1983 35 02 00.Pdf

Volume XXXV November, 1983 Number 2 American Jewish Archives A Journal Devoted to the Preservation and Study of the American Jewish Experience Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D., Editor Abraham J. Peck, Ph.M., Associate Editor Published by The American Jewish Archives on the Cincinnati Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, President American lewish Archives is indexed in The Index to lewish Periodicals, Current Contents, The American Historical Review, United States Political Science Documents, and The journal of American History. Information for Contributors: American lewish Archives follows generally the University of Chicago Press "Manual of Style" (12th revised edition) and "Words into Type" (3rd edition), but issues its otun style sheet which may be obtained by writing to: The Associate Editor, American lezuish Archives 3 101 Clifton Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio 4jzzo Patrons 1983: The Neumann Memorial Publication Fund The Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund Published by The American lewish Archives on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebretu Union College-lewish Institute of Religion ISSN ooz-po~X Or983 by the American jezuish Archives Contents 90 Editorial Note 91 Introduction Jonathan D. Sarna I00 Resisters and Accommodators: Varieties of Orthodox Rabbis in America, I 8 86-1983 Jeffrey S. Gurock 188 The Conservative Rabbi-"Dissatisfied But Not Unhappy" Abraham J. Karp 263 The Changing and the Constant in the Reform Rabbinate David Polish 342 Book Reviews Ravitch, Diane, and Goodenow, Ronald K., Edited by. Educating an Urban People: The New York City Experience Reviewed by Stephan E Brurnberg 348 Friess, Horace L. Felix Adler and Ethical Culture: Memories and Studies (edited by Fannia Weingartner) Reviewed by Benny Kraut 3 52 Geipel, John. Mame Loshn: The Making of Yiddish Reviewed by Herbert H. Paper 357 Brief Notices 360 Necrology 361 Index to Volume XXXV lllustrations following page 100: Rabbi Philip Hillel Klein Rabbi Bernard Drachman Rabbi Bernard Revel Rabbi Samuel Belkin Rabbi Herschel Schacter Rabbi Israel Miller Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Rabbi Norman Lamm Rabbi Jacob Joseph Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Rabbi Eliezer Silver Rabbi Yakov Yitchak Ruderman Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch Rabbi Reuven Grozowsky Rabbi Aaron Kotler Rabbi Joseph Breuer Illustrations following page I 88: Rabbi Sabato Morais Rabbi Solomon Schechter Professor Louis Ginzberg Rabbi Solomon Goldman Rabbi Israel Goldstein Rabbi Charles Eliezer Hillel Kauver Rabbi Simon Greenberg Rabbi Louis Finkelstein Rabbi Israel Levinthal Rabbi Isaac Klein Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan Rabbi Gerson D. Cohen JTSA Class of 1926 Illustrations following page 263 : Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise Rabbi David Einhorn Rabbi Bernhard Felsenthal Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler Rabbi Max Heller Rabbi David Philipson Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf Rabbi Morris S. Lazaron Rabbi Elmer Berger Rabbi Edward L. Israel Rabbi James G. Heller Rabbi Judah L. Magnes Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver Rabbi Stephen S. Wise Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk Editorial Note The year 1983 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the first ordination of rabbis from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Equal- ly important, that special ordination day also marked the beginning of an American-trained rabbinate, one which continues today to provide the spiritual leadership for an American Judaism. Much has occurred within the American rabbinate since that warm, sultry day of July I I, 1883, when over fifteen hundred people crowd- ed into the Plum Street Temple of K. K. Bnai Yeshurun to witness the ordination of "the first fruits of the American harvest," as the president of the Hebrew Union College's Board of Governors called them. American Jewish Archives is pleased to present "the first fruits" of another harvest-that of investigating the historical development of the American rabbinate over the past one hundred years. The three essays as well as the comprehensive introduction in this issue will, we hope, initiate an important new area of scholarly research and publication within the broader field of American Jewish history. Our authors have approached the study of the American rabbinate during the past century with the critical eye of the historian, seeking to understand change within it as epitomized by the famous remark of Rabbi Solomon Schechter to one of his pupils that "from now on, no one can be a rabbi in America who does not know how to play base- ball as well as study Talmud." At the same time, we have asked our authors to trace the thread of continuity which, after all, also marks the historical process. Indeed, as Rabbi Mordecai Waxman has noted, the American rabbi-whether Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform-still deals with a millennia1 tra- dition and with an ancient institution and body of learning, the syna- gogue and the Torah. And because the major concern of the American rabbinate has been the