for the good things enjoyed and for the ability to enjoy them.
He enjoined upon each and every one to send their contribution to the treasurer of the
Society, so that the poor should not suffer from the senseless and sinful action of the
Trustees.
The Lloyd Street Congregation, the Stadt Shool, was at the time the largest
and wealthiest congregation in Baltimore, and the trustees of the Benevolent Society soon
learned that the interdict had been effective, and that the dinner would prove a
disastrous failure unless something was done, and that quickly. It was not alone in his
congregation that its effects were noted, but the interdict reverberated, and all the
religiously inclined, (and there were many in the Hannover Street Congregation, in the
Fell's Point Congregation, and in the diverse small congregations), heeded its words, and
tickets were being returned en masse.
A meeting of the Trustees was hurriedly called and the obnoxious resolution was
rescinded. My father was at once notified by the secretary to that effect and assurance
given that satisfactory arrangements for the washing of hands and the saying of grace
after the dinner would be made, and he was requested not alone to withdraw his
interdiction, but to urge strenuously in his sermon on the following Sabbath the
attendance of his members.
My father did so. The following Sabbath in his sermon he recalled the matter to the
congregation, told them that the Board would be as it should be at a dinner to which
Israelites sat down and urged upon one and all the duty of attending, especially at that
particular dinner.
It was the most successful dinner, both in the number of attendants and in the sum
total donated, in the history of the Society up to that day. My father delivered the
address, and his theme was, "Die Tugendhaftigkeit der Frauen Israels".
During our residence in Baltimore, Mr. Judah Rosewalk (the father of Mrs. Joseph
Friedenwald) came to our house every evening (Friday night and the eve of the festivals
excepted) and a Shi'ur was studied, and before our departure from that city my
father bestowed upon him the "Morenu".
He had been at one time a member of the Order of Bene Berith, of Missouri
Lodge No. 21, in St. Louis, had received all six degrees and took a traveling card
therefrom, dated November 24, 1855 (5616).
He was also member of the Masonic Order; was a member of Kilwinning Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and delivered before said Chapter a series of lectures,
which, to judge from the expressions of the initiated, were of the greatest interest and
most instructive.
Religious questions decided:
-
In the matter of the burial in a Jewish burying ground of the presumed
גיורת (female convert) from Nashville, TN.
- That dissection or rather the post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased
Israelite, where necessary for the furtherance of the healing art, is permissible.
- That Muscovy ducks are prohibited.
- That gas cannot be used for the lighting of Hanukkah lights.
-
That a מוהל (circumcision surgeon) who will not obey the
instructions of the Rabbi (when reasonable founded) may be declared
פסול (disqualified).
-
In the matter of ממזרים
(offspring of an adulterous relationship).
- That a monument with the statue of a man may not be erected in a Jewish cemetery nor is
it permitted to place the figure of an animal thereon. (In New Orleans. I believe it was
the intention to erect a monument, a bronze statue to Judah Touro.)
- Would not permit the bringing of the dead into the synagogue to hold the funeral
services there. (I remember very well what a stir it created in the Jewish community of
Cincinnati, how astonished all were, when, on the death of his first wife the Reverend
Isaac M. Wise had her body brought into the temple and held the funeral services there. It
aroused much unfavorable comment even amongst the reform element of the city.)
Temporary decisions (הוראות
שעה)
- In the year 1861, the first year of his ministry in New Orleans, it was impossible,
owing to all communications with northern cities being cut off, to obtain
אתרוגים (Ethrogim). Lulavim,
Hadassim, Arbe Nahal were to be had in abundance, being native to the soil, but not Ethrogim.
The Ethrog that grew indigenously was found to be invalid. In the emergency my father
decided that they should be used, but without the usual Brachah, Al Netilas Lulav.
- A lady, very prominent and wealthy, who, from being a hater of everything Jewish or that
bore that stamp, had through his sermons and his efforts become a very pious mother in
Israel, who kept a strictly kosher house, observed the Sabbath in most Orthodox fashion,
lights, etc. asked my father at the beginning of the hot season (which sets in early in
the South) whether, as she lived at a great distance from the synagogue and could not walk
it in the summer months, she should remain away for that period or whether she might ride
thereto on the street car.
He advised her that she should attend the synagogue, that she could ride thereto in the
street car, but must not make any visits after service--just ride to the synagogue and
return again to her home as soon as the services were over.
Though ridiculed for this by many of her friends, she observed the condition most
faithfully.
The grounds for the permission are not set down in writing, but besides the grounds which
will suggest themselves to the Talmid Chacham, there was the other and the
principal reason, which my father mentioned to me, that she was so recent a Baalat
Tshuvah that he did not want her to remain away from his sermons, from his
admonitions for so long a period.
It is also to be borne in mind that it was not necessary at that time to pay the fare in
money, it could be paid in tickets which could be purchased at any time. Up to the time of
the installation of electricity as a motive power for street railways, all street lines
sold tickets, usually in packages of twenty-five for one dollar.
-
He would not permit the children of a man who was lost at sea, on the steamer
"Morning Star", that was wrecked between New York and New Orleans, and who was
last seen throwing a sofa (or cabin door) into the sea and about to jump in after it, to
say Kaddish. This for the reason that it would have evidenced that the wife was
positively a widow and could remarry at her pleasure, whilst he held that according to
Jewish law, she was not such.
For various reasons the relatives and connections of the family of the unfortunate H. were
rather opposed to the decision of my father זצ"ל in the matter, and being prominent and
influential in the congregation exerted much pressure upon the officers thereof to
disregard the same and permit the sons to say Kaddish. Superadded to this came the
declaration quietly made of some would-be Rabbis (quasi
למדנים) that the children could and should say
Kaddish. To relieve the officers of the congregation from this predicament and to quiet
all caviling my father referred the case to Rabbiner S.R. Hirsch of Frankfurt-am-Main and
received from him a reply. There was no further opposition.
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