An American Jewish Story in Honor of My Parents' Triple
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Ahaba Congregation, now known as AN AMERICAN JEWISH STORY Temple Beth Ahaba. The nusach of this new congregation was the German IN HONOR OF MY PARENTS’ Ashkenaz rite. The survival of traditional Judaism was clearly a challenge in America. There were TRIPLE SIMCHA no rabbis, the level of learning was margin- al, and shechita and kashrus were difficult. by Robert Lehman, M.D. Richmond, Virginia, from Bavaria, in the All this led to the dissipating of the tradi- ur family recently celebrated the early 1830s. They were part of a wave of tions among the new immigrants. 95th birthday of my father, Mr. emigration from Germany in the wake of Additionally, the influence of the Reform Merrill B. Lehman; the 90th birth- riots and oppressive edicts – one famous movement quickly moved from Germany day of my mother, Mrs. Nanette edict decreed that only one son of Jewish to the United States. The Reform move- Lehman; and my parents’ 70th families could marry – that reversed many ment, which started in the early 19th cen- Owedding anniversary. This triple family sim- of the advances in civil rights, citizenship, tury, brought about an incredibly rapid and cha provides an opportunity to reflect on equal treatment, and economic opportuni- devastating decline in traditional Jewish life the path of Orthodox Judaism in America ties that the Jews had recently attained as in Germany and central Europe. It was over the past 175 years and, particularly, a result of Napoleon’s Emancipation. another result of the emancipation, which the perseverance of Orthodox Judaism in In Richmond, the first Jewish immi- gave the Jews more freedom but also ignit- Baltimore. grants were Sefardic and settled in the city ed their desire to be indistinguishable from My family’s history in America started in the late 1700s. The first shul was their non-Jewish countryman. nearly 175 years ago with the migration of Sefardic. The German Jews who came after Although Beth Ahaba continued as an my great-great-great-grandparents, the them formed their own shul, and soon Orthodox synagogue, the pressure for Bergman and Gundersheimer families, on became the dominant community. The Reform and change was growing. It was my father’s side, and the Sycle and Bear Sefardic and German synagogues merged into this environment that my great-great families, on my mother’s side, to in the early 19th century to become Beth grandfather, Jacob Gundersheimer, was born. As an adult, Jacob Gundersheimer Establishing themselves in Baltimore, they Hamburger. He had also learned under owned a confectionery store and became owned a dry goods business, Strauss Rabbi Abraham Bing, Chief Rabbi of president of Beth Ahaba. It was the late Brothers. The family maintained the min- Wurzburg, who had learned under Rabbi 1860s, the post-Civil War era, and the rum- hag Ashkenaz ritual in a country and a city Nosson Adler of Frankfurt and the blings of Reform were rampant in the shul. that were not conducive to the preserva- Chasam Sofer of Frankfurt (later of Immediately after the bar mitzva of his tion of halachic-based Jewish practice. Pressburg). He was encouraged by his son, Philip William (P.W.) Gundersheimer, Baltimore was no different than Richmond; Rosh Yeshiva to go to the new country to Jacob Gundersheimer saw the handwriting the pressure for assimilation and abandon- establish and preserve traditional Judaism. on the wall, and realized that he would not ing ritual was very strong. In 1845, Nidchei Israel became known be able to prevent the abandonment of the The first chartered Jewish congregation as the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation but traditional rite in the shul. He sent his son, in Maryland was established in 1830, and remained Orthodox. Just three years earli- P.W. to live with the Jacob Cohn family in was known as Nidchei Israel. Though er, in 1842, Har Sinai Verein was estab- Baltimore. The Cohns had migrated to founded earlier by Portuguese/Dutch Jews lished as an alternative to the Orthodoxy Baltimore in the early 1860s. Jacob from the West Indies, the subsequent of Nidchei Israel (Baltimore Hebrew), and Gundersheimer wanted his son to be members of Nidchei Israel were of German was the first Reform congregation estab- raised in the traditional home of Jacob Jewish origin. They met at various locations lished in the United States. Har Sinai is Cohn in order to continue his traditional around Fells Point until they constructed a now located in Owings Mills. Jewish education and observance. The synagogue, in 1845, which exists to this day Rabbi Rice spent a short time in descendants of the Jacob Cohn family in and is known as the Lloyd Street Newport, Rhode Island, and New York Baltimore are represented by Jeffrey Cohn, Synagogue, which is today part of the cur- before being offered the pulpit in Nancy Broth, and Rona Lerner, who lives