S9^ The Library University of California, Los Angeles WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE AUTHOR AND THE LILIENTHAL FAMILY Mrs. A. Haas 2001 Van Ness Ave. DR. MAX LILIENTHAL (Aet. 6o) MAX LILIENTHAL AMERICAN RABBI LIFE AND WRITINGS BY DAVID PHILIPSON, D. D., LL. D. AUTHOR OF THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN JUDAISM, ETC., ETC. NEW YORK THE BLOCK PUBLISHING CO. 191S Copyright, 191S DAVID PHILIPSON CINCINNATI PRESS OF C. J. KREHBIEL & CO. CINCINNATI TABLE OF CONTENTS LIFE Chapter I Bavarian Birthplace — ^Childhood and Youth 1 Chapter II. The Russian Career 12 Chapter III. First Years in America 46 Chapter IV. The Rabbi of the Bene Israel Congregation 60 Chapter V. In Public Life 76 Chapter VI. The American Citizen — Church and State — The Bible in the Schools 101 Chapter VII. The Closing Years 126 WRITINGS Family Letters 133 My Travels in Russia 159 Letters on Reform 367 The Flag and the Union 398 The Assassination of President Lincoln 415 Abraham Lincoln — An Appreciation 430 Modern Judaism 444 The Platform of Judaism 453 Can a Jew Go to Heaven ? 460 The Prejudice Against the Jews 467 The Contest for Religious Liberty in Cincinnati ; or the Bible Question 474 8G8931 PREFACE Seventy years ago the famous Jewish leader whose life is presented in these pages stepped foot upon the shore of the United States after an adventurous career in the domain of the Czar. During the thirty- seven years that he lived in this country he became so indoctrinated with the American principle that, though he was of German birth, the proper desig- nation to apply to him is that used on the title page of this volume, "American Rabbi." I desire to express my thanks to the surviving children of Dr. Lilienthal for placing at my disposal the letters written by him from Russia to members of his family, as well as for many other courtesies. These letters, now published for the first time, con- stitute a real contribution to Jewish epistolary liter- ature. My thanks are also due Mr. A. S. Oko, the libra- rian of the Hebrew Union College, for his constant readiness to make accessible to me books and period- icals in the library bearing on the subject in hand. I have long felt that Dr. Lilienthal's valuable sketches entitled "My Travels in Russia" should be preserved in some permanent form. I have therefore included them in this volume. The sketches have been edited here and there and supplied with foot- notes, which are for the most part explanations of Hebrew words and expressions. The addresses and letters which form the closing VI PREFACE. section of the book have been selected with a view of ilhistrating phases of Dr. LiHenthal's American career. This volume has been prepared as a tribute of affection and admiration to the memory of my never- to-be-forgotten teacher and predecessor in office. Jew in religion, American in nationality, Max Lilien- thal championed throughout his life the causes of Jewish idealism and American liberty. Therefore do we recall with reverent gratitude the fine service of this great American rabbi on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. David Philipson. MAX LILIENTHAL LIFE AND WRITINGS LIFE CHAPTER I. BAVARIAN birthplace; — CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. The opening years of the nineteenth century brought little relief from medieval conditions to the Jews of Bavaria. As in other parts of Germany, and in truth, throughout Europe, the Jews in the Bavarian kingdom had, during the centuries that they had lived in the country, been subjected to indignities and disabilities of all kinds. Thus, an edict published in 1553 classed the Jews among "dangerous and suspicious persons" who must be prevented from dwelling in the country or carrying on any trade or engaging in any industry. Jews of other lands who were obliged to pass through Bavaria were compelled to secure a passport, for which they had to pay toll and convoy fees. In 1715 the Elector Max Emanuel ordered the deportation of the few Jews who still remained in the country. In 1733 all current passports were canceled ; a new poll tax was levied as well as a new convoy tax. Jews were ex- cluded from all trades, from military service, and from the merchant guilds ; they were denied entrance to the public baths and were forbidden to settle in the coun- Iry.' The new spirit which arose in Europe towards the close of the eighteenth century exerted some influence in favor of the Jews even in so reactionary a country ' S. Taussig, Geschichte der Juden in Bayern, 61 ff. (Miinchen, 1894). 1 MAX ULIENTHAL. as Bavaria. Further, the financial conditions were so unfavorable at this time that this caused a change in the attitude of the authorities towards the Jews. Bills were drafted by the provisional government between 1785-91 which were more lenient than the drastic legis- lation in force hitherto. For example, such Jews as could furnish indubitable evidence that they possessed sufficient means to engage in industry were permitted to settle in the country. The degrading poll tax was repealed and only a tax on patents of commerce was imposed. A few Jews were ennobled and several re- ceived ofificial recognition from the state. Owing to these more favorable conditions the Jewish community of Munich, the capital city of the country, increased in numbers. Still there were only thirty-one families in the city in 1800. The community had neither a synagog nor a cemetery, neither being per- mitted them. They buried their dead in the cemetery at Kriegshaber, near Augsburg. However, a chebra kadischa, or association for carrying out the ritual commands in case of death, was organized in Munich in 1806. The one-hundredth anniversary of this oldest Jewish organization in the Bavarian capital was cele- brated appropriately nine years ago. In 1813 an edict was promulgated regulating the affairs of the Jews. This edict pronounced them citi- zens of Bavaria as far as their duties were concerned, but as to rights, they were only partial citizens. The edict contained some enactments in accord with the new spirit of emancipation which had spread abroad, notably as a result of the influence of the French, but it retained also survivals of the past ages of restriction and oppression. Most humiliating among these was the so-called Matrikelgesetz. According to this in- 2 BAVARIAN BIRTHPLACE — CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. human enactment, the number of Jews who could ^ found a family was limited to such as possessed this right. Accordingly, only a restricted number of Jewish famihes was permitted in the community. No young man could marry legally who had not the Matrikel. This usually descended from father to oldest son. Younger sons were thus debarred from marrying legally. However, it happened frequently in Bavarian and Bohemian communities, where the same Pharaonic law was in force, that couples who had not this right were married according to the rites of the synagog. In the eyes of theltate, such marriages were illegal and the children illegitimate. The edict of 1813 also restricted freedom of residence and allowed no in- crease of Jewish famihes anywhere. In fact, in places where this number appeared too large, it could be diminished. There were quite a number of towns in Bavaria in which there were no Jews, they having been expelled at one time or other, and never per- mitted to return. Again, there were a few places ^ which had come to be known as "cities oijrefuge;" these, like Fiirth and Ichenhausen, had large Jewish congregations. According to the edict of 1813, per- mission to settle in towns where there were no Jews was to be granted only upon the most rigorous con- ditions and by the highest authority. The edict then was far different from the emancipation edict pro- mulgated in another German kingdom the year pre- viously — the famous Prussian emancipation edict of 1812. It was much more medieval in spirit, and the Jews were continued to be hedged round with a fence of exclusion. Among the few who possessed the right of resi- dence in Munich at this time was Seligman J.ob MAX IvIUENTlIAL. Lilienthal, a wholesale merchant in affluent circum- stances. To him and his wife, Dina, who was the daughter of another Munich family, the Lichten- steins, there was born on October 16, 1815,- a son who was destined to have a brilliant career. The boy was named Menachem, or in the Germanized form of the name, Max. He lost his mother when he was but nine years of age. There is a tradition in the family that he promised his mother on her deathbed that he would study to become a rabbi. In the home wherein he grew up there were four other children, the brothers Samuel and Silas, and the sisters Sophie (who married Dr. John Lehmeier) and Henrietta (who married Dr. Philip Nettre, the brother of Pepi, who became the wife of Max Lilien- thal). Sophie took the mother's place as far as this was possible in the household. During the early years of the life of these children * The date usually given in published biographies of Lilien- thal as the day of his birth is November 6, 1815. This is incorrect. A letter to his ifiancee, Miss Pepi Nettre, in Munich, dated St. Petersburg, October 16, 1841, opens with the words, "I wonder what you are doing on this, my birthday !" Fur- ther, the year 1815, usually accepted as the year of his birth, may be open to question, owing to the fact that the inscrip- tion on his tombstone in the United Jewish Cemetery at Cincinnati gives 1814 as the year of birth. However, de- spite this evidence which would usually be considered incon- testable, we have a statement by Dr. Lilienthal himself which indicates beyond doubt that he was born in 1815. The open- ing sentence of his itinerary, "My Travels in Russia" reads, "I was but twenty-three years of age when I left for Russia." This was in the beginning of October, 1839, shortly before his twenty-fourth birthday. Had he been born in the fall of 1814 as the tombstone inscription has it he would have been twenty-four years old at this time and on the verge of his twenty-fifth birthday. BAVARIAN BIRTHPLACE — CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. in the Lilienthal home, important events were taking place affecting the status and welfare of the Jews in Bavaria. The first Bavarian Diet assembled in 181^. I The larger Jewish congregations of the country sent delegates to Munich to work for the enfranchisement of the Jews. The leader of these delegates was Samson Wolf Rosenfeld, rabbi in Uehlfeld and Bam- berg, and author of a number of pamphlets on eman- cipation. The efforts of Rosenfeld and his colleagues towards inducing the members of the Diet to take favorable action on the question of Jewish enfran- chisement might have proved successful, since the Diet promised to comply with the request, had it not been for the wave of anti-Jewish agitation which convulsed the country while the Diet was in session. This was the famous, or rather infamous, Hep ! hep P agitation which, beginning in Wiirzburg with attacks on the Jews, spread through Franconia and passed into Bavaria and other parts of Germany. The Hep ! hep! cry resounded throughout the country and, in- fluenced by the state of the popular mind, the Diet declared on May 13, 1822, that the time for the eman- cipation of the Jews had not yet arrived. However, in 1818, some time before this brutal anti-Jewish crusade, the government had permitted the small Jewish community of Munich to acquire a cemetery, and in 1824 granted them the permission to build a synagog; this first synagog of Munich 'It is frequently asserted that this cry Hep! hep! (the three initial letters of Hierosolyma est perdita) was a me- dieval anti-Jewish slogan. Of this there is no proof. As far as can be learned, it was used for the first time at this period and was the invention of the students at Wiirzburg. See Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, XI, 357. MAX LIUlSNTHAt. Jewry was dedicated on April 11, 1827. The high standing of the Lilienthal family in the community is attested by the fact that the father was a member of the board of administration at the time of the dedi- cation. The other members of this board were Israel Hirsch Pappenheimer, Jacob von Hirsch (the grand- father of the famous philanthropist, Maurice de Hirsch), Raphael Kaula (in the famous collection of beautiful Bavarian women in one of the Munich pal- aces there is a picture of a Fraulein von Kaula, who was doubtless a member of this family), Anselm Marx and M. H. Seligstein. Lilienthal was also a member of the governing board of the chebra Ka- discJia mentioned above. A far-reaching action in its influence on the life and development of the Bavarian Jews was the pass- ing, in"4828^f the edict for the organization of Jewish schools on modern lines. The Jewish com- munities were greatly agitated. Great difficulties were encountered in carrying out the decree in a number of communities, the members of which clung to the old cheder method. The new was reprehensible merely because it was new; the old was good merely because it was old. According to this edict, only a teacher who passed successfully examinations re- quired by the government could be appointed by the congregations to instruct in the schools ; such ap- pointees, if ratified by the government, could not be dismissed without the consent of the government. In a manner the Jewish schools thus became govern- mental schools. Before this time the cheder, or Jew- ish school, was a private institution. The children were taught only Hebrew branches by a teacher known as the melammed, who was usually without pedagog- BAVARIAN birthplace; — CHII.DHOOD AND YOUTH. ical training. All this was to be changed. The edict also provided that after the year 1833 the teachers had to be graduates of seminaries. It was at this period that young Max Lilienthal began attending the University of Munich with the idea of securing the education which would equip him to occupy the rabbinical ofitice under the changed conditions in Jewish life. A number of communities in Germany were looking for rabbis who combined the secular learning acquired at the university with the erudition secured from the study of the ancient Hebrew lore. These were the years of storm and conflict. Rabbis of the old school condemned the newer learning as detrimental to the religion. Tra- ditionalism and modernism were locking horns ; the former made a hard, but vain fight ; it could not stem the current of progress and reform. The young men educated in the universities had an altogether dif- ferent outlook upon life than had the rabbis whose learning was confined to the intricacies of the Talmud and the codes. Max Lilienthal grew to manhood in those seething years when the Jewish communities of Germany, notably in the larger cities, were greatly agitated by the new hopes. He and his brother Samuel,* to whom he remained greatly attached throughout his life, both received their education at the university of their native city.^ Max graduated * Samuel graduated from the university as doctor of medi- cine, and emigrated to the United States, where he prac- ticed successfully for many years. ° Many years later Max Lilienthal referred to his life at the university in these words : "I still remember today my Christian fellow students at the University of Munich; they deplored the state of my soul, they said, because of my re- ligious profession. Several of them, young men to whom MAX UUENTHAL. in 1837, receiving the degree of doctor of philosophy, the subject of his thesis being "Ueber den Ursprung der jiidisch-alexandrischen Religionsphilosophie".** He received his Hebrew^ education from Rabbi Moses Wittelsbacher and attended also the famous ycsliibali of Wolf Hamburger in Fiirth, the academy for higher Jewish learning, among whose pupils were other young men who also became famous reform rabbis, such as David Einhorn, Isaac Loewi, of Fiirth, Leopold Stein, of Frankfort, Joseph Aub, of Berlin, as well as that pillar of orthodoxy, Seligman Baer Bamberger. He received the rabbinical degree from Hirsch ^^ub, rabbi of Munich. Lilienthal passed so brilliant an examination in tak- ing his degree at the university that he was offered a position in the diplomatic service. Although it had been his fixed purpose to follow the rabbinical career, still this offer was so tempting that he felt impelled to accept it, notably since, owing to the loss of the family possessions through a disastrous fire, he, as the eldest of the children, felt it incumbent upon him- self to assist in the rearing of his brothers and sis- ters. However, upon being informed that if he ac- cepted this post, he must become converted to Ca- tholicism, he rejected the ofifer indignantly. This closed the incident, the minister of foreign afifairs assuring him that such being his attitude, he could not possibly pursue a diplomatic career in Bavaria. I was attached by the bonds of the most sincere friendship, believed me irretrievably lost ! How ridiculous, how blas- phemous this doctrine sounds!" Israelite, III, 44. 'Published in Munich, 1839, J. A. Giesser. The dis- sertation was dedicated to Hirsch Aub, the rabbi of the Munich congregation. BAVARIAN BIRTHPLACE — CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. He turned definitely now to what had been his heart's desire from the first, the rabbinical office. But a change had come upon the government's legislation in the matter of filling these offices. The movement for religious reform was alarming the adherents of traditional Judaism. They succeeded in impressing the government with the dangerous tendencies of the "innovators", as the reformers were called. But in this bitter opposition to all religious reform they were playing with fire, for the government was not satisfied with legislating against this alone, but in 1838 aii edict was issued which reenacted all the harshest restrictive measures against the Jews; among others were the following: the Matrikel was enforced rigidly; Jews were excluded from the bench, the bar and the army ; it was forbidden to record a house in the name of a Jew in a place where he did not live ; no Jew was permitted to remain longer than three days in the fortress of Ingolstadt. And in that same year the order was issued forbidding congregations from select- ing as their rabbis, such candidates as held liberal views, or, as the exact words of, the decree put it, "candidates favoring destructive neolog^;^'. Whether or no this was the reason why Lilienthal .did not suc- ceed in securing a position, there is no means of know- ing, but the fact remains that he never officiated as rabbi for a Bavarian congregation. His work was to lie in other lands. However, he was not idle during this time. The fine collection of Hebrew manuscripts in the royal library of Munich attracted his attention. He wrote an account of the collection under the title, "Biblio- graphical Notices on the Hebrew Manuscripts in the MAX UUENTHAI.. Royal Library at Munich".^ These notices were pub- lished during the course of over a year running from May 19, 1838, to November 16, 1839, in the literary supplement of the Allgcmeine Zeitung dcs Juden- tliums. It was also noted in the columns of this journal that he was at work on a history of the Jews in Bavaria^ although this was never published. Through this literary work the young scholar was brought into intimate communication with Dr. Lud- wig Philippson, the editor of the journal in question, the only Jewish newspaper in Germany at the time. It was through this connection that the opening years of LiHenthal's active career were passed, not as rabbi in a small Bavarian Jewish congregation, but as the companion of statesmen and diplomats in the great Russian empire. For it was Ludwig Philippson, the best-known German Jew, to whom Uwarofif, the Rus- sian Minister of Education, turned for advice as to who should be entrusted with the superintendency of the new school to be established in Riga, the beginning of the great task of modernizing the Jewish schools in Russia. And Ludwig Philippson recommended Max Lilienthal as the young man who, in his opinion, was best equipped for this pioneer work. He was recom- mended to Uwaroff also by the Russian ambassador to Munich. It was through Ludwig Philippson's rec- ommendations, too, that the positions of preacher of the Leipzig temple and of the congregation at Szege- din, in Hungary, had been offered to him before this. While these negotiations were pending the op- ' Bihliographischc Notizen iiber die hebrdischen Manu- skripte der Koniglichen Bibliothck zu Miinchen. * AUgemeine Zeitung des Judenthiims. Homiletisches und Literarisches Beiblatt, 1838, 80. 10 BAVARIAN BIRTHPLACE — CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. portunity of going to Russia as teacher and preacher at Riga presented itself. This call was accepted for the reason as stated by himself that "the sphere of activity in such a vast empire flattered my youthful vanity, and hoping for the best results of my sincere endeavors to raise the million of Jews to a higher standard, I asked the Russian ambassador at Munich for my passport".^ ® Lilienthal, My Travels in Russia, Infra, p. 159. 11 MAX UUENTHAL. CHAPTER II. THE RUSSIAN CAREER. The unrest in German Jewry in the early decades of the nineteenth century was reflected in a slighter measure in the great empire of the czar, where dwelt the large majority of the Jews of Europe. The great mass of these Jews had, it is true, been touched in no way by the modern spirit ; among them the rabbinical interpretation of the law held full sway. In the eighteenth century there had arisen in Russia the movement known as Chassidism, a protest against the rigorous legalism of rabbinical tradition. The sect of the Chassidim, noble and pure as were the motives of the founder, Israel Baal Shem,^ had degenerated into superstitious obscurantists, whom the wonder-working rabbis held in thrall. Still the effect of the newer ef- forts for secular education, so marked among German Jews since the days of Moses Mendelssohn, found an echo in some Jewish quarters in Russia. The men who headed these attempts to bring their coreligion- ists into accord with the modern spirit are known as Maskilim, and the movement which they sponsored as the Haskala movement.^ This movement was con- cerned largely with the effort to found schools in which the children and the youth should receive in- struction in what we now call secular branches, as * Schechter Studies in Judaism, I, 16 fif. (Philadelphia, 1896). * Raisin, The Haskala Movement (Philadelphia, 1913). 12 the; RUSSIAN caree;r. well as in the traditional Hebrew disciplines, which had formed the entire content of education hitherto. This Haskala movement in Russia was the reflex of the Mendelssohnian movement in Germany, but the obstacles in Russia, both within from the Jewish com- munities, and without from the government were much greater and progress was therefore much more re- tarded. As early as the year 1800, a physician, Dr. Frank, who had studied in BerHn and settled in western Russia, published a severe arraignment of the educa- tional methods then in vogue among Russian Jews; he advocated the establishment of schools in which instruction should be imparted in Russian, German and Hebrew along modern lines.