preservation of American Jewry and Judaism, what emerges from these essays is the hope and the feeling that despite change and challenge the basic ideals which have characterized the American rabbinate for a century will remain constant. JRM AJP Introduction Jonathan D. Sarna Scholars have, to date, written far more about the history of the rabbinate in ancient and medieval times than about the history of the rabbinate in the United States of America. There are, to be sure, important sociological studies of the American rabbinate, as well as several valu- able biographies, sketches of rabbis in individual communities, books and articles written by rabbis based on their own experiences, and some good and bad novels.' But no full-scale work detailing the history of the American rabbinate as it changed over time exists. This special issue of American Jewish Archives devoted to the history of the American rabbinate thus represents an important first, a pioneering voyage through uncharted historical waters. Just a century ago, Hebrew Union College began a process that would, in a short while, dramatically change the whole character of the American rabbinate. It made available for the first time a steady supply of American-trained, English-speaking rabbis to serve this country's growing number of pulpits. With this, the era of European- trained rabbis in America drew to a close. Just a few years later, indeed by the turn of the century, America was producing native-trained rabbis of every sort: some ordained at Hebrew Union College, some at the more traditional Jewish Theological Seminary, established in 1887, and some at the even more traditional Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theologi- cal Seminary (later merged into Yeshiva University), incorporated in 1897. The essays contained in this volume describe the shape of the Ameri- can rabbinate in the wake of this new era. Jeffrey S. Gurock, tracing the history of the Orthodox rabbinate in America, opens with two significant events of the late 1880's: the establishment of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, to train rabbis in "a spirit of fidelity and devotion to the Jewish law," and the almost simultaneous establishment of the Association of American Orthodox Hebrew Congre- gations, "to encourage, foster and promote the observance of the Or- thodox Jewish religion. [and] to designate, support and maintain a Chief Rabbi." Both developments adumbrated Orthodoxy's increas- ing presence on the American scene, but as Gurock points out, there the similarity ends. For the Seminary, though Orthodox, was the institutional expression of Westernized Jews already familiar with secular culture, and concerned to steer a middle course between Radical Re- form Judaism on the one hand, and East European Orthodox Judaism on the other. The association, by contrast, and more particularly the chief rabbi it selected, Rabbi Jacob Joseph of Vilna, sought to recreate East European Orthodox patterns in America by imposing a central- ized rabbinic authority, and by strengthening immigrants' observance of ritual commandments. In a word, the chief rabbi represented resistance to America, an unwillingness to succumb to the secular tenden- cies and modern mores which the surrounding culture sought to im- pose. The Seminary, meanwhile, represented accommodation to America, a desire to be traditional and modern at the same time. This tension between resisters and accommodators lies at the heart of Gurock's pathbreaking analysis. Stressing diversity within the Or- thodox movement-a diversity he associates with different rabbis' divergent backgrounds, training, institutional affiliations, and per- sonal attitudes-he limns the key figures and institutions within the Orthodox rabbinate. As he sees it, resisters have always aimed to rein- vigorate rabbinic authority, to lead Jews back toward greater observance of traditional Jewish law, and to counter Americanization. Ac- commodators have at the same time sought what he describes as simu- lation of American religious norms, inclusion of as broad a range of Orthodox Jews as possible, and cooperation with non-Orthodox Jews on matters of general Jewish concern. Each side boasts leaders, institutions, and house organs, and each insists that Judaism generally and Orthodoxy in particular can best survive if its particular path is fol- lowed. Gurock realizes that his two categories cover a broad range. One might indeed argue that he is really describing a spectrum of Ortho- doxy, with full accommodation on the left, utter resistance on the right, and Orthodox rabbis of various shades ranged along different points of the intervening continuum. The same continuum, with only descriptions changed, could be used to describe the leadership of a great many ethnic and religious groups, for the tension between accommodation and resistance-what in other contexts might be called assimilation and identity-is a pervasive one in America, leaders being no less divided on the subject than their follower^.^ Abraham J. Karp seeks the roots of Conservative Judaism back be- fore the rise of late-nineteenth-century rabbinical schools. Uncertain- ties regarding definition, however, emerged equally early.

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