rent Jewish Museum of Baltimore. Baltimore. He remained with Nidchei Israel in Silver Spring. In 1840, Nidchei Israel hired the first until 1849, at which time he became disen- ◆◆◆ ordained rabbi in the United States. Rabbi chanted with the pressures for reform, and Meanwhile, my mother’s family, the Abraham Rice, born in Bavaria, learned in resigned. He wrote to his Rosh Yeshiva in Strausses, migrated to the United States the Yeshiva of Furth, Germany, where he Furth that “the religious life in this land is from Frankfurt in the mid-1800s. received smicha from Rabbi Wolf on the lowest level. Most people eat foul food and desecrate the Sabbath in public.” neer from Germany is buried in the old Abraham, Eliezer, and Moses. Eliezer From the 1851 to 1862, Rabbi Rice Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery on Belair Strauss was my mother’s grandfather. owned a small grocery store to support his Road, just north of North Avenue. Moses Strauss served as president of the family and was the spiritual leader of a Baltimore Hebrew Congregation offi- shul for 25 years until he died in 1905. The small congregation located at Howard and cially joined the Reform movement in shul rigidly adhered to the German min- Lexington Streets. This congregation 1871. (It is located, today, on Park Heights hag, and only allowed voting rights to called itself Shearith Israel; it was one of and Slade Avenues.) As a consequence, a members who were Sabbath observant. two congregations which ultimately united group headed by the Friedenwald family In 1892, contact was made with Rabbi to form the current Shearith Israel, Rabbi broke off and formed the Orthodox con- Azriel Hildesheimer of the Rabbiner Hopfer’s shul on Glen Avenue. gregation, Chizuk Amuno. Chizuk Amuno Seminary in Berlin seeking a suitable can- The year 1879 is recognized as the later became a founding congregation of didate to be rabbi of the congregation. A onset of Shearith Israel, but we see that its the emerging Conservative movement. It is letter was also sent to Rabbi Dr. Philip roots can be traced to the small shul that now located on Stevenson Road. Hillel Klein, already a rabbi in New York Rabbi Rice formed after leaving Nidchei ◆◆◆ but previously a successful rabbi in Israel. It is probably from this early influ- It was in the early formative years of Germany. Both Rabbi Hildesheimer and ence of Rabbi Rice that many of the min- Shearith Israel Congregation that the Rabbi Dr. Klein suggested Rabbi Dr. hagim of Shearith Israel, prior to the Strauss family came to Baltimore, in the Schepschel Schaffer, who was a graduate recent change from Minhag Ashkenaz, 1850s. In 1879, Shearith Israel obtained a of the Rabbiner Seminary. Rabbi Dr. were from Furth, rather than Frankfurt. former Methodist church at the corner of Schaffer came to Baltimore in 1892, and Nidchei Israel reengaged Rabbi Rice in Greene and German (currently Redwood) continued to serve as Rabbi until 1928 1861 after assuring him of continued strict Streets, and converted it to a shul, which and as Rabbi Emeritus until his death in adherence to Orthodoxy. Unfortunately, included a mikvah. Among the members 1933. Rabbi Dr. Schaffer was an early Rabbi Rice died soon after this return. The who purchased the new building were my Zionist, who represented the United States 150th anniversary of his death will be 5 great-great-grandfather, Jacob at the first and fifth World Zionist Cheshvan, 5772, corresponding to Gundersheimer, another relative, Joseph Congresses in Basle, Switzerland in 1897 November 2, 2011. This true heroic pio- Bergman, and the Strauss brothers: Lewis, and 1901. At the time Rabbi Dr. Schaffer came to beautiful mikvah. The building is still Samuel Rauneker, also on Menlo. Baltimore, the immigrants from the standing, and is used as a Masonic Temple. Soon after the building was construct- Eastern European communities were arriv- This is probably the only shul of its era that ed, my father’s grandfather, P.W. ing in vast numbers. They settled mostly in was not sold to a church. I will relate some Gundersheimer, also moved to the neigh- East Baltimore, establishing large and details about this later. Soon after the ded- borhood, and purchased the large house vibrant congregations that were successful ication of the building, the long-standing on Glen Avenue directly across the street in transferring the high levels of Torah president, Moses Strauss, died and he was from the present parking lot of Shearith learning from the centers in Eastern succeeded by his nephew, Manes Strauss, Israel. Two generations, including my Europe. It was difficult to perpetuate the who served as president until 1930. father, lived in this house. Later, my father’s learning on to the next generation, as the ◆◆◆ parents, the Lehmans, moved back to the younger generation could not relate to In the period when my parents were McCulloh Street area, where my grandfa- their parents’ old-fashioned Orthodoxy.