^ This publication attracted the notice of the government and attention began to be paid to the subject of the education of the Jewish youth. A decree issued in 1804 granted Jews admission to the educational institutions of the government. In this decree the warning was given that if the permission here given was not taken ad- vantage of, special Jewish schools, the expense of which would have to be borne by the Jews, would be instituted by the government. When the government took steps to found such schools, owing to the fact that very few of the Jewish young visited the govern- ment schools, the native Jews put forth all efiforts to prevent this. A few schools for general culture were founded in course of time with the help of foreign Jews, the first being that at Uman, established in 1820 'Julius Hessen, Die russische Regicrung und die wcst- europ'dischen Juden — Zur Schulreform in Russland, 1840-44, 5 (St. Petersburg, 1913). 13 MAX LIUENTHAIv. under the superintendency of a Galician Jew, Meier Horn.* In 1823, Isaac Beer Levinsohn, possibly the most famous of the leaders in the Haskalah movement, directed a petition in German to the Grand Duke Constantine to found schools for Jewish children and academies for Jewish teachers. '^ He also issued a publication in Hebrew" in which he urged his views upon his coreligionists to the effect that besides a knowledge of the books of the Bible and their mean- ing, of the Mishnah and the Talmud, and of the He- brew language, it was necessary that the Jew know also other languages and especially the language of his country ; also that he should learn a trade and not- ably agriculture. He followed this up with a petition to the czar, Nicholas I, in 1836 that schools be estab- lished for Jewish children, through the instruction they received in which they might become useful citi- zens to the country ; if Jewish children had proper teachers they would realize the fondest expectations.'^ Although the emperor received the petition graciously, nothing was done towards realizing the proposal at this time. However, the ideas here suggested by Levinsohn ■* Seven years previously, in 1813, Joseph Perl had opened a school in Tarnopol, Galicia. Technically this was the first such school in Russia as Tarnopol happened to belong to Russia at that time, it having been ceded to that country by Austria in 1810; however, it was recovered by Austria by the treaty of Paris in 1814, and has remained part of that empire since. Hence the school at Tarnopol can scarcely be considered a Russian but rather an Austrian Jewish school. ^ David Kahana Lilienthal we haskalat hayehudim beriis- siyah in Haschiloach, XXVII, 320. " Teudah Beyisrael (Vilna, 1836). Kahana. Ibid, ' Kahana. Ibid, 321. 14 THE RUSSIAN CAREe;R. were carried out in two places : in Odessa where such a school was founded by Basilius (Bezalel) Stern, a native of Tarnopol, Galicia, and in Riga in Livonia, to the superintendency of which Max Lilienthal was called from Munich in Germany. In the year 1837, a letter appeared in the columns of the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums,^ dated Riga, November 13, 1837, and signed by the officers of the congregation, H. W. Hamburger, N. A. Schei- nesson, Benj. Nachman and N. Berkowitz. This let- ter sets forth the desire of the congregation for a German teacher and preacher, since German was the mother tongue of the Jews of Riga ; such a man was not to be found in Russia where there was no modern education and no modern enlightenment among the Jews. The leader they desired must be a man of modern culture, but of conservative religious tenden- cies. The following year Count Uwarofif, the Minister of Education, came to Riga, and the representatives of the Jewish congregation presented to him a petition requesting governmental permission to open a school in two sections, the one for boys and the other for girls, wherein the Jewish religion was to be taught systematically and instruction in the Bible was to be given after the German translation of Mendelssohn; the superintendent was to be a foreigner of the Jewish faith who had been trained in the spirit of pure en- lightenment ; the assistant was to be a Christian, This petition found favor in the eyes of Uwarofif and he considered it of such interest and importance that he laid it before the czar. Being favored by the emperor, •Vol. I, 410-12. 15 MAX UUENTHAL. the request to found the school was ratified. Steps were taken at once to put the plan into operation. As the school was by the action of the emperor under gov- ernmental protection, Uwaroff undertook to secure a capable superintendent ; as already stated, through the recommendation of Ludwig Philippson, the choice fell upon Max Lilienthal. The young man, only twenty-three years of age, left his father's house on the eighth day of October, 1839. In a letter written to his brother eighteen months later in which he gives a detailed account of the journey from his home to St. Petersburg, he says in speaking of this departure: "You know the pain of farewell ; wherefore then should I picture it, wherefore reopen the wound that has begun to close?" He arranged his itinerary in such a manner as to stop at a number of cities where he might meet well-known Jewish leaders ; at Madgeburg he con- sulted with Philippson, at Hamburg with Salomon and Kley, the preachers of the famous reform congrega- tions, and at Altona with Steinheim, the philosophical writer whom he terms "the Maimonides of our day". He arrived at St. Petersburg on the twenty-fourth of October, where he had some audiences with Uwaroff and with the Minister of the Interior, Count Strog- anofif. In this same letter he tells why he had gone to St. Petersburg first instead of proceeding directly to Riga: "I had journeyed hither at the wish of the congregation to intercede here in their interest, for they are engaged at present in the struggle to secure the rights of citizenship. In carrying out this com- mission I won the friendship of many prominent men who were most helpful to me. Having convinced myself that the congregation would experience great 16 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. difficulty in achieving its purpose and that for this reason the position of the school is very precarious, which anyone who is at all familiar with the conditions in this country readily perceives, I sought to pave the way for a future rich in possibilities by submitting to the said ministers a plan for the establishment of con- sistories, which was received with much favor". The Jews of Riga had been engaged for some years in the struggle to establish their right of citizenship. They had been living in Riga a long time and had been left unmolested. In 1797 the Jews had secured from Emperor Paul the right to have their names entered among the inhabitants of the city ; the Chris- tians attempted to have this permission nullified by all manner of devices ; the struggle continued for forty years until finally in 1835 a ukase was issued which contained the provision that Riga was among the localities in which Jews were permitted to live. The claim of the Jews that this permission carried with it the right to form a congregation being contested by Christians, the matter, after a struggle of six years, was finally settled by an imperial decree of December 17, 1841, which declared: first, that Jews who had actually had their residence in Riga up to that time should be enrolled as inhabitants of the city and be permitted to continue their residence there, without, however, enjoying the right of citizenship or the right to possess real estate ; secondly, Jews of other places were from now on forbidden to remove to Riga ; thirdly, the Jews who by this decree were permitted to enrol themselves as inhabitants of Riga must wear German dress ; fourthly, the fixing of the rights whereby Jews could pursue business in Riga would be included in the general decree concerning com- 17 MAX IvILlENTHAL. merce in Riga. In 1842, 517 Jews were enrolled as inhabitants of Riga under the style and title : "The Jewish community of Riga".'' After a sojourn of ten weeks in St. Petersburg, Lilienthal arrived at Riga on January 12, 1840. He was greeted with enthusiasm. He himself entered up- on his new task with the highest hopes. He was to blaze a new path. It was a mission which might well exalt any man. He was to proclaim to his people the message of the new era, to bring light where there was darkness. Could he have looked into the future, he might well have been discouraged, but he saw only the great possibilities of the opportunity that had come to him. Even fourteen months after he arrived in Russia and seven months after he had begun his larger work, in spite of the obstacles that he had already encountered, he still felt that his mission was divinely ordained, for in the letter referred to above he wrote to his father : "Am I to believe that God has cast me into Russia merely to humor a whim and that He will thrust me forth again to satisfy His pleasure? I think otherwise when I consider what I have accomplished in seven months". His work in Russia began with the establishment of the school at Riga. The school was opened on January 16, 1840. Lilienthal delivered the inaugural address in German. The young director devoted him- self to his task with the greatest enthusiasm. Secular as well as sacred branches were taught. The entire day was consumed in the prosecution of the work of the school. The efforts of Lilienthal called forth a remarkable encomium from Professor Risberg, of the 'Wunderbar, Geschichte dcr Juden in Liv- und Kurland, 12-13 (Mitau, 1853). 18 the; RUSSIAN CAREER. University of Dorpat, who reported to Count Uwaroff as follows: "The Jewish school in Riga, which was founded recently under the guidance of the genial, experienced and thorough scholar. Doctor Lilienthal, has attained already a flourishing development. I re- port with pleasure the astonishing results in geog- raphy, history and arithmetic, German grammar and the Russian language. The present attainment of this new seat of enlightenment surpasses all the most eager expectations and assures for it a joyous, brilliant future".'" Uwarofif quoted these words in a statement to the czar concerning Lilienthal's work in Riga. In recog- nition of this work and the spirit evinced in Lilien- thal's inaugural address at the opening of the school, the czar presented him with a diamond ring. The congregation also elected Lilienthal preacher. His sermons delivered in the German language'^ at- tracted large congregations of both Jews and Chris- tians. The Jews recognized in a short time his earn- estness and conscientiousness and the suspicions that they may have entertained soon disappeared. The rabbi of the community, a Talmudist of the old school, gave him a hearty welcome. Neither inter- fered with the sphere of the other. Lilienthal's fame spread beyond the confines of Riga. The Maskilim hailed him as a new and great leader. He entered into correspondence with a number of them, notably the '" Quoted in Scheinhaus, Ein Deutscher Pionier {Dr. Lilien- thal's Kultiirversitch in Rnssland) ; Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Vol. LXXV (1911), 405. "These sermons were published in a volume entitled Predigten in der Synagoge zu Riga (Riga, 1841). The vol- ume was dedicated to Uwaroff. 19 MAX UURNTIIAL. famous M. A. Giinzberg^^ and Nissin Rosenthal, the most prominent of the Maskilim of Vilna. His great success in Riga made him a marked man.^^ He was eulogized by the advocates of the newer edu- cation among the Russian Jews and denounced as a "Berliner" or "Datschel" and an innovator by the Chassidim and the followers of the old order. Uwaroff, too, kept in constant touch with his work. After he had been active in Riga a year, Lilienthal was called to St. Petersburg by the minister to in- augurate the larger task of founding schools in all the Russian Jewish communities like unto that which he had manned so successfully in Riga. Preliminary steps toward this end had already been taken. In 1839 the Czar Nicholas evinced the first spark of kindly feeling towards his Jewish subjects when he said of them, "They are my children and my servants altogether". He issued a ukase calling for assemblies in six cities in the provinces where the Jews dwelt in greatest numbers for the discussion of such themes as the position and the work of the rabbis, the education of the children and how to make good and useful citizens of the Jews. At the same time a council of ministers, with Uwaroff at their head, was held in St. Petersburg to deliberate on the same sub- jects. They decided to open schools for Jewish chil- dren. As a result of this conference Uwaroff sub- '' See letter of March 21, 1840, to M. A. Gunzberg, pub- lished in Ost und West, 1910, 379-82. See also Hebrew letter of date July 22, 1842, to N. Rosenthal, published in Leket Amarim, 1889. " A vivid description of the impression made by Lilien- thal on the rising generation of Russian Jews may be found in the autobiography entitled Memoiren einer Grossmutter, by Pauline Wengeroff, I, 118-137 (Berlin, 1908). 20 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. mitted to the czar in March, 1841, a document entitled "Decrees for the Jews", in which it was set forth that such schools would lessen the influence of the Talmud among the Jews and bring them nearer the people of the country and the reigning faith. The emperor stamped this document with his approval by the words in his own handwriting, "The principles are sound". At the same time he promised to do all he could for the education of the Jews of his realm. Before proceeding further with the narrative it may be well to say a word about the purpose of the emperor and his ministers in this matter of founding modern schools for the Jews, as evidenced by the statement of the emperor just quoted, namely, that the principles of the ministerial document were sound. Many Jews were suspicious of the sincerity of the government ; they looked upon the whole plan as a proselytizing scheme. Such claimed that the emanci- pation of the Jews, and this alone, would prove the sincerity of the government in its educational pro- jects for the Jews. The entire attitude of the em- peror justified them in their suspicions. His efforts as ruler were directed towards the realization of his motto : "One country, one language, one church". It was these justifiable suspicions that proved the most difficult obstacle for Lilienthal to overcome. When, for example, at the meeting held in Vilna for the consideration of the plan, he was asked the question by one of the members present, "What guarantee can you offer us that our religion will not be interfered with ?" he answered : "You know a great deal better than I that I am unable to offer you any guarantee on the part of the department. The emperor's will reigns supreme and autocratic ; he can recall today what he 21 MAX UUENTHAL. promised yesterday ; he changes his officers and their systems whenever he pleases ; how should I, an hum- ble stranger, be able to offer you a guarantee? I am not empowered to do it. All that I can promise you as your coreligionist is, that I shall not go a step fur- ther in promoting the plans of the government before having obtained the assurance that nothing will be undertaken against our holy religion, that I shall lay down my office as soon as I shall become convinced to the contrary and that no offense on the part of my brethren shall excuse me for breaking the promise I am giving you at this solemn hour".^* In one of his conversations with Uwaroff, Lilien- thal communicated to the minister this fear of the Jews that the emperor's educational plan was merely a blind for wholesale conversion and that it was not sincerely meant. When asked how these apprehen- sions might be removed, he answered: "To grant at once their emancipation ; or if the government con- siders this step a hasty one, to grant them at least some favors, convincing them unquestionably that their religious rights will not be infringed upon, nor their liberties be curtailed further, and that a bright, hopeful future is in store for them."^^ Uwaroff now assured him that the emperor's intentions were only for the welfare of his Jewish subjects. That he trusted thoroughly in the representations of Uwaroff that there was no ulterior conversionist purpose in the plan there can not be the least doubt, for as soon as, to his dismay, he became convinced to the contrary, he left the country, as shall appear in the sequel. ^* My Travels in Russia. Infra, p. 247. '' Ibid. 22 THE RUSSIAN CAREE;r. We have a contemporary account from Lilienthal's own hand of the steps that led to his call to St. Peters- burg from Riga and inaugurated directly his mission to his Russian coreligionists. In a letter to Ludwig Philippson dated February 14, 1842, he writes : "It was the emperor's own idea — not having been submitted to him either by the Council of Ministers or the Imperial Cabinet — to open to his Russian Jews the door of hope to a happier future, through the agency of a freer, more scientific education permeated with the spirit of religion, in place of the former,- purely TalmudfcaT instruction. He, the ruler of the greatest empire in the world's history, whose fatherly heart and imperial soul provide for millions, turned his merciful eye to this poor, wretched people, and with the energy, the acumen and the wisdom which so brilliantly distinguish Russia's politics. His Serene Majesty commanded the ministers concerned to ex- amine into the present status of the Jews, to institute the necessary deliberations, and to submit the sugges- tions resulting therefrom to him for examination and approval. "The ministers took steps to carry out this com- mand, and the first result of the deliberations which was made public was the formation of special com- mittees in each general province in which Jews lived. There were six of these ; since Jews live only in Liv- und Kurland, under the jurisdiction of the Gov- ernor-General Baron von Pahlen ; in the provinces Vilna, Grodno, Minsk and Bialystok, under the Lieu- tenant-General Mirkowitsch ; in Kief, Zhitomir and Volhynia, under Lieutenant-General Bibikoff; in Bes- sarabia and Kherson, under the Adjutant-General Count Woronzefif; in Chernigof and Poltava, under 23 MAX UUEJNTHAI,. the Adjutant-General Prim Dolgonicki; and in Vitebsk and Mogilef, under the Lieutenant-General Diakoff. "Several Jews were placed on every committee which was composed of a number of officials, and even though one of the chief subjects of the delibera- tions was the office and the duties of the new govern- mental rabbis^^ who were to be appointed, still all were commanded to express their opinion on the pres- ent state of the Jews and to offer suggestions for pos- sible changes which would lead to an improvement of this condition. "Until January, 1841, the documents had to be sent back to the Ministry of the Interior for examination by local authorities ; further action was based upon their findings and suggestions. "Shortly after the expiration of said term, the com- mand of His Excellency, the Minister of Public In- struction Uwaroff, to journey at once to St. Peters- burg to participate in the deliberations touching my service, was communicated to me through the Curator of the Educational District of Dorpat. Traveling and living expenses were paid me by the government and I made haste to reach the imperial city. "His Excellency, the Minister, received me for the first time on Saturday evening at seven o'clock. This evening hour was set for me in order that my visit might be undisturbed by other visits and audiences; this first conference lasted three hours. I had the opportunity that evening to learn to honor and admire the humane man in the great statesman. In words of real concern, he pictured the neglect and the debase- "The so-called crown rabbis who, as government officials, are the recognized intermediaries between the government and the Jewish communities. 24 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. ment of the Jewish people in Russia, and betrayed in every portrayal the keen judge, the thorough student of the character of this nation. In most eloquent speech he praised the great thoughts of the exalted ruler, the many hopes, the blessed results which would ensue therefrom; and true joy beamed from every feature as he began to explain to me the part which had been assigned also to him in the great work of humanity through the establishment of a Jewish school system. "A double task was assigned me by His Excellency during my five weeks' sojourn in the ministry: first, to place myself into communication with the most famous Jews of Germany, in order to learn the num- ber of such as would accept a call to the schools to be established; and, secondly, to participate in the elaboration of the necessary preliminaries, plans, out- lines, etc., under the constant personal supervision of the minister himself. "The work proceeded rapidly under the interested direction of the minister, while we looked for the replies which were to reach us from Germany and waited to learn what impression the large-hearted project of the monarch would make on the German Jews. "Addresses of thanks and enthusiastic communica- tions dictated by the most sincere admiration were sent to the monarch from several congregations in Germany and were received graciously; letters were written to the minister by the most celebrated Jewish litterateurs, and utterance was given to the warmest appreciation of the high aim of his efforts. The ap- pointments were to follow in short order, it was promised. Since the purpose of my presence in St. 25 MAX IvILlENTHAIv. Petersburg was now fulfilled, I was dismissed by His Excellency ; but I received the command to remain in uninterrupted communication with the department of the ministry, and to await further instructions. "I returned to Riga on the sixth of March of last year (1841) and through the good offices, particu- larly of Doctors Philippson, Jost, Geiger, Mann- heimer,^^ Auerbach, etc., I received the names of over two hundred men who were willing to emigrate under favorable conditions and offers and to accept the posi- tions that were to be created. The warm participation of foreign coreligionists in the lot of the Russian Jews, the correct understanding of the emperor's idea, the thorough comprehension of the plans and purposes of the large-hearted minister were duly appreciated, and the necessary steps were taken at once to secure the information prescribed by law concerning the foreign candidates. The first difficulties had been overcome, it is true, but since matters can not be settled so readily in the great domain of Russia as in the small kingdoms of Germany, but require a careful consul- tation on the manner of accommodation to the most diverse local conditions, the desired call could not be issued to the foreigners as quickly as they wished. And while matters were proceeding here towards their solution quietly but slowly, a rumor which was with- '° Philippson himself was willing to come to Russia to as- sist in the great task which aroused his utmost enthusiasm; so also Jost; Geiger declined to go, although he offered his good offices in aiding young men who might desire to go; Mannheimer and Sulzer volunteered to train young men in preaching and in the liturgy of the Viennese temple so as to fit them for positions in Russia. See Hessen, Die russische Eegierung und die westeuropaischen Juden — Zur Schulre- form in Russland, 1840-44, pp. 10 ff. (St. Petersburg, 1913). 26 the; RUSSIAN care:e;r. out any foundation spread through Germany that the project had been abandoned and all further consulta- tion had been dropped. "However, instead of this being the case, I was occupied during the past year with the most diverse commissions which had been entrusted to me by the ministry, and we recognized herein the quiet begin- nings of the undertaking which merely awaited the favorable opportunity in order to proceed to its solu- tion. "This came when the honorary citizen, Nissin Rosenthal, of Vilna, while in St. Petersburg, was commissioned by His Excellency at his own request to bring me to Vilna in order that I might either in- duce that Jewish community to found a free school or smooth out the differences between the already existing schools which were under the supervision of the said Mr. Rosenthal and a Mr. Klatzko."^^ In Vilna, largely through the active and enthusi- astic support of Rosenthal, Klatzko and their friends among the Maskilim, Lilienthal succeeded in gaining the endorsement of the community for the govern- mental plan. From Vilna he proceeded to Minsk, having received an invitation from the Jewish leaders of that city to come there. The Jewish community of this city had shown no sympathy whatsoever with the Haskala movement, but quite the contrary; most active opposition had been evinced against any and all such attempts. Lilienthal's friends and admirers among the Maskilim of Vilna, fearing that the invi- tation to come to Minsk was a plot to lure him from Vilna and to devise some scheme against him that " Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, VI, 602-611. 27 MAX UUENTHAL. would prevent the further prosecution of his work, implored him not to proceed to that city. They pointed out to him that he would be friendless there and in a hotbed of opposition and enmity. He felt, however, so secure in the strength of his mission and his ability to present it, that he proceeded undaunted to this stronghold of Chassidism and rigid orthodoxy. Here his reception was altogether different from that accorded to him in Vilna. He was bitterly insulted. It appeared at times that even his life was in danger. The fanatics mocked him, following him through the streets and shouting derisively, "Get thee gone, shaven one ;^^ get thee gone". The meeting at which he set forth his plans was very stormy ; all his eloquence availed him naught. He was utterly defeated. The reactionaries carried the day and Lilienthal left Minsk to return to Vilna, feeling that the task he had under- taken would prove most difficult of fulfillment. The effect of his defeat at Minsk proved disastrous in Vilna. During his absence, his enemies had been active. They succeeded in reversing the sentiment of the community. Lilienthal, noting the change, asked that another meeting be called at which he might pre- sent his cause a second time, and possibly win over the people once again. He pleaded in vain. No sec- ond assembly was called. His experience in Minsk and his second attempt at Vilna convinced him that he must labor hard indeed to gain the Jewish com- munities for his cause. He returned to St. Petersburg; in reporting his " Being clean shaven, Lilienthal was looked upon with suspicion by the Russian Jews, who cut neither the corners of their hair nor their beards in obedience to the command : Lev. xix, 27. 28 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. failure at Minsk to Count Uwaroff, he took a most noble attitude. He exonerated his persecutors from all blame and urged the minister not to visit any displeasure upon them. During his sojourn at St. Petersburg where he ar- rived in April, 1842, he worked out in conjunction with the department of the Ministry of Education the plan for the organization of Jewish education. As a result of these deliberations, the edict containing the following provisions was promulgated July 4: 1. All schools and institutions of learning of the Jews, whatever be the name by which they are desig- nated, not even excepting those in which the instruc- tion deals with the learned interpretation of the Mo- saic law and of their sacred books, as well as such as are devoted to the education of the young, being under the jurisdiction of this department, are to be reorgan- ized in accordance with the general educational regu- lations prevailing throughout the empire. 2. To carry out this plan a commission, consisting of four rabbis, is to be established here in St. Peters- burg. They are to be selected with the approval of the minister and the governors-general of the four provinces whose population consists practically alto- gether of Jews. 3. The work of the commission is to reorganize intellectually the Jews living in the Russian empire. After performing this important task, the commission is to be discharged, but the members will receive ade- quate compensation for their labors.^'* Lilienthal was now commissioned to visit the Jew- ish communities of Russia to acquaint them with the ^' Allgemeine Zeitung des JudentJmms, VI, 529. 29 MAX IvILlENTHAIv. provisions of this edict, to induce them to accede peaceably to the governmental plan and to elect the members of the rabbinical commission as provided for in the edict. He was to midertake this journey as the representative of the government ; his journey was to proceed through all the provinces inhabited by the Jews. In the fourth paragraph of the letter of instructions issued to him,^° the assurance is given that the re- ligion of the Jews was not to be interfered with. Lilienthal had demanded that this be included in order that all suspicions might be dispelled and the consent of the Jews to the plan be thus obtained the more readily. Before embarking on this all-important journey, he issued his famous address to the Russian Jews, en- titled "Maggid Jeshuah"-^ (The Announcer of Salva- '" This letter of instruction is included in full in Lilien- thal's My Travels in Russia; infra, p. 331-3. ^^The address called forth an anonymous rejoinder en- titled Maggid Emcth (The Announcer of the Truth). The writer of this answer is actuated by a bitter spirit of enmity and opposition to Lilienthal ; he claims that Lilienthal desired merely to ingratiate himself with the rich, that he was hypo- critical in that he was m(5st puncHHous in observing every ceremony in order to curry favor with the orthodox. Kahana, whose article on Lilienthal and the Haskalah (in Hashiloach, XXVII, 314-22, 446-57, 546-56) is distinctly antagoxjistic, claims that this rejoinder was written by the famous Maskil, M. A. Gijnzberg, to whom Lilienthal showed himself most ungrateful after Giinzberg had aided him with his influenced It has been pointed out that M. A. Giinzberg could not have written this rejoinder because in a later publication Kikayon Deyonah he criticizes the Maggid Emeth for the attack on Lilienthal (Scheinhaus Bin deutscher Pionier). Either Scheinhaus is correct in his contention, which seems most probable, or if not, and Giinzberg did write the Maggid 30 THE RUSSIAN CAREIER. tion). This remarkable document created a great stir among the Jews of Russia. It was in this address to his coreligionists that he announced the purpose of the government to convene the commission on Jewish education that was to have four members elected by the Jews themselves who were to work out the plan for the schools that were to be established for the edu- cation of the Jewish young. He called upon his core- ligionists to take advantage of the humane and well- intentioned purposes of the government. If they failed to avail themselves of this great opportunity their enemies would find comfort and justification in the claim that the wretched condition of the Russian Jews was their own fault and was due to their ignorance and superstition. Towards the end of July, 1842, Lilienthal started forth on what may be called his propagandist journey to win the Jews to the governmental plan of reform- ing the Jewish educational system. His progress was alrnost in the nature of a triumphal march. He visited j/olosh ii), the seat of the most famous Yeshibah in iCussia ; Minsk, Lubowitz, a stronghold of the Chassi- dim, Grodno, Berdichef, Mogilef, Kherson, Kishinef and Odessa. He was greeted everywhere with ac- claim. The suspicions which had been entertained of the purity of his purpose had largely vanished. His generous attitude in defending the Jews of Minsk against Uwaroflf's displeasure because of their un- friendly reception of himself on the occasion of his first visit gained the sympathy of many for the cause which he represented. His success in gaining the con- Emeth, his later statements must be considered in the light of a retraction of the Maggid Emeth, involving thus a clear- ing of Lilienthal from the charges there made. 31 MAX ULIT;NTIIAL. sent of Rabbi Isaac ben Hayyim, the head of the Ycshibah at Voloshin, to serve as one of the four members of the commission that was to meet in St. Petersburg to work out the plan for the schools, was of incalculable aid to him. No Jew in all Russia was held in higher esteem by his coreligionists than was the learned head of this great academy of Volo- shin that numbered its students by the hundreds. Rabbi Isaac or Reb Itzele, as he was familiarly called, represented the finest type of the Talmudical scholar; he was a truly wise man endowed with breadth of vision, and gifted with the traits of the real leader. Lilienthal's description of his interview with this fine example of a fast-vanishing type forms one of the most interesting chapters in his fascinating account of his travels. -- He had been accompanied to Voloshin by represent- atives of the Jewish communities of Vilna and Minsk. When these men witnessed the kindly reception of Lilienthal by the man whom they held in reverence above all others, they became enthusiastic supporters of the cause which Lilienthal was advocating. Not- ably did the effect of Rabbi Isaac's support appear in the changed attitude of the community of Minsk. But little more than six months previously the "Datschel" , as he was contemptuously termed, had left Minsk in disgrace and utterly discredited. Now all was altered. The leading men of the community declared in favor of his plans. Sympathy and respect were shown him on all hands where formerly he had met with distrust and aversion. The Russian Jews had become convinced that he was not a governmental agent using the plea "^ Infra, My Travels in Russia, p. 344 ff. 32 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. for educational reform as a cloak for the conversion of their children to Christianity as his unscrupulous enemies had declared,"^ but a true Jew, fired with a noble purpose. Even the Chassidim, most fanatical of all his opponents, were won over in so far as one of their most renowned leaders, Mendel Schneersohn of Lubowitz, consented to serve as one of the four mem- bers of the commission that was to meet in St. Peters- burg. Wherever he went he was greeted as a great leader ; his eloquence and sincerity carried all before him ; he was hailed as a brilliant star that was shedding light upon the communities of Israel. The people acclaimed him as a deliverer and his words were received joy- fully as the prophecy of a better and brighter future. A letter from the representatives of the Jewish com- munity of Berdichef to his father may well be in- serted here to indicate the enthusiasm that was aroused by this brilliant, youthful leader. The letter reads: Most respected Sir: Voices of joy resound in Israel and one ques- tion is being asked throughout Russia's immeas- urable domain : "Whose son is this hero, this mighty one who has set forth armed for the strife, announcing help to his oppressed people, so that its horn of happiness may be exalted once again and its rights be assured in the eyes of its rightful ruler? Whose son indeed is this man, who puts forth his good right arm in order to raise Israel from his despised state and who left " Infra, My Travels in Russia, p. 323. See also Orient, 1844, p. 460. 33 MAX IvIUlCNTHAL,. his fatherland, his birthplace and his father's house to shine in Israel? Whose son indeed may he be whom the high and exalted government received with marks of respect and who alone was found worthy to accomplish the great work?" It is Dr. Max Lilienthal, the learned and esteemed teacher who left behind him everything that was dear and precious and journeyed to a strange land to aid his dispersed brethren. The eyes of every true believer in Israel shed tears of joy and every heart is deeply moved at the sight of this young hero taking upon himself thus early in life the yoke of his people with such divine courage. We, also, the inhabitants of the great and populous city of Berdichef, were greatly honored by the presence of this highly respected man in our midst. This brilliant star that illumines Israel's gloomy dwelling places shone also upon us. This happiness, never before experienced by us, was heightened by the pleasant and glowing notices of his great and effective deeds in behalf of his coreligionists. Therefore, we, the representatives of the local Jewish community, feel called upon to offer our reverential greeting and our deepest homage to you, the happiest of fathers, who have reared such noble shoots of love and glory for the vineyard of the Lord that flourishes as a mighty defense and protection for all Israel. May eternal happi- ness and lasting blessing accrue to you through this most noble son, whose sacred efforts for our highest good will never be forgotten even in the latest days. Time will never efface his immortal name, for even our grandchildren will think of 34 the; RUSSIAN carejer. it with holy awe and keep it in eternal recollec- tion ; thus will the great and imperishable name of the high-souled hero, Lilienthal, be added to those noble champions of yore who gladly sacri- ficed wealth and life for the Jews and Israel, and be ever revered as are they. Yet how can we approach you, most respected sir? For truly our lips are struck dumb because of our overpowering joy of soul, and our tongues are powerless to indicate in even weak accents our deeply felt emotions ; still we beg you to ac- cept our most heartfelt thanks in the name of the Lord and in the name of the entire Jewish com- munity. May our merciful Father continue to favor you with his unending blessings for a long time to come ; may He protect you and strengthen your precious life with youthful vigor and permit you to enjoy undisturbed the purest joys of the soul, so that in a time far ofif grandchildren may surround you who will devote their life to the weal of Israel like unto your great son, this ex- alted prototype. Accept, we pray you, O worthy father of the most worthy son, these weak words from distant lands as the surest sign of our deep respect for you, inasmuch as we indulge the hope that we may be able to attest even more fully our homage and our veneration in the future. The Representatives of the Israelitsch community of Berdichef. The fifteenth day of Cheshwan of the year 5603.^* Extravagant though this letter sounds, it is yet a true reflex of the sentiments aroused among thousands ** Allgemeine Zeitung dcs Judcnthums, VI, pp. 715-6. 35 MAX UUFvNTHAL. of Russian Jews of those days whose hearts beat high with hopes of the improvement that the coming years would bring through the instrumentaUty of Lilienthal's work. Greatly encouraged by the enthusiastic reception which he had met with everywhere, Lilienthal returned to St. Petersburg to give report to Uwarofif of the suc- cess of the journey. Besides Rabbi Isaac, the head of the Voloshin Yeshihah, and Mendel Schneersohn, the Chassidaic leader, the Jews had chosen as members of the commission of four that was to elaborate the plan, Israel Heilprin, a banker of Berdichef, and Basilius (Bezalel) Stern, the director of the Jewish school at Odessa. This commission was representa- tive indeed, as these four men stood for the different tendencies among Russia's Jews, the rabbinical, the Chassidaic and the modern. Lilienthal himself was commissioned by the government to participate in the deliberations. In order to convince the Jews further through the personnel of the commission that the government was acting in good faith, Lilienthal induced Uwaroff to permit him to invite the two best-known Jews in the world, Moses Montefiore of London, and Adolphe Cremieux of Paris, to become members of the com- mission. Lilienthal wrote to both. His letter to Montefiore was submitted to Uwaroff for his approval and was stamped with the official seal. This may explain why, in his gloomy description of the moral status of the Russian Jews, Lilienthal blames the Jews themselves for this. Lilienthal knew at this time how hopeless the legal position of the Jews in Russia was. Those portions of the letter deserve especial attention in which Lilienthal informs Montefiore that the gov- 36 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. ernment has the intention of improving the political situation of the Jews. This did not take place. The political situation of the Jews proceeded from bad to , worse. Montefiore returned a very guarded answer ; he may have felt that Lilienthal had been unable to tell him the whole truth; he bade him give him fur- ther particulars about the plan of the work so that he might decide whether he could be of any assistance in the work of school reform.-^ Lilienthal must have had some private correspond- ence with Montefiore, for two months later a letter was received from Montefiore's secretary, Dr. L,. Loewe, to the effect that Montefiore was ready to come to Russia that winter to take part in the work of the commission ; he made the condition, however, that the invitation of the ministry must come to him through tjie Russian embassy in London. Loewe's letter remained unanswered. Cremieux declared his willingness to come if he would be invited in th e nam e of the czar.^^ This was not done, and neither of these illustrious men sat with the commission as Lilienthal had hoped would be the case. The commission began its meetings in St. Peters- burg in April, 1843, under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Education, and continued in ses- sion until August. Naturally there had to be much give and take. It had been hoped that a complete understanding would be reached, but this did not prove to be the case. The men forming the commis- ^ Hessen, Die Russische Regierung und die Westeuro- pdischen Juden, p. 33. Montefiore's letter is published in Perejitoe, I, Appendix, p. 27-28 (St. Petersburg, 1908). ^Ibid, 28-29. 37 MAX LIUICNTHAL. sion were far apart in their views. The discussions were heated. Rabbi Isaac and the Chassidaic leader, Mendel Schneersohn, were not in sympathy. Stern and Lilienthal indulged in vigorous debates. Still, in the end, all the members of the commission signed the report embodying the desires of the government as to the establishment of schools of the character of those already existing in Riga and Odessa. The commis- sion also placed its approval upon the books to be used in the schools, a list of which had been submitted to them. The edict for the establishment of these schools was issued on November 13, 1844. This edict com- manded that elementary and high schools, or, as they were called, schools of the first and second class, were to be opened for Jewish children and the Jewish youth, and also that two seminaries for the education of rabbis and teachers were to be founded at Vilna and Zhitomir. A special tax was to be instituted for the support of these institutions, namely, the light tax ; further, the profits of the two Jewish printing monop- olies were to be applied to the upkeep of the two academies. This edict was prefaced by an address to the czar by Uwaroff, the Minister of Education. In the address he called attention to the measures taken by other governments for the amelioration of the con- dition of the Jews and urged that the time had now come for Russia to act in a similar manner. The best method to achieve this result lay in the establishment of a system of education for the Jews which should be accommodated to the exigencies of the Jewish situa- tion and fitted to the Jewish religious views. This last expression makes clear how successful Lilienthal had been in convincing Uwaroff of the prime 38 The RUSSIAN care;er. necessity of assuring the Jews that this educational reform was not a proselytizing scheme. Being satis- fied on this score, the edict received the approval of many Jews, notably as it was based upon the report signed by the four men who had the confidence of their coreligionists throughout the realm. This ap- proval went so far that the idea was entertained to commission the famous Jewish artist, M. Oppenheim of Frankfort, to paint a great historical picture that was to be a symbolical representation of the rise of the new era in Russian Jewry. This painting was to be presented to the emperor as a token of appre- ciation and gratitude. However, the long time that had elapsed between the first correspondence entered into by Lilienthal in the spring of 1842 with German Jewish leaders asking their cooperation and the date of the issuance of the edict in November, 1844, had dampened the enthu- siasm aroused in Germany. In fact, it was thought in Germany that the plan had been abandoned and Lilienthal felt compelled to write letters in which he explained that such matters proceed very slowly in Russia; he begged his German friends to have pa- tience. When finally the schools were opened, LiHen- thal's plan to have the schools manned by German teachers, which had been approved by Uwaroff, was repudiated by the government even though as many as two hundred German Jewish teachers had signified their willingness to come to Russia to help along this work. Such a procedure ill comported with the czar's program of russification. Instead of importing Ger- man teachers, it was decided to follow the plan of the Russian schools, patterning the elementary schools after the parochial schools, the higher schools after 39 MAX LIUENTHAI,. the district schools and the rabbinical seminaries after the seminaries of the Greek Church. The truth of the matter was that faith was not kept with Lilienthal. Despite the assurances of Uwaroff and other high officials that there was no desire to convert the Jews b}'^ the establishment of these schools, it appeared in the sequel that these assurances were not sincere. Uwaroff's first plans for the education of the Jews were kept secret and were not published for some time ; they were unknown to Lilienthal. In this document Uwaroff stated that instruction in the specific Jewish branches must be minimized so that the present Jewish educational methods might be dis- placed by instruction in the catechism; instruction in the Talmud was to be only a pretense and the religious and philosophical Jewish commentaries were to be dropped at the first opportunity.^*^ It may be that because of his contact with Lilienthal Uwaroff may have changed his ideas as expressed in this original plan and have been sincere in the assur- ances he gave that there was no desire to proselytize. This may account for the fact that the edict of No- vember, 1844, was scarcely promulgated ere Uwaroff was relieved of his office and the carrying out of the plan was committed to other men who had had no share in the initial work. These men had no appre- ciation of the situation. When the schools were finally jestablished, Christians were made inspectors. These inspectors had no conception of the delicacy and seri- ousness of the task. They had no sympathy with the work as far as it was in the interest of the Jews. True, the teachers of the Jewish branches were Jews. "" Scheinhaus, Ein deutscher Pioneer, Allgemeine Zei- tung des Judenthums, 1911, p. 439. 40 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. Many of these were incompetent. Such as were cap- able had constant difficulties on the one hand with the Christian inspectors and on the other hand with the Melammedim or old-style Jewish teachers whose occu- pation was seriously interfered with by the estabHsh- ment of these schools. The government, too, was greatly at fault. It was imagined that the Jews would be entirely satisfied if these schools were called Jewish schools, if they would be closed on the Sabbath and the holy days, and the Jewish ceremonies would be observed. However, the only Jewish instruction was the teaching of selected portions of the Pentateuch with German translation; the other portions of the Bible were neglected; the ritual lawa-were not taught; the prayers were not explained; the Talmud was .excluded altogether; there was no instruction in the religion or history of the Jews. The Jewish spirit, too, was lacking in the school administration. All this Lilienthal had pro- vided for in his plan to inaugurate the work with a large number of competent, learned and scholarly men who had been trained in modern methods in Germany. This understanding with Uwaroff was repudiated by the new minister of education and his appointees who administered this new work. Further, several new edicts against the Jews were issued during this period, notably the dread ukase by which Nicholas I delimited the dwelling places of the Jews to within fifty versts of the frontier, the source of untold suffering and inhuman repression. The leopard had not changed his spots despite the seeming good will expressed in the documents concerned with the government's educational plans for the Jews. Little wonder then that the Jews had their sus- 41 MAX ULIENTHAL. picions reawakened as to the sincerity of the govern- ment's professions. Little wonder, too, that LiUen- thal gradually awakened to the fact that the govern- ment's pretended interest in the Jews was hypocritical. The great work for the welfare of his coreligionists on which he had embarked with such high hopes and such glowing enthusiasm had fallen far short of his expectations. Still he was willing to remain in Russia and to work for and with his coreligionists. He had been elected preacher of the great congregation in Odessa, a post, however, which he did not enter upon. In December, 1844, he had written his fiancee to make ready for their marriage in the following May. In this letter he advised her to provide herself with heavy furs required by the rigors of the Russian cli- mate. It was evidently his intention to bring his bride to Russia. What was it then that made him decide to go to America instead of returning to Russia after his marriage as was surely his intention at the time this letter was written ? In a recent book on Lilienthal's work in Russia, it is stated that the reason that impelled him to leave the country suddenly was that he was approached with the proposal that he become a convert to the Greek Catholic Church.-^ If this be true, as is possible, one can well imagine the indignation with which the sug- gestion was received. That some such impression was abroad at the time appears from a contemporary state- ment. In a communication from Koenigsberg on the situation of the Jews in Russia in the Deutsche Allge- meine Zeitung of December 31, 1845, the writer says: "Dr. Lilienthal himself, who sojourned in St. Peters- " Hessen, Die Russische Regierung und die Westeuro- pdischen Judcn, p. H. 42 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. burg for a number of years with the purpose of promul- gating foreign culture in Russia, was compelled to emigrate to America, when he recognized finally that it was impossible for him to achieve any real results for the improvement of the lot of his coreligionists owing to the repressive laws of the country and when the attempt was made to persuade him himself to become converted to the state church".-* A state- ment in a letter which he wrote to his friend, Dr. Ludwig Philippson, shortly after his arrival in the United States, seems to bear out this report ; the open- ing paragraph of that communication, dated December 31, 1845, reads: "The Lord, to whom I sacrificed my position in Russia, for whose holy name I surrendered livelihood, honors and a life position. He, the Father of all, to whom I entrusted my fate, and who forsakes none who trust in Him, has helped me in His mercy and has given me a second great sphere of activity".-^ A writer in the Jewish periodical, the Orient, had for years pursued Lilienthal with bitter diatribes and base insinuations, among them being the outrageous charge that he was responsible for the promulgation of the anti-Jewish ukase, inasmuch as he did not really sympathize with the Russian Jews, but was more or less an agent of the government. These statements led Philippson to affix the following editorial comment to I jlienthal's statement quoted above : "We can not refrain from calling the attention of the public to the fact that this letter is a complete reply to the shame- less invectives which a Jewish newspaper has directed for years at Dr. Lilienthal. Would that the oppor- *' Article reproduced in Allgemeine Zeitung des Juden- ihums, X, p. 56. =" Ibid, p. 98. 43 MAX LIUENTIIAL. tunity were always at hand to prove the groundlessness of similar slanders in so short and so complete a manner !" I have found but one more statement by Lilienthal himself referring to the reason for his leaving Russia. In this statement he says nothing whatsoever about any conversionist attempt. In an article written many years later entitled, "The Russian Government and the Jews — My Personal Experiences", he refers to the terrible ukase of Nicholas I, issued in April, 1843, which decreed that no Jews even in the Pale of Settle- ment could live within fifty versts of the frontier and that all Jews within that territory must leave their homes and settle in the cities within the Pale. When this ukase was issued the Commission on Jewish Edu- cation was sitting in St. Petersburg. All efforts were put forth to have the ukase revoked. The Council of Ministers petitioned the emperor unanimously to do so. Continuing Lilienthal writes : "Count Kankrin sent for me on the evening after this meeting and with a face radiant with joy, informed me of the good news and the noble action of the council. I communicated it at once to the Israelites, then staying at St. Peters- burg, and there was a rejoicing as if a second Purim had been instituted. "But a few days afterwards I received a note from Councilor Wrontshenko to call on him at once, and when I entered his room, with a downcast air he told me that the emperor had rejected the petition of the council, and that all hope for a repeal was gone. I then made up my mind to leave the imperial service and in July, 1845, I left St. Petersburg for the shores of the land of human right and liberty."^" '"Jewish Times (New York, January 28, 1870). 44 THE RUSSIAN CAREER. Whatever may have been the immediate reason for his departure there can be no doubt that he had be- come convinced of the insincerity of the Russian gov- ernment in the matter of the welfare of the Jews. True, the educational system for the introduction of which he had labored with might and main was estab- lished after a fashion, but, oh, so differently from what he had intended. His bright dreams for a real re- naissance among Russian Jews vanished into thin air. Thoroughly disheartened and discouraged he left Rus- sia for America. His career that had dawned so bril- liantly seemed to have set in darkness. But he was not quite thirty years old. Although he felt it not, life was still all before him. 45 MAX UUENTHAL. CHAPTER III. FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. Heartsick and disappointed, Lilienthal left Russia in July, 1845, for Munich. The five years of his life that he had devoted to the cause of bettering the lot of his brethren in Russia had been apparently wasted. He had believed in the sincerity of the czar and of Uwaroff. He could not conceive at the time that this whole plan of Jewish education was merely a prosely- tizing scheme and that it had been approved by the czar with the thought that ultimately it would bring the Jews into tlie arms of the church. Although the plans were slow in maturing, Lilienthal considered this incidental to the gradual perfecting of the work at which he had labored so whole-heartedly with the apparent approval of Uwaroff and his imperial master. As late as December, 1844,^ he wrote to his fiancee of his purpose of bringing her back with him to Russia after their marriage. "I will take the first steamer for Stettin", he wrote, "thence to Berlin, by train to Leipzig and from there to Munich. My sojourn there will be about three weeks. My service here will not permit me to remain longer unless I receive instruc- tions from the Crown which may lengthen my stay in Berlin." He also speaks of the governmental ap- pointment that he had received which undoubtedly made him feel that his future life was to be spent in Russia. But as was pointed out in the last chapter, * Supra, p. 42. 46 DR. MAX LILIENTHAL (Aet. 40) FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. this was not to be. It is probable that after this letter was written, the infamous proposal was made to him to become a convert to the church. At any rate, what- ever may have been the cause, he left Russia never to return. Shortly after his arrival in Munich he mar- ried the remarkable girl to whom he had been betrothed ten years. From all accounts Pepi Nettre was of singular charm — a woman of great culture and in- telligence. In his Reminiscences Isaac M. Wise, who, upon his arrival in New York in 1846, was welcomed heartily in the home of Dr. Lilienthal, speaks of her as a woman "whom I had frequent opportunity of admiring as the most lovable and amiable of wives and mothers ; she who surpassed even Munich's daugh- ters in charm ; who with clear insight penetrated into the very heart of conditions and persons and cast a glamour of love on all about her".- Lilienthal had expected to place his wife who had waited for him all these years in a brilliant position. Now, however, he was without prospects. The Rus- sian career was definitely closed. A German rabbinical post, even if one had ofifered itself, had no attractions for him. The new world, the land of freedom and opportunity, beckoned to him. Thither several mem- bers of the family had already emigrated, his sister Sophie and her husband. Dr. John Lehmeier, and his brother Samuel, who had married Caroline Nettre, the sister of Pepi. Even while in Russia, Lilienthal had written strikingly about the possibilities of America for the Jews. In a letter to Isaac Nettre, his future father-in-law, of the date of July 5, 1843, he had ad- vised that he send his young son Philip to America, ^Reminiscences, by Isaac M. Wise, p. 20 (Cincinnati, 1901). 47 MAX LIUENTHAL. because the young man who contemplated the practice of law would find opportunities such as were un- dreamed of in France or Germany. "Now that Ger- mans of high character are gaining an upper hand in the North American free states. . . . now that the western colonies or states are making such rapid strides forward, a future of industrial and commercial activity is to be looked for, such as is not likely in Germany and in Europe where narrow-minded ma- terialism is on the increase. ... I hope nothing for the Jews in Europe — everything in America". These being his sentiments, it is not surprising that he determined to seek a new career in this land of promise. He arrived in New York in November, 1845, shortly after he had attained his thirtieth year. Though so young he was one of the best-known Jew- ish leaders in the world. He came to the United States with a great reputation. Hjs career in Russia had made him a man of mark. The impression he created may be gathered from the words used by Isaac Leeser, the most prominent Jewish minister in the United States at that time, after hearing an ad- dress by Lilienthal. Leeser speaks of this address as "one of the best orations we ever listened to. It was the first time we ever heard him address an audience in his native tongue, the elegant and flexible language of Germany, and we can freely say that he fully con- firmed to our mind the reputation which induced the community at Riga in Russia to send for him as their preacher, and also justified UwarofiF, the minister of education to Nicholas, to consult with him on Jewish affairs".^ ' Occident. VII, 515. 48 FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. In appearance Lilienthal was every inch the leader ; he was tall and stately and his demeanor gave evi- dence of the courtly surroundings in which he had moved for years. A man of culture and force, he soon began to make his influence felt in his new home. Leaders in Jewry were few in the United States in those days. Although there were not many congre- gations, still there were fewer rabbis. Religious af- fairs were in a chaotic condition, as appears from the vivid description penned by the life-long friend and coworker of Lilienthal.* Despite the unpromising state of affairs in Jewish congregational life, Lilienthal indulged the greatest hopes for the Jew and Judaism in the United States from the very moment that he stepped foot upon these shores. One of the dominating features of his activ- ity was his love of America, as the home of religious liberty and the land of freedom. He was intense in this and time and again in spoken address and written word he eulogized the American spirit. This was due possibly to his Russian career. The contrast in his own experience between Russian despotism and Amer- ican liberty was so great that it could not but color all his thoughts and acts. He appreciated to the full all that America represented for humanity. The first recorded words that he wrote from the United States indicate this clearly and sound the first clear note in that hymn of praise of America which he continued in- toning to the very end of his life. In a letter written to his friend Ludwig Philippson very shortly after his arrival he says : "My fraternal and friendly greetings from New York, from the blessed land of freedom, * Isaac M. Wise, Reminiscences, 20 ff. 49 MAX LIUENTHAL. the beautiful soil of civic equality! Old Europe with its restrictions lies behind me like a dream ; the mem- ory of the repellant Judaeophobia of Russia is like a distant mirage; the frightful images of oppression and persecution are distant from the harried soul — I breathe freely once more, my spirit unfolds its pinions and I would waft exultingly the heartiest kiss of brotherhood to all men who find here the bond of union! . . . Oh, it is necessary that you breathe this free air of Columbia in order that you may be able to understand the pride and joy of her children ; you must have shaken off the centuried dust of the old Jewish oppression in order to appreciate to the full the feeling 'I am a man like every other' ; you must see here our Jewish brethren, the persecuted emigrants of persecuting Europe, in order to become convinced how worthily the Jew cooperates with his Christian brethren here. . . . "Here nothing is known of the puppet play of na- tionalism which divides men and confines them with- in the narrow lines of self-interest; the name of this country is union of the states and its motto is union of all forces for a great end, the respect of the rights of each in the great brotherhood. Here nothing is known of the idea of a Christian state which after creating pariahs, brands them as pariahs ; here men are known only as men, who respect one another in liberty and equality and work together for the com- mon weal."^ Life had a new interest for him. What though his efforts in Russia had spelt failure owing to the re- ligious bigotry of Nicholas, here was a prospect for ^ Allgenieine Zcifung des Judcnthums, X, 18-20. 50 First years in America. work equally important and promising, to be a leading influence in shaping the future of Judaism in a great land, where the Jew had opportunities such as he had never known since the ancient days. Such an outlook for usefulness might well stir the blood of the young, but experienced, leader who had now appeared in American Jewish life. He had gained much knowl- edge of life and of men in his career among the diplo- mats of Russia and in the Jewish communities there; he was gifted with eloquence of tongue and with the power of presenting his thoughts in a manner at- tractive and convincing. He was ready to work for his brethren and to devote his great powers to the cause of his faith. He had scarcely appeared in New York ere the opportunity became his to enter actively into the life for which he had fitted himself. There were four German Jewish congregations in the city, only one of which was ministered to by a rabbi, namely, the Emanuel congregation of which Dr. Leo Merz- bacher was rabbi. The other three German congrega- tions were the Anshe Chesed, the Shaare Shomayim and the Rodef Shalom. One week after his arrival in New York, Lilienthal was invited to preach before the Anshe Chesed congregation. How his reputation had preceded him appears from the notice in the daily press to the effect that "Dr. Lilienthal, chief rabbi of Russia (sic!) will give a lecture in the Synagog Anshe Chesed next Saturday," etc. On the following Sab- bath he preached also before the other two congrega- tions. After hearing him, the three congregations combined their forces and at a joint meeting held on December 28, 1845, elected him rabbi ; in a letter an- nouncing this fact he signs himself "chief rabbi" and as such he was known. He closes his letter by saying, 51 MAX ULIEINTHAL. "I thank the Lord who has granted me the oppor- tunity anew to proclaim and to teach His holy word."® He was now fairly launched upon his new career. He was installed as chief rabbi of the three congrega- tions on January 10, 1846. An interesting account of this event was written for the Occident by James K. Gutheim,^ at that time a teacher in New York. In this report of the inaugural sermon preached on that occasion, the writer states that the rabbi expressed his disapproval of the innovations introduced by the re- form rabbis in Germany. In this first official utter- ance on American soil, Lilienthal took his stand on the basis of tradition, but he stated that although he would keep aloof from innovations, he would aim at securing decorum at the services. Lihenthal's later championing of reform caused him to be accused of inconsistency owing to his utterances in this inaugural and other sermons preached in New York. It will be well to make this matter clear at the outset. Although he thus began as a sympathizer with what is known as orthodoxy, still as he became better acquainted with American conditions he recognized the need of reform. In other words, he grew in liberal religious thought as the years advanced. His sympathies, however, were never with radicalism. He was a conservative re- former, if such a seemingly paradoxical phrase is per- missible, to the end of his life. It was at first his belief that reforms could find their warrant in the Talmud, and he wrote copiously to this effect although later he abandoned this attempt. As time went on he ^ Allgemeine Zeitung des Jiidenthiims, X, 98. 'Vol. Ill, 574-6. * Later the distinguished rabbi of Temple Sinai, New Orleans. 52 I^IRST YDARS IN AMERICA. became more and more outspoken in his reform posi- tion, as we shall see. But he was, above all, a man of peace, and in the many bitter contentions that marred the relations of the reform leaders in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, Lilienthal stood out as the peacemaker who attempted to smooth over the bitter expressions of the fiery Hotspurs. His motto was quiet development and orderly progress. During the period of his ministry in New York, about one year after he had entered upon his duties as rabbi, he diagnosed the situation in words which make very clear his own position as just indicated. "Our century glorifies results and discoveries, like the railroad, the steamship and the magnetic telegraph ; for their usefulness lies on the surface ; our age probes no deeper. We theologians, swept along by this prac- tical tendency, would like to discover spiritual steam machinery and telegraphs, so as to bring mankind to God and perfection in a trice. But this is quite im- possible despite all the jolting and shaking, despite all the tearing down and building up; mankind requires time for its development, and whoever would judge it aright must be patient or else he will never compre- hend it. If this patience in spiritual matters be neces- sary anywhere, it is particularly so here, where the seed has been sown so recently and is just beginning to sprout. If one has the gift of quiet, though by no means inactive, looking on he will surely not be dis- satisfied with local conditions".^ This "gift of quiet though by no means inactive looking on" well describes his own attitude notably during these early years. Though unsympathetic with ' Allgenieine Zeitung des Jndentliums, XI, 364-6. 53 MAX UUUNTIIAL. radical measures, he introduced almost at the start such reforms as he felt were necessary to make a re- ligious appeal to a generation imbued with the spirit of free institutions. He preached regularly in German; in place of the Hanoteii Ycschuah, the prayer for the government composed for monarchical conditions, he substituted a new prayer appropriate to the republican form of government. He organized a choir and form- ed a confirmation class ; this was the first to be con- firmed in the United States ; the feast of Shabuot, 1846, was the date of this first confirmation ; in speak- ing of these reforms he wrote : "Thus I hope with God's help to place our young congregations here in all things that touch our holy religion, on an equal footing with the best-organized congregations in the old world".^° He was very active not only in his own congrega- tion, but in a wider sphere. As instances of this larger activity mention may be made of his success in induc- ing two small congregations in New Haven to unite, thus forming a single congregation, the Mishken Shalom, which adopted the rules and regulations of his New York congregations. He participated in the dedication of synagogs of numerous congregations, such as Emanuel of New York (April 14, 1848), the Friendship Hebrew of Baltimore (Sept. 15, 1848), the Beth El of Albany, New York (Oct. 3, 1851), the Ohabei Shalom of Boston, Mass. (Sept. 15, 1854). He was largely instrumental in forming the first association of rabbis in the United States. This asso- ciation known as the Beth Din was formed to render "beneficial service to the Jewish congregations of '" Ibid, X, 289-90. 54 FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. America" ; its purpose was not "to assume any hier- archical authority, but to act only in an advisory capacity". The members of this first American rab- binical organization were Max Lilienthal, who was chosen president, Isaac M. Wise, who acted as secre- tary, and Rabbis Felsenheld and Kohlmeyer. It was organized in October, 1846, and although it existed a very short time, still it is important as the first attempt at united action on the part of rabbis in this country ; it is also significant for the fact that Isaac M. Wise, who had arrived recently in this country^^ presented at the first meeting of the Beth Din a plan for a Minhag America which it was hoped would be a union prayer book for American Jewish congregations. The reason for planning such a prayer book was that "daily experience teaches that dissensions in communities arise largely from the circumstance that every immi- grant brings a particular Minhag from his European home; the German is unwilling to yield to the Pole, nor the latter to the Englishman, nor the last named to the Portuguese. This evil which prevents the peaceable development of the young congregations would be removed by a Minhag America" }^ This evil was aggravated in succeeding years, not- ably in the reform congregations, by the fact that many reform rabbis of prominence issued their own individual prayer books. The desire for a union prayer book first expressed by the members of that earliest American rabbinical organization was realized just forty-eight years later when the Union Prayer Book " In July, 1846. " See Lilienthal's interesting account of the Beth Din and its purposes and aims, Allgcmeine Zeitung des Judenthums, XT, 364-6. 55 MAX UWENTIIAL,. was issued by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1894, the prayer book now used by over three hundred congregations in the United States, compris- ing with few exceptions all the liberal congregations of the country. Truly, in this matter Lilienthal and Wise proved themselves men of vision. The Beth Din is also notable in that it was the first instance of coopera- tion on the part of these two great figures in American Jewry, who were destined to work together in the same community for many years in blessed and happy unity. Although the Beth Din existed only a short time and achieved no actual results, still it deserves a place as marking a beginning of the attempt at Jewish re- ligious organization in the United States. During these early years of his life in America Lilienthal was active with his pen ; in addition to the letters which he wrote for the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, which present a graphic picture of Jew- ish conditions in this country at that time, he also wrote the very valuable sketches of Jewish life in Rus- sia entitled "Russische Skissen" . These sketches, which appeared in the same journal, furnish a remark- able diagnosis of the Jewish situation in Russia by a very keen observer ; the events of the past thirty years have made the Russian Jewish question a burning is- sue in the United States and in all the countries of Europe. These descriptions, the first to be written by a western JeM^ about his coreligionists in Russia, are therefore of great interest, particularly as they dem- onstrate how thoroughly the writer understood the sit- uation. There is little that has been written about the Russian Jews which displays a finer comprehension 56 FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. than these sympathetic yet critical sketches written well-nigh seventy years ago.^^ They furnish a com- plete answer to the statement made by unfriendly critics of Lilienthal's mission in Russia that the rea- son for the failure of this mission lay in the fact that he did not understand the Russian Jews. This failure was due, as appeared abundantly in the fore- going chapter, to the just suspicions of the sincerity of the government on the part of the Russian Jews and to the opposition of the vast majority to any changes and reforms whatsoever. Even this latter opposition might have been overcome had the em- peror, by emancipating the Jews, made it abundantly clear that he had no proselytizing purpose in mind. He also wrote a number of articles for the Asmo- nean, a Jewish newspaper published in New York, over the signature L. D.^* Among others mention should be made of three articles on "The Jews in Russia under Nicholas I",^^ and of another series en- titled "Articles on Jewish Literature".^" In the for- mer series he throws much light on the aims and pur- poses of the Russian autocrat in his dealings with the Jews. Written in the light of subsequent reflection, these articles show that Lilienthal after his departure from Russia had come to the conclusion that Nicholas, whose sincerity he had thoroughly trusted in the mat- " Allgcmcine Zcitung dcs Judcnthums, IX, 525-26, 537-39, 552-54, 569-72, 586-88, 600-02; XI, 154-55, 213-15, 226-30, 547-49, 615-19, 683-86; XII, 232-33. See also Occident, V, 252-6, 359-60, 441-46, 491-96. ^* Asmonean, X, 140, remark by editor: "The articles ap- pearing in this journal over the initials L. D. are from the pen of Rev. Dr. Lilienthal." " Asmonean, X, 84, 93, 101. "Asmoneati, X, 62, 77, 85, 94. 57 MAX LlirlENTHAL. ter of organizing the Jewish school system in his empire, was really impelled by but one motive, viz. : the conversion of the Jews to the reigning religion. In a few sentences he sums up the situation finely: "The emperor has but one aim, the aggrandizement of his autocratic power ; and the aim of the Jewish schools should be no other but to awaken in the breasts of the Jewish student the feelings of man's dignity and right, to arouse within him the ambition of rising to a more distinguished station of life; to bring him in contact with the higher classes of Rus- sian society, to show him the pleasures of distinction, of rank and nobility, and when he has fitted himself for the desired advancement, to tell him 'You are a Jew, and a Jew can not attain these marks of imperial favor; be baptized by my priest and all the ways to honor, glory, pleasure and enjoyment are open to you.' . . . The poor Jewish student hearing on the one hand the allurements of the imperial seducer, and seeing on the other hand the continued tortures to which the Jew is and will be exposed, perceiving how the Jew is despised, so that 'damned Jew' has become a usual Russian nickname, forgets his duty to God and his religion, and in despair throws himself into the arms of the bloody Russian Church".^^ Besides this literary activity, Lilienthal continued his work in that cause of education which ever re- mained dear to him by establishing a day school for the Jewash youth. This school to which he devoted most of his time and attention after retiring from the position of rabbi of the three congregations^^ was ^'' Asmonean, X, 100. " He volunteered his services, however, to the Anshe Chesed congregation and continued to preach there. 58 FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA. known as the Hebrew Union School; its curriculum provided for instruction in both Hebrew and secular branches of study. This schooP^ was attended not only by Jewish children of the city of New York, but also by young people from various parts of the coun- try. Among these young people were a number of boys of prominent Jewish families in Cincinnati. When the Bene Israel congregation of that city sought a rabbi, the fathers of these boys, members of this congregation, urged the selection of Dr. Lilienthal. He preached his inaugural sermon before this congre- gation on July 14, 1855. The final stage of his career opened with his arrival in the western city. He be- came associated here with Isaac M. Wise, who had come to the city a year previously. Together these two great leaders toiled, each however, in his own way, for they w^ere far different in disposition, char- acter and method. Through their united work in the cause of Judaism, Cincinnati secured a preeminent place among the Jewish communities of the country. The names of these two men are linked together for all time in the story of the further development of Judaism not only in the city which became their home, but also in the entire country. ^^ Occident, V, 316. See also a description of the scliool and its work by Mordecai M. Noah, Occident, VIII, 424. 59 MAX UUENTHAIv. CHAPTER IV. THE RABBI OF THE BENE ISRAEL CONGREGATION. The activity of the new rabbi of the Bene Israel congregation expanded in many directions. Through- out the remaining twenty-seven years of his Hfe he gave himself without stint and without measure to the service of his coreligionists and his fellowmen. He was a prominent figure in all Jewish public affairs as well as in the movements of a larger public interest. His own congregation, which had elected him for life, received as a matter of course his prime attention, but his work in the congregation proper constituted but a fraction of his activities. This congregational work, however, must be considered first in a review of his public activities. When he took charge of the congregation it was orthodox in its form of worship and in its practices. As he had done in New York, he at once set himself to the task of introducing some reforms which tended to make the service more decorous. Shortly after his arrival in Cincinnati, the congregation, at a meeting held on August 5, 1855, voted to abolish the sale of Mitzwot,^ the reading of Piuthvr in the ser- vice, as well as the reading of the sections Bsehu ^ The custom of selling to the highest bidder certain hon- ors connected witli the service. ^ Liturgical poems which in the course of the centuries had been inserted in the prayer book. 60 THE RABBI OF THE BENE) ISRAEL CONGREGATION. Mekamon, Bamcli Madlikin and Pitum Haktoreth.^ This action aroused the bitter opposition of a section of the membership, which opposition grew during the following months because of the advocacy by the rabbi of the necessity of moderate reforms, notably of such a nature as would appeal to the rising youth born and bred in the free American environment. Not only from the pulpit did he give expression to these thoughts, but also in the columns of the Israelite, in the editing of which he was associated with Isaac M. Wise, the founder, during 1855-56. At the time that he was advocating these first reforms in his congre- gation he wrote an answer to orthodox calumnies un- der the caption "The Reformers Want to Uproot All !" the concluding words of which were, "The field in which reform has labored until now is the service in the synagogue, and every innovation introduced there has been justified by Talmudical quotations and Tal- mudical principles. It has really very little to do either with the eternally truthful doctrines or with the moral principles of our religion, whether the Yekiim Purkan is said or not, whether the Machzor is recited or not, and with sorrow we are compelled to call it either ignorance or wilful blindness to make so much ado about nothing. What the reform party proposes it proposes for the welfare of future generations ; it wishes to prevent the endless desertions and splits, it wishes to banish the hideous indifference which has taken hold of a large portion of the Jewish community, it wishes to inspire the Jews with a new love for their religion, and with such intentions it does not fear senseless * Some Tulnnulical sections which had been incorporated in the prayer book. 61 MAX UUENTHAL. and groundless insinuations, but trusts in Him who grants his best blessings to every just and sincere undertaking."* It was along this line that he worked. He was never radical in his views ; in fact, he was conserva- tive by nature, but he felt that reform was necessary for the salvation of Judaism in the American envi- ronment. "Religion and life must be reconciled, is the supreme demand of our times and the just issue of all proposed reforms",^ he wrote at this period of his career, and shortly thereafter in a similar strain, "Let us assist time in its travail for the birth of the future. Let us prepare and foster progress. Let us remove abuses by enlightenment and instruction and an impartial posterity will gratefully acknowledge our sincere and faithful endeavors".^ The irreconcilables in the congregation, however, were not to be won over. The climax came when the rabbi refused to be present at the service on Tisha B'ab, the fast commemorative of the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. Mem- bers that had been antagonizing all reforms withdrew and formed the She'erith Israel congregation. Lilien- thal based his refusal to participate in this service on the ground that the destruction of the temple of Jeru- salem by the Romans in the year seventy with the ac- companying loss of Jewish nationality should not be observed by a service of lamentation and fasting, for this catastrophe was really providential, inasmuch as it was the beginning of the world mission of the Jews. The loss of a separate Jewish nationality was the nec- essary preliminary to the universal Jewish mission in * Israelite, II, 44. ' Ibid, 412. * Ibid, III, 292. 62 THE RABBI OF THE BENE ISRAEL CONGREGATION. all portions of the earth. Throughout his life Lilien- thal remained true to this conception, which is in fact the accepted teaching of reform Judaism. Time and again he reiterated this thought; on many im- portant occasions he stated it ; the two greatest events in the life of the congregation during his service were the dedication of the new temple at Mound and Eighth Streets in 1869, and the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his service as rabbi; in his dedication sermon he used these words : **We owe no longer any allegiance to Jerusalem, save the respect all enlightened nations pay to this cradle of all civiliz- ing religions. We cherish no longer any desire for a return to Palestine, but proudly and gratefully exclaim with the Psalmist, 'Here is my resting place; here shall I reside ; for I love this place' ".^ In the anni- versary address he emphasized the fact that the reform congregations had eliminated from the prayer book "all sentences referring to a return to Palestine, to the rebuilding of the temple with its sacrifices, re- ferring to the dark times of persecution and mutual aversion",^ and in his address at the convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations held in Washington in the centennial year of American inde- pendence, he declared that "modern Judaism does neither dream nor wish to return to Palestine; here is our home ; here our fatherland. Hence we strike from all bequeathed prayer books any line that re- minds us of the temple and sacrifices ; we know that the best religion is humanity, the best divine service, love thy neighbor as thyself ; the motto which we in- ' Israelite, XVT, 10, 8 (September 3, 1869). "Israelite, XXVII, No. 52. 63 MAX LIURNTIIAL. scribe on our banner is the common fatherhood of God and the common brotherhood of man"." The universaHsm of Judaism formed thus the bur- den of his preaching and his teaching. To his mind the reform movement emphasized this. Although the first reforms that he introduced into his congregation were accompanied by the upheaval which resulted in the withdrawal of quite a number of members from the congregation, and although his opponents con- tinued to attack him because of his espousal of the reform cause, still he had the great majority of his congregation with him ; because of the attacks con- stantly made upon him his congregation at a meeting held on July 24, 1860, adopted resolutions of confi- dence in him and expressed their great esteem for him and their appreciation of the work he was doing.^° The passing years intensified this feeling of esteem and admiration so that when he resigned the position in February, 1868, to accept a call to the pulpit of Temple Emanuel, New York, such pressure was brought to bear upon him that he withdrew his resig- nation and consented to remain in Cincinnati. A striking incident in connection with this event indi- cated the remarkable standing of Dr. Lilienthal in the community at large. Some of the foremost citizens of Cincinnati, headed by Judge Bellamy Storer, re- quested the Board of Trustees to hold a meeting with them at Judge Storer's home. It was urged at this meeting that Dr. Lilienthal was too valuable a citizen for the community to lose and that every effort should be made to retain him. One of the reasons why Dr. Lilienthal entertained "Ibid, xxiir, No. 2. "Ibid, VII, 26. 64 THE RABBI OF THE; BENE ISRAEL CONGREGATION. the thought of leaving was the delay in building a new temple, which project lay very near to his heart.- Al- though the land for the structure had been purchased, the work of building was deferred. As an inducement to the rabbi to remain, the promise was made that the work would proceed at once. This was done and the cornerstone of the new temple was laid June 5, 1868. An echo of the dissensions that marked the early days of his work in Cincinnati resounded on this occasion when the Board of Trustees of the Shc'erith Israel congregation, that was composed largely of the seced- ing orthodox members of the mother congregation, refused to accept the invitation to attend the cor- nerstone laying; when reproached for this action by Dr. Wise in the columns of the Israelite they answered in a communication telling the reasons why they had seceded ; this was because of disagreement with Dr. Lilienthal's views and because, as they claimed. Dr. Lilienthal had changed from orthodox to reform after coming to Cincinnati, he having been elected as an or- thodox rabbi. Thus, it appeared that the bitter feelings engendered in these early years had not been assuaged. It was no doubt true, as these men claimed, that they had elected Dr. Lilienthal thinking he was orthodox in his views, but before he came to Cincinnati, he had ex- pressed his sympathy with the reform standpoint. In truth, he was a leading member of a liberal society in New York known as the Lichtfreunde ; in an address delivered before this organization in 1849 he had said (and these words were published) : "We feel that we have broken with the past of Judaism, and that the bridge which would make a retreat possible is cut off". Still he was by no means an extremist as this rhetorical phrase would indicate ; for all that he held strongly to 65 MAX LIUliNTllAL,. all that was fine in the past and built upon it for the future. As already said he was a conservative re- former. He was by no means fanatical in his reform sentiments, but calm and reasonable. If there was any fanaticism at all in his makeup it appeared in his war upon fanaticism and in his intense love of free- dom, as shall appear later on in the discussion of his attitude on such questions as religious liberty, the American doctrine of the separation of church and state, and Bible reading in the public schools. In his preaching as in all his congregational activities, he was animated by the one desire of inculcating the love of Judaism into the hearts of his people, and this he felt could be done best by interpreting the faith in the terms of the age in which he was living. The new temple was dedicated on August 27, 1869. The hopes of years were .realized and the rabbi's heart sang for joy. His sermon on this to him so great occasion was one of the most significant utter- ances of his life. It contains the ripe fruit of his thinking. In this sermon spoke the man who repre- sented the finest type of the American Jew, the man who by his teaching and his service had given con- spicuous testimony always and everywhere that the Jews are a religious community and not a nation. In this sermon spake the man who believed in progress despite all the outward signs that now and then seemed to belie it. In this sermon occurs that famous passage, possibly the best known that Dr. Lilienthal ever penned, in which he drew the distinction be- tween theology and religion. The more striking pas- sages of the sermon were as follows : "Progress and Judaism — these words once did seem to both Jew and Gentile a flagrant contradiction. Our 66 THE RABBI OF THE BENE ISRAEL CONGREGATION. Jewish fathers for eighteen long centuries, excluded from the enjoyment of all human rights and immuni- ties, hunted down by church and state with fanatical and bigoted nicknames, as the Pariahs of Society, despaired of the present, looked with gloomy fore- bodings into the future, and found hope and comfort only in the reminiscences of their glorious past. "Hence their longing for Jerusalem ; hence their de- sire for the worship of the old temple with its obso- lete ceremonies and sacrifices ; hence their continuous wailing and lamentations in their prayers ; hence their gloomy and austere seclusion from all intercourse with the world, that hated, despised and persecuted them. "But this dark night, thank Almighty Providence, has passed away, though the ghastly spectre may still be lurking here and there. Since the glorious day of the Fourth of July, 1776, the spell has been broken, and a better morning is dawning for the human race. Since the blessed and immortal fathers of our coun- try, these prophets of modern times, declared it to be "a self-evident truth that every man is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", the old fetters and barriers have been broken down, and all over the old continent, political and religious hberty begins now to become the law of the various countries. God bless America for this glorious redemption . . . Sunning ourselves in the golden rays of human and universal liberty we have ceased our wailings and cries of sorrow, and our prayers and psalmodies are full of thanksgiving and wishes for the welfare of the whole human race. Where in old books, relics reminding us of the dark bygone times are to be found, we un- reservedly strike them out and declare them to be 67 MAX LIUENTHAL. abolished. Nothing but love, sympathy and good will to all mankind of whatsoever race or denomination. "This idea of reform and progress is with the Israelite no longer a question of principle; but in or- der to be fully carried out, only a question of time. Old habits and notions can not be uprooted over night ; they do not die a sudden, apoplectic death ; but they gradually must give way and are passing away . . . "The curse under which humanity has suffered so long is the fatal fact that men mistook theology for religion, and confounded them. And yet are they not as unlike and dissimilar as day and night, light and darkness? Theology is dogmatism; religion is love, broad and universal as God's love. Theology sowing strife, hatred, prejudice and bigotry separates man- kind; religion by teaching love, forbearance, tolera- tion and reconciliation tries to unite it. Theology dreams of a superiority and supremacy of the clergy ; religion teaches you shall all be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Theology, claiming the superiority of the church over the state and human society at- tempts to make the highest interests of the human race subservient to obsolete medieval dogmas and imaginary claims ; religion, rejoicing in the sacred principles of civil and religious liberty and equality, leaves the mode of worshiping our Heavenly Father to the private conviction and responsibility of the individual. Of theology it may be said, with the prophet's words : 'They cry for peace, peace, but there is no peace', while religion glories in the sublime words : 'Peace be to those who are near and afar off', says the Lord, 'I shall heal them all'. "This is the radical difference between theology and religion. And hence the immortal fathers of this, 68 THE RABBI OF THE BENE ISRAEL CONGREGATION. our glorious country, when laying down the funda- mental principles of our free institutions, at once decreed the final and thorough separation of church and state. Blessed be their sacred memory! It must have been almost a divine revelation that inspired men like Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and their match- less compeers, who, when trying to establish a union of hands and hearts between man and man, pro- nounced this all important principle, upon which the peace of the modern state and society is going to rest. "Efforts both in the old and the new world are now being made to revive the old struggle, to establish the supremacy of the church, to secure its superiority over the sacred rights and liberties with which the Creator has endowed his children. Thank Heaven, the progressive men of all nations are to thwart and frustrate this nefarious scheme."" The succeeding years passed pleasantly and quietly as far as his work in the congregation was concerned ; other reforms such as the substitution of the Minhag America, the reform prayer book, for the old Siddur, the traditional liturgy, and the removal of the hat during divine worship were introduced. Dr. Lilien- thal preached effectively as ever. The congregation grew steadily and maintained its place as one of the great Jewish congregations of the land. The public service of its renowned leader both in the cause of Judaism and the larger work in the local community and the country reflected glory upon it. The expres- sion of appreciation of his labors by his congregation and the community was voiced finely on the great occasion of the celebration of the twenty-fifth anni- " Israelite, XVI, 10, 8. 69 MAX LIUENTHAL. versary of his service. The whole community joined in the tribute of devotion and love. His life-long friend and coworker, Dr. Isaac M. Wise, pictured the fine service that Dr. Lilienthal had rendered to Jew and Judaism and incidentally to humanity by assuag- ing prejudice. Possibly there has never been a Jewish leader in this country who has done more effective work in this regard than did the messenger of peace who stood so many years in the pulpit of the Bene Israel congregation. Dr. Wise summed up this service in a beautiful tribute to his friend when he said: "There are, I have no doubt, many persons within hearing distance who recollect the various prejudices which existed also in this enlightened city, between Jew and Gentile. It is not the will of God, who is the common Father of all ; it is not the teaching of Judaism, with its great law of 'Love thy neighbor as thyself, that such prejudices and dissensions and mu- tual distrust should exist among good people ; and by the will of God, and let me add, by the beneficent influence of Rev. Dr. Lilienthal, most of these preju- dices were eradicated in this city. 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that publisheth peace'. He approached priest and layman. Christian and infidel, church and society with the palm branch of peace, soothed and calmed agitated minds, carried light into obscure recesses and good will into many hearts. Therefore, to a great extent we enjoy here this peace and mutual respect, this good understand- ing between Jew and Gentile, which is our pride and satisfaction, and for which we are largely indebted to the man of whom we say 'Thou art peace', there- fore, 'thy house is in peace'. "The billows of dissensions did run high, alas! 70 The rabbi of thf bene israeiv congregation. very high and threatening about the camp of Israel. The great and glorious work which had been accom- plished by thousands of hearts and thousands of hands to the glory of God and the honor of Israel on this virgin soil of freedom and progressive humanity was seriously threatened with cessation and retrogression by the dissensions of influential and potent men. We are the sons of different countries and the disciples of different schools ; we had too many different edu- cators ; our dear mother, the religion of Israel, and the freedom of our country, could not at once over- come all the difficulties, dissensions and inherited no- tions which did necessarily cling to us. The man who, like Aaron of old, stepped in with the censer of frank- incense between the living and the dead, was again this very same Dr. Lilienthal. Once, twice, ten times, again and again, he made earnest attempts to unite the discordant elements, to bring peace into the camp of Israel, and he did succeed ; every good work suc- ceeds. He did succeed in establishing the Rabbinical Literary Association which means more, vastly more, than a union of talents, or the mere cooperation of literary gentlemen. It means a good understanding among the leading teachers of American Israel ; it means 'peace be to all that thou hast'. God bless the harbinger of peace". The president of the congregation, Mr. Julius Frei- berg, was its spokesman, and in presenting to the dis- tinguished celebrant a laurel wreath in the name of the congregation, said : "This laurel wreath is an emblem of victory in the great and glorious struggle of religious liberty against bigotry and fanaticism ; "Light against darkness and superstition; 71 MAX LIUENTHAI,, "Free inquiry against intolerance ; "Flumanity and brotherly love against sectarianism and hatred ; "Charity and benevolence against heartlessness and discrimination ; and as trophies of war you carry with you the hearts of all the members and a host of friends ; "And as the fruit of the plant which this wreath represents turns a golden hue as it ripens, so may you live in health, joy, vigor, and usefulness with and among us until your golden year of jubilee." In his response to these tributes of appreciation and affection, Dr. Lilienthal stressed what he considered the outstanding features of his long service. There is no note of vainglory in the words, only a heartfelt statement of the use of unusual opportunities for the teaching of high truths in his own pulpit, and the furtherance of peace and good will among men in many places. Let some portions of this deeply felt address be set down here: "While we sing hymns of thanksgiving for the blessings we have enjoyed together, we have higher, broader and more ample reasons for looking back with satisfaction on the work which we have accomplished during the past twenty-five years. "It was our common aim to secure for our religion the respect it deserves ; to claim for it the right and privileges to which it is entitled and to prepare a better brotherly understanding between the various churches and denominations in our land. "When I, the Jewish rabbi, with your consent, de- livered sermons in the Unitarian and Universalist churches in this city, the papers both in the old and 72 THE RABBI OF THE BENE ISRAEL, CONGREGATION. the new continent dilated upon this new phenomenon, and inscribed their leaders Signs of the Times. "Yes, signs of the times they were, but not in the sense they put it. We did not mean to surrender the essence and spirit of our religion, but we intended to point out that truth which is at the foundation of every religion, and where we can all meet on one com- mon platform, as the children of one God, as brethren of one and the same human family. "We said this common platform is love to God and love to man. Open the Bibles of the various nations and religions ; they all teach and preach the same doctrine ; it is the true revelation of the divine spirit enthroned in the human heart and mind. Let this doctrine of universal unsectarian love once be ac- knowledged, then the Kingdom of God will be near at hand; fanaticism, bigotry and prejudice will die out, and under the most various forms and ceremonies we will worship but one Father. We will hold divine services becoming our age, as love will be the offici- ating high priest, love the only sacrifice demanded by divine justice and mercy. "Then we said we shall no longer speak of mere material toleration, where sectarian ill-will and am- bitions are checked merely by the power of the modern state ; nay, with true, genuine American spirit we shall speak of the full religious liberty and equality which honors and protects all forms in which God is invoked and love is taught, inculcated and practiced. . . . "On this solemn occasion, I can not forbear utter- ing the joyful and blissful sentiment that we have not worked in vain, and that Cincinnati took the lead in fostering a brotherly sentiment between Jews and Christians. It is a bright gem in the diadem of our 73 MAX ULIENTHAIv. Queen City. On many, many a public occasion she has constantly shown that she honors the man and the citizen and disregards all denominational differ- ences. . . . "And if asked, What have you and your congrega- tion done to promote, as Israelites, the noble aim you have pictured before our eyes? we are able to give an account satisfactory to ourselves and our friends. "We have erected this temple, of which every visitor, awakening from a dream of bygone ages, ex- claims with the Patriarch 'This is none other but a house of God and a gate to heaven'. . . . "In union with our progressive sister congregations and their eminent leaders we have established a divine service working for Israel's redemption in this land of virgin liberty ; a service in harmony with the spirit of the age and the progress of humanity ; a service teaching and promulgating nothing but love, justice and liberty. "Therefore, I was ordered to preach from this pul- pit the American doctrine of separating church and state, to uphold our star-spangled banner with the glorious inscription of civil and religious liberty, and forever maintain the interests of our free public schools, the nursery of free and good men. And how easily, how cheerfully could I obey orders, when I had to apply but the principles and essential doc- trines of our Jewish religion. " 'One God' and because he is One — He is the father of all his human children, no matter what their race or creed may be. As the prophet says, 'Have we not all one father, has not one God created us all; why should we destroy the covenant of brotherly love?' 74 thh; rabbi of the: be;ne: israe;l, congregation. "How easily and cheerfully could I obey orders to preach universal love and good will, when we Israelites do not know of damnation on account of creed and happily assert that the Eternal Judge looks only to the moral works of man ! "How easily and cheerfully could I obey orders to preach and teach justice and liberty, when I remem- ber that even on the bell in Independence Hall which pealed forth the sounds of human deliverance are engraved but the words of scripture 'You shall pro- claim liberty throughout the land to all its inhab- itants' ! . . ." Thus had he labored and achieved as rabbi of the congregation ; but this represented only a fraction of his activity; what it was granted to him to accom- plish in his service outside of the congregation must form the subject of another chapter. 75 MAX IvIWENTHAt,. CHAPTER V. IN PUBLIC UFE. It has already appeared in the course of this narra- tive, that almost from the beginning of his settlement in the United States, Lilienthal addressed himself to public activities in the interest primarily of the Jews and Judaism ; later in his career he became identified prominently with work for the public weal without distinction of creed. The various phases of this pub- lic activity may now be passed in review. Shortly after his arrival in Cincinnati a call was issued for a conference of rabbis at Cleveland. This call was signed by a great majority of the rabbis then in the country. The conference, which was held in the month of October, 1855, instead of becoming, as was hoped, the bond of union for all the rabbis, re- sulted in most unfortunate dissensions, the effect of which lasted for a quarter of a century. The state- ment of principles adopted by the rabbis at Cleveland called forth bitter protests from the Emanuel congre- gation of New York and the Har Sinai congregation of Baltimore. Dr. David Einhorn, the rabbi of the latter congregation, who had arrived in this country a short time previously, was the moving spirit in this opposition. The protests were published in his magazine Sinai and he himself arraigned sharply the resolutions adopted at the conference. Opposition was expressed, however, not only by Einhorn, the radical reformer, but also by Isaac Leeser, the foremost orthodox rabbi 76 IN PUBLIC LI^E. of the country. Leeser, who had at first expressed himself favorably concerning the plan of a confer- ence of all the rabbis of the country, found it im- possible, after the conference had taken place, to endorse what was done there because of the reform- ing tendency of the men at Cleveland. The results of the conference were, therefore, most unfortunate. Lilienthal, who had been secretary of the conference, took up the gauntlet thrown down by Einhorn on the one hand and Leeser on the other, and defended the work of the Cleveland conference in the columns of the Israelite, of which he was the associate editor at the time. In an article on "The Parties", he charac- terized the division among the rabbis as uncomprom- ising orthodoxy, represented by the Occident; un- compromising reform represented by Sinai and prac- tical possible reform represented by the Israelite and the Cleveland Conference.^ He addressed also a series of public letters to the Reverend Isaac Leeser, the first three of which were entitled "The Spirit of the Age" f the fourth "Union and Usages",^ and the fifth "Rab- binical Codices or the Shidchan Arnch" } Mr. Leeser answered these articles in his organ, the Occident, in two articles, "Let us Consult Others"^ and "Rev. Dr. Lilienthal on Reform"." Lilienthal defended the con- ference also in a series of other articles.'^ He deplored the animosities called forth by the conference notably ^Israelite, III, 12, 12. Mbid, 22, 170; 23, 180; 24, 189. =■ Ibid, 25, 197. * Ibid, 26, 204. ' Occident, XIV, 475. * Ibid, 534. 'Israelite, II, 137, 148, 164. 77 MAX UUENTHAL. as these bitter feelings of reformers against reform- ers made impossible the calling of a second confer- ence.*' In an article entitled "Let us Alone", he wrote in discouraged strain concerning these differences, each party following its own way and wishing neither cooperation nor union. Still he is not altogether dis- mayed, for he closes with the words "Let us not despair. The golden rays of eternal truth soon will drive away the intangible shadows of the uneasy twi- light and out of the present dissension will be born a higher state of peace and union!" This hope was not to be realized for many years. Fourteen years elapsed ere the reformers of the east- ern section of the country and the reformers of the west met together. This joint meeting took place at Philadelphia in November, 1869, when Einhorn, Sam- uel Hirsch, Samuel Adler and other rabbinical leaders of the east met together with Lilienthal and Wise and other western rabbis. This conference adopted a declaration of principles in which all present agreed. Peace seemed to have settled where there had been discord. But it was not a lasting peace as appeared shortly thereafter. The Philadelphia conference not having taken up the subject of a Minhag America, a prayer book for American reform congregations, in which Wise and Lilienthal and others were much interested, the Cin- cinnati rabbis called another conference which met at Cleveland, July 12-15, 1870. In order to avoid con- flict with the Philadelphia conference and not to arouse any ill-feeling or misunderstanding, the pur- pose of this conference was stated to be the prayer * Where Are We Now? Ibid, III, 244. IN PUBLIC LIFE. book question which had not been touched at Phila- delphia and could therefore be fairly considered open for discussion and action. None of the noted eastern leaders attended this conference. The prayer book question was fully discussed. It was agreed that all prayers referring to the return to Palestine, the sacri- fices, the personal Messiah, the bodily resurrection and the angels be omitted. The work of revising the prayer book was entrusted to a number of committees that were to report at another meeting. It was at this conference that Dr. Lilienthal pro- posed a series of resolutions which were adopted unanimously. These resolutions read: "At a meeting of the rabbis of various cities in the union, held in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, from and after July 13, in consideration of the religious commo- tion now agitating the public mind in both hemis- pheres, in accordance with the principles of Judaism, it was unanimously declared : "1. Because with unshaken faith and firmness we believe in one invisible and eternal God, we also be- lieve in the common Fatherhood of God and the com- mon brotherhood of man. "2. We glory in the sublime doctrine of our re- ligion which teaches that the righteous of all nations will enjoy eternal life and everlasting happiness. "3. The divine command, the most sublime com- mand of the Bible 'Thou shalt love thy fellowmen as thyself extends to the entire human family, without distinction of either race or creed. "4. Civil and religious liberty, and hence, the sep- aration of church and state, are the inalienable rights of men, and we consider them to be the brightest gems in the Constitution of the United States. 79 MAX LIUKNTHAIv. "5. We love and revere this country as our home and fatherland for us and our children; and there- fore consider it our paramount duty to sustain and support the government ; to favor by all means the system of free education, leaving religious instruction to the care of the different denominations. "6. We expect the universal elevation and fra- ternization of the human family to be achieved by the natural means of science, morality, justice, free- dom and truth." The conference adjourned to meet in New York. This meeting took place October 24 of the same year, 1870. Dr. Ijlienthal was elected president of this conference. It was resolved at the first session to invite the New York rabbis among whom were David Einhorn and Samuel Adler, to attend. The attempt at reconciliation failed much to the sorrow of the president of the conference, all of whose hopes cen- tered upon peace among the rabbis of the country. The next rabbinical conference was held in Cin- cinnati, June 5-9, 1871. Lilienthal submitted his re- port as retiring president. It was at this conference that the plan of forming a Union of American Hebrew Congregations, so long the hope of Isaac M. Wise, was definitely endorsed, as well as the project of open- ing rabbinical seminaries not only in Cincinnati, but also in New York. In the presidential report just mentioned Ivilienthal referred to this subject in the following words : "Permit me to call your attention to the necessity of drafting a course of study to be pursued at these future colleges. It is a subject of the highest im- portance and will and must call forth lively and earn- est discussions. It will bring to light the differences 80 IN PUBLIC LIFE. between the instruction of the rabbis of bygone times and the instruction needed for the members of the present and future reform congregations. It will make apparent the difference as yet prevailing be- tween the Reform Movement in Europe and in America. It will show clearly how much, under the free development and autonomy of our congregations, we are ahead of those in Europe, and while they across the ocean, in conformity with the whole spirit of European institutions, cling to the historical school and development, we on this side of the ocean, in accordance with the spirit of American institutions, belong to the rational school. We are used to a greater latitude of freedom than they in Europe, who in all their movements, like minors, are superintended by their governments. "I therefore recommend to you the appointment at the earliest convenience of a committee that will take this important subject under consideration, both of the establishment of rabbinical seminaries and the course of studies to be pursued therein." He also urged that the rabbis support the new Hebrew Publication Society which had just issued a circular f he recommended the formation of circuits of small communities that had no rabbi so that these communities could be visited from time to time by rabbis in the vicinity who should speak to the elders and teach the children. This was the first suggestion "This second attempt to form a Jewish Publication So- ciety in New York failed of success ; the society existed only a few years ; the present Jewish Publication Society of America, organized in 1888, represents, therefore, the third attempt to organize a publication society among Jews in this country. 81 MAX LIUENTHAL. on the subject of circuit preaching that had ever been made at a Jewish convention in this country. Lilienthal served as vice president of this confer- ence. A suggestion having been submitted to the con- ference that a national rabbinical office be established at Washington, Lilienthal, v^ho was always strongly opposed to anything that had even the semblance of a central hierarchical authority, offered the following preamble and resolution which were adopted unani- mously as the sense of the conference : "Whereas, it was mooted in some quarters to estab- lish a National Rabbinical office in Washington, the capital of our country, and the seat of our national legislature ; and "Whereas, we are opposed to any centralization of hierarchical authority, valuing as the best means of advancing progress and reform, the autonomy of the congregations ; and "Whereas, the Hebrew congregation at Washington is as yet not numerous enough to employ a rabbi; therefore be it "Resolved, that the rabbis meeting at this conference offer their services gratuitously to the Hebrew con- gregation at Washington to preach and to lecture there whenever called upon. "Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions signed by the officers of this conference be forwarded to Simon Wolf, Esq., at Washington, in order to com- municate them to the Hebrew congregation of that city." The so-called "personal God" incident at this Cin- cinnati conference stirred the troubled rabbinical wa- ters to renewed fury, and the differences between the east and the west became more accentuated than ever. 82 IN PUBI.IC life;. Lilienthal, who was bitterly disappointed at the con- tinuation of the feud, saw the uselessness of making further attempts at reconciHation.^" No further conference was held at this period. The Cincinnati rabbis despairing of enlisting the East in their projects of union, confined themselves now to the West and South. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations composed in the first instance of west- ern and southern congregations was organized in March, 1873, through the persistent efforts of Isaac M. Wise, ably seconded by Max LiHenthal. This great feat having been accomplished, the sec- ond great plan of establishing a rabbinical seminary was now proceeded with. A thanksgiving service was held at the Plum Street Temple, Cincinnati, on May 22, 1874, because the first funds had been subscribed that made possible the opening of such a seminary in the near future. At this meeting Dr. Lilienthal said : **We want a theological seminary fully coming up to the requirements of our progressive age. The trod- den paths of antiquated theology will not do any longer. The natural sciences, justified criticism and restless skepticism have undermined many of its foundations. We dare no longer acknowledge an open contradiction between science and religion. What is true in the one must be true in the other, no matter how the dead letter of a book or the cause of a church may oppose it. . . . Free investigation and free inquiry, sanctioned by reason, though discredited by systems of blind faith, must rule supreme. And though we may have to surrender many an idea and " See his communication to the Jewish Times of New York entitled "One word more and then done" of the date July 5, 1871. 83 MAX LIUENTHAL. sentiment heretofore endeared to us, truth and pure reHgion will only gain by this process and secure a future for them which all good, wise and true men were always hoping and praying for. "Theology must be adapted to the progress of sci- ence ; it must be entirely regenerated. New sciences have been started since the last three decades which entirely change its former aim and aspect. Not only the study of the natural sciences with their gigantic progress influence the explanation of the old sacred books, but comparative philology, comparative mythol- ogy, the translation of the holy books of other nations and religions ; the excavations carried on both in the old and new world, all assist in creating a cosmos in the science of religion too. Old prejudices give way; old errors are corrected; old systems crumble to pieces, and upon the solid basis of pure religion the temple is reared in which mankind will learn to understand each other and to light the holy flame of love instead of the lurid fire of bigoted fanaticism; and to pro- mote that peace and mutual good will which is and shall be the essence of all true religion. "In such a broad and liberal spirit, with such en- franchising views, the new theological Hebrew Semi- nary in America shall be organized. In this spirit the teachers and professors shall rear and instruct the students ; and with such enlightenment these shall then go forward and preach the word of love, uni- versal charity and liberty which shall be, as it always has been, the pride of our creed, our religion and our race." And when finally the hopes of many years were ful- filled in the establishment of the Hebrew Union Col- lege, Dr. Lilienthal, sharing heart and soul in the joy 84 IN PUBLIC IvlFE. of his friend, Dr. Wise, the founder of the institution, said at the jubilee service held in celebration of the great event : "I have been instructed by the Board of Governors to speak on the Hebrew American College to be estab- lished and supported by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. "There are two adages, both as old as true, namely : 'In union there is strength', and 'Knowledge is power'. While the first one has already been elucidated by the preceding speaker, I have to allude but to the second one. "While others may assert that ignorance gives power, not to the ignorant ones themselves, but to those who know how to use and to handle them, it has always been in our religion one of the cardinal rules and principles to disseminate knowledge and to en- courage free inquiry. 'To know understandingly the Lord thy God' is the command of the Bible. 'Choch- mah' (wisdom) is the word used in the Hebrew lan- guage both for science and religion, and hence Ibn- Ezra, one of the earliest and soundest critics of the cerebrated Hebrew-Spanish school, has already laid down the principle, 'The mediator between God and man is reason'. "Blind faith was ever abhorred in our midst. The experience we have gathered during many centuries has taught us the truth of the assertion that blind faith makes the people too confident in politics, too credu- lous in science, and too intolerant in religion. Being staunch friends of independence, toleration and mu- tual good will, our motto has ever been the words, pronounced by rhetoricians to be the most sublime sentence in the human language, 'Let there be light'. 85 MAX UIvlENTHAL. And from all our synagogs and pulpits, both old and new, has ever resounded the glorious echo : Light, more light. "Hence our rabbis in the times of the Talmud laid down the rule that before building a synagog or tem- ple, the congregation is bound to erect a school. Hence, during all the dark times of the middle ages, Jewish high schools and universities flourished all over the Old Continent. Spain, France, Germany and Poland were studded with such seats of learning; and the answer to the oft-raised question, how could the Jews, scattered and dispersed, withstand the persecuting power of state and church? is found in the fact that they have always provided for the education, instruc- tion and development of the mind ; they know too well that the mind governs the body, and that knowl- edge will, in the end, always triumph over ignorance, superstition and fanaticism. "True to the legacy of our past history we, the American Jews, are now on the eve of opening such a school of learning for our rising generation. In the struggle for existence, as Darwin calls it, we could not have done it sooner. The poor emigrant arriving at these blessed shores of human liberty first had to secure his independence, first had to become acquainted with the ever glorious institutions of his adopted country, before he could attempt such a work. But these obstacles having been overcome, we Israelites look back to our history and our experience, and now consider it a supreme duty to afford to our men and especially to our future preachers and teachers, the opportunity of acquiring that knowledge which shall fit them to become true and faithful exponents of our religion. 86 IN PUBUC UFE. "Of course, we could have adopted the plan pro- posed by several good men, of sending those who wish to devote themselves to the Jewish ministry to Ger- many, where the master minds of Jewish theology and literature are diffusing their stores of learning to crowds of Jewish students, and where Jewish colleges are already fully established, thoroughly organized, and richly endowed. But we do not want any min- isters reared and educated under the influence of European institutions ; we intend to have ministers reared by our glorious American institutions, men who love their country above all, men who will be staunch advocates of such civil and religious liberty as the men who signed the Declaration of Independ- ence understood it, men who are ready to defend this priceless gem against all and any encroachments, and hence we wish to keep our students at home and raise them as genuine Americans on the virgin soil of American liberty. "But while opening this evening our young insti- tution, we do not pretend in the least to compare it with the new Jewish colleges in Europe. There men quite well versed in the Talmudical and rabbinical literature go to get their finishing polish and educa- tion. We, in this country, have to begin at the very foot of the ladder. The boys who have come to pre- pare themselves for the Jewish ministry have to be pre- pared almost from the very foundation, and hence we do not as yet open the college proper, but only the preparatory school and the preparatory classes. "Yes, so far all is merely preparatory. For to estab- lish a Jewish college such as is needed for our time, our wants, and the spirit of our progressive age is a task that needs much preparation even on the part of 87 MAX UUENTHAL. our best scholars and theologians. The course of study formerly pursued in the Yeshiboth or Talmud schools has become obsolete ; hundreds of big volumes, which formerly constituted the indispensable library of a rabbi, have today interest but for the antiquarian and historian. Life, real and earnest, requires quite different studies; and it is no easy task, indeed, to build up a new theology, to separate the chaff from the wheat, and to prepare a course of study suited to our age and to its changed wants. "New sciences claim our full attention. Compara- tive theology, comparative mythology, comparative philology are young but mighty sciences, and are ef- ficiently assisted by an impartial criticism. They have to be taught by competent teachers and have to be mastered by the modern rabbi. They will, of course, batter a breach in many an institution and in many an opinion heretofore held dear and sacred. But we do not fear; they will injure and hurt theology, but not religion ; they will assist in advancing Theism and Humanity, which are the enlivening and everlasting principles of Judaism, and hence we must try all means to sketch and perfect a plan which will carry out this noble object and give us ministers fully up to the wants of our progressive time and enlightened hu- manity. "In order to attain this difficult but noble aim you all know that the Convention of the United Hebrew Congregations, held this year at Buffalo, on my mo- tion, appointed a committee to confer on this subject with the eminent Hebrew scholars both in Europe and America, to obtain from them their advice and the re- sult of their experience. "The committee is earnestly at work, and before the IN PUBLIC LIFE. college proper will be opened, a course of study will have been prepared that will be an honor to American Judaism, an honor to the United Congregations, and a sound, lasting foundation to the future college. It shall be the test of what modern Judaism wants and what it promises to perform and to accomplish. This time of preparation shall not be lost in the develop- ment of modern Jewish science and literature. "With such aspirations we open the preparatory- classes of our college ; but let us not forget to mention here and at once that the students both in the prepara- tory classes and in the future college, while receiving therein their religious and theological training, are by our laws obliged to visit our public high schools and the newly organized McMicken University of Cin- cinnati. "We Israelites are the staunch and unequivocal friends of our system of free and public schools. Our children throng our primary, intermediate, and high schools. We value and appreciate the advice given by our great Thomas Jefferson, that vigilance is the price of liberty, and education the cornerstone and safeguard thereof. And following out this principle our students of Jewish theology must visit our free and public institutions. The intercourse with young America will free them of all sectarian prejudice and arrogance, and nothing shall be omitted in our rules of discipline, by which we can make them good Jews, but no less true, loyal and devoted Americans. . . . "In order to encourage young and talented men to study as rabbis, and to offer them the prospect of a secured livelihood, two measures have to be adopted. First, the annual elections of preachers have to be abolished, and abolished in good earnest. What good 89 MAX LIUIJNTHAl,. man having devoted his youth and his talents to this profession, will expose himself and his future to the whims of public opinion and individual favor? I, at least, for my part, would not risk the future of my children to such a precarious position, and I am sure every thoughtful father will coincide with me in this regard. The elections must be during good behavior; this point gives full guarantee to the congregations that no unworthy man shall hold their office and draw the salary; and to the minister it gives that inde- pendence which is indispensably required for the con- scientious administration of the holy and responsible office. ''And the other measure I advocate is, stop starting new congregations where a congregation is already established, unless the increasing number of worship- ers requires it. Our congregations, with a few excep- tions, are yet young, and most of them unable to pay a salary adequate to the demands and cost of living. This evil can only be remedied if the number of con- tributing members will increase, so that not in every nook and corner of every little town a new congre- gation will spring into existence. "I myself know quite well that twenty-five or thirty years ago, when the tide of Jewish immigration began to set in on the shores of the Atlantic, the organization of German, Polish, English and Portuguese congrega- tions was a natural consequence of the various na- tionalities, with their different customs, habits and opinions, which had landed in America. They then could not understand each other ; they could not agree together. "But this time has happily passed away. Our sons, born in America, are proud of the title of Americans, 90 IN PUBLIC life;. and do not trouble themselves whether their parents hail from Germany or France, or any other part of Europe. They wish to be Americans, and nothing but Americans, and as such they will cling and work to- gether. For them, for their future, and not for our foreign, antiquated notions, we are bound to work. Let the dead past bury its dead, and let us foster that harmony, that mutual good will, that forbearance and indulgence which will strengthen our congregations and enable them, without difficulty, to. accomplish all the noble objects we must have in view. 'In union is strength', holds good not only for the seventy-two congregations who have entered into the new cove- nant of brotherhood and mutual assistance, but for the Israelites of every town and city. Mind the old motto — 'United we stand, divided we fall' ! "I would close my remarks if I had not to allude to a rumor contained in the Deborah of last week. It says that another Jewish seminary will be opened in New York. We hail the rumor with joy and sincere hopefulness. Our brethren in New York have the means, the right men in the right place, the grand public institutions at their command. Why should they not emulate the noble example set by their brethren in the west ? There is plenty of room in our country for two such colleges, and before ten years will have elapsed both of them will be crowded. There will be neither jealousy nor rivalry. Both of us will work for one and the same common good. There will be competition, perhaps ; but competition is not only the life of trade, but the life of every enterprise, and will result but to the good of the community at large. . . ." In the meantime Lilienthal had established the first 91 MAX U URN THAI.. juvenile journal for Jewish children in this country. He was always deeply interested in the education of children and he had felt for years the necessity of a paper for children that would supplement the teaching in the religious school. He established such a paper single-handedly, which he named the Sabbath School Visitor. The first number of this journal appeared January 22, 1874. Dr. Lilienthal edited the paper for eight years until the day of his death. He wrote charmingly for children and the paper was welcomed throughout the land by Jewish children everywhere. When the Hebrew Union College was opened he served not only as a member of the governing board of the institution, where his wise counsel proved of invaluable assistance during the formative pioneer years in shaping its policy, but he was also a member of the faculty, teaching history and homiletics. His name is connected for all time with the history of the college and the Union of American Hebrew Congre- gations. None rejoiced more than he when the differences between the eastern and western sections of reform Judaism were finally healed at the Convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations held in New York in 1879, the beginning of the reconcilia- tion having been laid at the Milwaukee meeting in 1878. Then it was that the great reconciler among the American rabbis again conceived the plan of a rab- binical association, which would combine in its mem- bership all the rabbis of the country. He agitated the matter in May, 1878, when he called upon his brethren to join together in an organization whose objects were to be the publication of a Jewish quarterly and a union of the Jewish ministers of the country. A preliminary 92 IN PUBLIC LIFE. meeting was held in Milwaukee in July of that year during the convention of the Union of American He- brew Congregations, and the society was definitely organized at New York on July 9, 1879, under the name and title of The Rabbinical Literary Association. Dr. Lilienthal, its founder, was elected president. Its objects were defined to be: "1. The association shall meet periodically for the purpose of discussing current religious topics of Jew- ish theology and the reading of essays on such sub- jects as may be selected and approved at each pre- vious meeting of the Literary Committee. "2. To publish a periodical devoted to the object of the Association. "3. Recommendation to the Jewish public of such books for schools and popular use as the Literary Committee may approve." In writing a month later^^ about the prospects of the organization, its founder said: "The prospects for the young, but now permanently organized association are highly favorable, and with God's blessing, will accomplish a great deal of good. "As said in the preamble of the constitution, it will create good social feelings among the rabbis and min- isters of the country. Instead of previous acrimonies and contentions, a spirit of brotherly love and duty will unite them for a hearty cooperation in the sacred cause of Jews and Judaism. "And such an association was greatly needed for higher and more important purposes. By the consti- tution of the Union of American Hebrew Congrega- tions the council is prevented from entering into " Israelite, XXVI, 5, 4. 93 MAX LIUliNTHAL,. theological discussions. The constitution wisely in- tended to preserve the autonomy of the congregations. "But these questions have to be discussed some- where, if the future of our religion shall be a hopeful, a brilliant one. Theory and practice, life and law again have to be brought into harmony, criticism and science threaten to make inroads into religion ; this difficulty has to be removed, too. Our religion — a religion of light and truth — has nothing to fear, and first of all, shall be enabled to face the various an- tagonistic elements, to silence atheism and pessimism and to do justice both to the religious element and the progressive spirit of the age. "This association will try to perform this noble and dutiful task. There will be differences of opinion, as they have prevailed since the Talmudical times of Hillel and Shammai and their successors. But the Talmud already has said noSH in^n'' n'l3'''in IlilD Opinions will be exchanged, the burning problems will be discussed calmly and the desired result will be at- tained. And as nobody is bound, either minister or congregation, to act according to these decisions, and here, too, the autonomy of the congregation will be respected, a scientific basis will be won, upon which in course of time the temple of modern Judaism and modern Jewish theology can and will be safely reared. May God, the guardian of Israel, grant the young insti- tution His divine blessing, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Rabbinical Literary Association, working hand in hand, will bring an era redounding to the honor of Jews and Judaism." In his sermon on the Day of Atonement of that year he referred to this organization in the following touching manner : 94 IN PUBLIC LIFE. "I hope it (the Rabbinical Literary Association) shall be the crowning point of the years I have spent in my holy and responsible office. The rabbis and ministers of our whole country have agreed to meet once every year to discuss earnestly the religious ques- tions and to give their opinions and decisions. It is not the work of a day or a year ; it needs earnest and conscientious study, ample investigation, serious and fraternal discussions ; and with the assistance of God and the hearty cooperation of our coreligionists we hope in the course of time to accomplish a noble and holy work." He did, indeed, devote much time and attention to the association which met annually during the remain- ing short period of his life. He edited the quarterly journal issued by the association under the name The Hebreiv Reviezv. He published a number of articles in this review, namely, the two presidential addresses and the articles "The Jew a Riddle" and "The Blood Covenant". The Reviezv suspended publication after his death. Only two volumes appeared. In speaking of his literary work, mention must be made also of several earlier publications, viz. : his translation of Hecht's Biblical History''- and his volume of poems, "Freiheit, FrUhling und Liebe"^^ — a collection of beautiful lyrics elevated in feeling, noble in thought and choice in ex- pression. Zealous and active as Dr. Lilienthal was in the work " Synofsis of the History of the Israelites from the Time of Alexander the Macedonian to the Present Age, translated from the German of E. Hecht — Enlarged and Improved by Rev. Dr. Lilienthal (Cincinnati, 1858). '" Cincinnati, 1857. 95 MAX LILIRNTliAIv. of rabbinical conferences, he was none the less so in serving his coreligionists throughout the country whenever called upon to aid in celebrating extraordi- nary events, notably the laying of cornerstones and the dedication of new houses of worship. Mention may be made of a number of such. He delivered the address at the cornerstone laying of the temple at Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thanksgiving Day, 1864; of Temple Emanuel, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 16, 1871 ; of Congregation Shaare Zedek, Detroit, Mich., July 4, 1877. He preached the sermon at the dedica- tion of Tiffereth Israel Congregation, Cleveland, Ohio, August 23, 1861 ; of the temple at Madison, Indiana, Sept. 4, 1868; of Anshe Chesed Congregation, Vicks- burg. Mississippi, May 16, 1870; of the temple at Natchez, Mississippi, March 8, 1872 ; of Temple Emanuel, Milwaukee, August 30, 1872 ; of Congrega- tion Bene Israel, Keokuk, Iowa, July 20, 1877. His services were also in extensive demand as lecturer before associations in various parts of the country. But possibly the most striking service he performed, a service quite unique in his day and generation, al- though not so at the present time, was his frequent preaching in Christian pulpits. When he occupied the pulpit of the Unitarian Church at Cincinnati in March, 1867, this was recorded as the first time that a rabbi preached from a non-Jewish pulpit in this country. He performed similar functions many times there- after. By such services he did much towards fur- thering the spirit of good will in the community and bringing to Christians a better understanding of Jews and Judaism. He was thus a veritable messenger of peace, also here as in other relations of life. If, as is frequently asserted, the Cincinnati community is 96 IN PUBLIC LIFE. marked by a more cordial spirit of fellowship between Jews and non-Jews than is the case in many other com- munities, this is largely due without any doubt to the work of Dr. Max Lilienthal. He himself has recorded the reasons that induced him to preach from non- Jew- ish pulpits. In the year 1876, he journeyed westward as far as San Francisco. While en route he wrote let- ters to the Israelite, in which he set down his experi- ences. In the third of these letters entitled "Our Brethren in the West and in San Francisco", he wrote : "I could not decline the invitation extended to me by Rev. E. Rex ford, the pastor of the Unitarian Church and a friend of mine of many years standing, to preach on the first Sunday evening after my ar- rival before his congregation. "As the papers advertised "A Jewish Rabbi in a Christian Pulpit", and this being something new on the Pacific Coast, the building was literally crowded ; neither standing nor sitting room could be any more obtained; the elite of the Christians thronged the house. "I always cheerfully seize the opportunity of stat- ing before a Christian audience the sublime doctrines of our religion. To Christians they are a 'terra in- cognita'. They read our religious papers as little as we read theirs. But few ever visit our temples and hear there our doctrines expounded. The greatest and m.ost advanced modern scholars, even a Buckle, have no understanding either of the Jewish religion or Jewish history, and the old prejudice is lurking out from every loophole; the masses in general hear Judaism decried so much, either in the pulpit, or in the Sunday School, that a fair and impartial judgment 97 MAX UUIvNTlIAL. can scarcely be expected. Hence, I always seize the opportunity whenever offered to preach in churches and to speak on Judaism and its liberal tendencies. It is true that 'we kept our light too long under the bushel', and when in past times we found a proper ex- cuse in the fact that we did not dare to speak without being persecuted, this excuse is no longer valid in our age of free inquiry and religious liberty. "The immense audience was quite startled when I told them that in our city it is nothing new and sur- prising to see a Jewish rabbi in a Christian pulpit ; that for a fortnight I had filled the pulpit in the Univer- salist Church by the request and in the absence of its minister, Rev. Spaulding, and that many a time I had been invited to officiate at Christian funerals. These introductory remarks were received with loud ap- plause, and I shall never forget how the blind man who had been led in front of the pulpit and had there taken his seat, stamped with his cane at these sur- prising remarks." He touches on this subject also in a letter to the Jezvish Times, New York, dated January 10, 1870, when writing about the famous Bible-in-the-schools controversy which was agitating the community at that time ; in this letter he says : "The debate, going on here, is directed more to putting our religion in its proper light before the Christian community, to dispelling every prejudice, to ridiculing every sectarian arrogance and promoting a true brotherly feeling of mutual respect and toleration among the various creeds. We all are working nicely in this direction and have no reason to be dissatisfied with our results. The Jewish ministers and the Jewish religion are respected and a hearty cooperation of the 98 IN PUBLIC ufe;. liberal ministers of the various creeds promises a rich harvest of peace and blessing." It will be recalled that on the occasion of the cele- bration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Lilien- thal's ministry in the Bene Israel congregation, Dr. Wise, in his address had stated that through the in- fluence of Dr. Lilienthal, most of the anti-Jewish pre- judice had been eradicated in Cincinnati. Perhaps this never appeared to finer advantage than in the address he delivered at a concert in aid of a Catholic institution, the Good Samaritan Hospital, in October, 1878. The golden words he spoke there are indicative of the fine spirit of this friend of his kind and made clear the reason why he was held in such high esteem by all classes in the community. "Love and charity", said he, "are the celestial means which unite all of us in one band of noble fraternity ; no matter what creed, what religion we profess. On that platform we all proclaim the common Fatherhood of God and the common brotherhood of man. About two subjects we should never speak — religion and politics. We should leave them to the judgment of the individual. For every man is entitled to his opinion and every man is in duty bound to respect, nay, to honor the sincere conviction of his fellow man. But while on these points we differ, love and charity are the most common and precious jewels of the human heart; the loving heart asks neither of what race nor of what creed we are ; it loves and helps and assists, like our Heavenly Father, who takes care of all His children." In view of his attitude as evidenced by his public utterances, it is not surprising that he was honored by his fellow citizens on many occasions and placed in positions of trust and responsibility. He was elected 99 MAX UURNTIIAL. a member of the Board of Education and held this ofilice for nine years. When, upon removing from the ward, as the representative of which he had served, he resigned his position in 1869, a committee of citizens waited upon him and presented him with a testimonial as a mark of their appreciation of his service. He was elected a member of the Union Board of High Schools in 1861. He was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati in 1872 and served in this capacity till the day of his death in 1882. He was chosen a director of the Relief Union, the pioneer relief-giving organization of Cin- cinnati in 1861 and held the office also until his death. He was president of the Board of Trustees of the Medical College in 1869 and 1870 and served as presi- dent of the National Saengerfest which was held in Cincinnati in 1870. He delivered addresses on many occasions of civic importance and was looked upon by all classes as one of the foremost of the municipality's citizens. The service he rendered in this respect is incalculable. His voice was ever raised in the cause of freedom and right. Upon all possible occasions he spoke lofty words in which he dwelt upon the spirit of American institutions. Unafraid and dauntless, he stood forth as the champion of religious liberty and political equality. Notably did this appear in a con- troversy on the reading of the Bible in the schools, which became a cause celcbre, and in his frequent denunciation of attempts to effect a union of church and state. Never did he speak words more eloquent than when he denounced the narrow bigots who would undermine the foundations whereon to his mind the republic rested. But this requires a chapter of its own. 100 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. CHAPTER VI. THE AMERICAN CITIZEN — CHURCH AND STATE — THE BIBEE IN THE SCHOOLS. Never was there a man more zealous in his love of America and all that this country represents than was Max Lilienthal. This was a passion with him. He abhorred every form and expression of intolerance whether religious or civil ; he was an American of the Americans, even though of German birth ; time and time again he gave expression to his deep feelings and convictions on the subject of religious liberty. He never minced his words when the occasion arose to denounce movements that aimed at a union of church and state, at Christianizing this country, or the public schools. He was as a watchman on the tower of liberty, calling attention to dangers that threatened this precious stronghold. Intense in his Judaism on the one hand and his Americanism on the other, he embodied the loftiest type of the American Jew. The service that he accomplished in making clear the atti- tude of the American Jew was great. In his day, as unfortunately is the case still now, there were many who considered the Jew an alien ; he made very clear in spoken discourse and written word that in all things except his religion, the Jew was like unto his Christian fellow citizen ; that he is actuated by the same love of country, the same enthusiasm for American ideals ; that America is his fatherland which he loves as he does his home. Therefore, as has already been 101 MAX I^IUKNTIIAL. pointed out, he took pains to declare so frequently that Palestine, precious though it be as a memory, is no longer the fatherland of the Jew ; had he lived to see the day of the birth of the Zionistic movement whose program is the reestablishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, how he would have opposed and fought this ! for his whole life had been devoted to teaching just the contrary ; he considered the Palestinian period of Jewish history the preparatory stage for the larger life of Judaism throughout the world; he considered the dispersion an act of Providence and in the mod- ern era of freedom and emancipation, notably as achieved in the United States, he recognized the begin- ning of the fulfillment of the high hopes of the seers for the coming of the day of the realization among men of the belief in the common Fatherhood of God and the common brotherhood of men. He was a true prophet of humanity, a real worker for peace, good will and fellowship among all men of whatever origin or belief, whatever race or creed. Because America to his mind symbolized this high doctrine he was so jealous of America's honor as the home of true liberty in its every sense, so proud of his American citizen- ship, and so appreciative of his American opportuni- ties. It has already been pointed out that the first recorded words that he wrote from this country after his arrival here were a panegyric of the spirit of lib- erty reigning on these shores ; as time passed he be- came more and more imbued with this spirit ; for him Washington, Jefiferson, Adams and the other founders of the republic became names to conjure with. In his dedication sermon at Vicksburg, Miss., on May 20, 1870, he said of them: 102 The AMERICAN CITIZEN. "The true prophets and apostles of modern civiliza- tion were these God-inspired men who, on the fourth of July, 1776, proclaimed the divine principle of civil and religious liberty. They declared church and state separated forever. They proclaimed the self-evident truth that every man is entitled to life, liberty and happiness ; they broke the chains of every fettered race and class ; and America, the great child America, became the beacon light for the hopes and aspirations of all humanity. O, God bless America. Heaven's best reward to those immortal spirits, Washington and his compeers, who first asserted man's innate rights and titles and Israel's lasting gratitude to them and their descendants for ever more." His bitter experiences in Russia and Germany, where to obtain advancement the Jew was compelled to apos- tatize to the reigning religion, a state of affairs which even after the lapse of seventy years still holds largely, caused him to wax eloquent when contrasting the con- ditions in the United States with these European ex- periences. Thus, in an address delivered at the first Fourth of July celebration during his New York ministry in the year 1847, he said : "What wots the state here as to in what manner man would worship his God? Let each one believe and confess what he will ; the state as state desires only that each one be a brave and useful citizen. "Has any one here ever said to you as in Germany, you must first become better, i. e., you must first be baptized before we will consider you men and citizens, before we will give you freedom? No, never; this country and its law rest on the principle that man is born free ; permit him the full use of his powers. 103 MAX UUENTIIAL. grant him the ways and means to support himself and everyone will be good and brave. "Thus no conditions have been imposed on you here ; no reproaches have been cast in your teeth. Here history has begun anew and in this beginning the in- justices of Europe are tniknown. One God in heaven and on earth and all men His children — yes, all chil- dren of His, the all-Merciful, destined for the same rights, the same duties and the same enjoyments ; this is the law of this land, the shout of triumph, the paean of victory of this holiday — free, free, stand we here, my brethren ; have we then not sufficient cause to rejoice on this day? Let us strive then to become worthy of this day, of the new freedom, the new law. . . Nine years later he took the famous editor, Horace Greeley, sharply to task because of an article that ap- peared in the New York Tribune filled with gross mis- representations concerning the Jews. In this letter written on August 15, 1856, Lilienthal, then rabbi in Cincinnati, expressed himself unreservedly but with fine restraint, in these lines : "Sir, the pretension in your paper that we are strangers wherever we reside is false and untrue. We are true citizens of this great and glorious republic, and have, ever since we inhabitated this soil, proved by actions that we are true Americans. "Sir, we are no strangers wherever we reside. The tombs of our French coreligionists in the Crimea, the orders and decorations lavished upon our brethren by all the monarchs of Europe, the appointing of a Jewish Lord Mayor of London, and many other examples show and prove that we are not mere hawkers, but true and useful citizens of every country in which we 104 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. dwell. We are Jews in religious respect, but as citi- zens we are as true and devoted to our country as any denomination whatever." And twelve years after this, in his address at the dedication of the temple at Madison, Indiana, he spoke in similar vein ; the spirit is the same though the words are different. "Liberty and equality", he said, "are the funda- mental principles of the Mosaic political institutions. One law and one statute shall be unto you, and the stranger who lives with you. No monarchy, no priv- ileged aristocracy, no exempt priesthood ; all are equal before the majesty of the law and the jurisdiction of the courts. These are the teachings of Moses, and which country proclaimed these principles in their all- comprising glory but our America ? Which set of men in modern times realized their self-evident truth and importance but the immortal signers of the Declara- tion of Independence? Hence on this virgin soil of America, there was no emancipation of Jews, no bar- tering with man's innate rights. . . . 'Everyone is entitled to life, liberty and happiness' was their motto and their influence is now felt all over the old continent." For him there could be no question concerning the loyalty of the Jew to his country ; the statement made in his address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Mound Street Temple, Cincinnati, and repeated sev- eral years later in a Thanksgiving sermon on Novem- ber 24, 1870, caused quite a sensation because it put the matter in question in so blunt a fashion. He said : "Let us then be proud of our country, our flag, our institutions and our name. Let us give sincere thanks that we all, native and adopted citizens, can join in 105 MAX UUENTHAL. one grand chorus of praise and exultation. Let us promise today first and above all, we will be and re- main Americans in sentiment, word and deed! First Americans and then Jews, Catholics, Protestants or members of whatever denomination any man may choose, according to the dictates of his conscience!"^ Without doubt this closing paragraph, "First Ameri- cans, and then Jews, Catholics, Protestants", etc., the paragraph which caused the excited comment was in- spired by the agitation aroused at that time by various movements in the country ; the Vatican Council of 1869 which had set its seal on the doctrine of papal infallibility had brought to the fore the question of the priority of Catholic allegiance, whether to the au- thority of the Pope or the country? Protestant sec- taries were doing all they could to have the Protestant religion recognized as the religion of the government ; if not so recognized, to whom then was the Protestant's allegiance due in the first instance, the church or the state? Without doubt it was the discussions of the day that caused the great American rabbi to express him- self as imequi vocally as he did upon this subject. In an address on "Rome or America?" delivered on January 28, 1870, at the Plum Street Temple, Cin- cinnati, and called forth by the syllabus issued by the Roman See in 1869 after the adjournment of the Vatican Council just referred to, Dr. Lilienthal in no uncertain terms, expressed his disapproval of the Catholic doctrine of the dominance of the church in affairs of the state, and contrasted with this teaching the American doctrine of religious liberty when he said : 'Israelite, XVII, 8 (Dec. 2, 1870). 106 THK AMERICAN CITIZIJN. "The brightest gem in the American diadem is re- ligious liberty. All denominations without any dis- tinction have flourished and finely progressed under this divine coat of arms. The American, the native nature's nobleman, is tolerant and free from all pre- judice by the very air he breathes. He assents with all his soul and heart to the sacred axiom that tolera- tion is a great and glorious virtue; but history re- minds him, also, that it ceases to be virtue when intolerance raises its serpent head and that self- defense then becomes a virtue, as great and good and imperative as toleration itself. "- In connection with this answer to Catholic teaching, mention should be made of his reply to a Protestant clergyman, the Reverend Henry Moore, who, in a dis- course delivered in September, 1870, and entitled "The Relation of the Present Affairs in Europe to the Prophetic Scriptures and the Coming of the Son of Man", had brushed aside all Jewish rights to be heard on the subject by saying: "Judaism can scarcely be called a religion". Dr. Lilienthal named the subject of his sermon in refutation of the clergyman's state- ment's "Is Judaism a Religion?" After arraigning severely Mr. Moore's unwarranted charges the rabbi said: "Let us declare again that we do not wish to still more embitter the ill feeling that crops out between the various churches by engaging in religious con- troversies. All we wish and hope and pray for is to live in peace and harmony with all our fellow citizens, no matter how widely they may difl:'er from our re- ligious opinions ; to see Judaism as much respected 'Israelite, XVI, 9 (Feb. 4, 1870). 107 MAX UUENTHAL. as any other denomination ; and that the equality which is granted it by the state and the law of our blessed country may also be fully recognized by the votaries of the various churches."^ This was ever his attitude, that all should have the right to believe as they would and none should be in- terfered with in the pursuance of that right. In ac- cordance with this conviction, he formulated his defi- nition of the American Jew — " in creed a monotheist, in descent a Hebrew, Israelite or Jew, in all other pub- lic or private relations an American citizen".* There- fore, at the dedication of the Mound Street Temple, as spokesman for his congregation and all American Jews who believed with him, he stated the political creed of the American Jew thus exaltedly : "We are promising today in a body that forever we shall re- main true to the sublime spirit of our constitution as it stands and reads. We shall spare no effort to main- tain the free and glorious institutions of our country. In a body we shall resist the encroachment of any denomination on the rights and titles of the modern state and society. . . . Earnestly and sincerely we promise unanimously to support any measure in- tended to strengthen the institutions bequeathed unto us by the noble spirit of the fathers of this land, which enjoins upon every citizen as a supreme duty to live together as brethren indeed and to foster that spirit of toleration by which every creed being treated by all with unprejudiced and mutual regard, the glory of our land will be enhanced all over the world." It has become very clear from the statements here quoted that there was no more determined or out- '' Israelite, XVII, 10 (Sept. 30, 1870). * Jewish Times, 5 (Dec. 10, 1869). 108 CHURCH AND STATE. Spoken opponent of the pernicious doctrine of the union of church and state than Dr. Lilienthal in the entire country. He believed with all the fervor of his soul that this was the root of all political evil. He was constantly on the alert for any sign indicative of the introduction of this evil in the American state. During his lifetime Protestant organizations were con- stantly active in the attempts to foist this doctrine upon the American people, aye, to have the constitu- tion amended so as to have Christianity recognized as the state religion. Nor have these attempts died out to this day. Vigilance still remains the price of lib- erty. May all the friends of American religious free- dom continue as constantly vigilant as was Max Lilienthal in his day and generation ! The state of North Carolina continued on its statute books the law disqualifying Jews from public office longer than any state in the union; in fact, it was not until 1868 that the law was repealed. Lilienthal, to whose notice this discriminating statute had been called in 1856, asked this pertinent query. "Why do our brethren living in that state not take immediate and prompt steps to have this clause abolished? It is against the constitution of the United States, arid therefore illegal. We deem that the attention of the legislature has but to be called to such an illegality and that it will be removed promptly. It is a holy duty imposed upon all our brethren to efface on this soil of religious and civil liberty the last stain of intol- erance imported in past times from illiberal Europe.'"^ No incident involving the doctrine of the separation of church and state and religious liberty caused greater 'Israelite, II, 404. 109 MAX UUENTHAL. commotion among the Jews in the sixth decade of the nineteenth century than the celebrated Mortara case. Jews in Europe and America were aghast at this re- crudescence of medievaHsm. The governments of the world were appealed to against this wanton violation of religious freedom by the Papal See. Dr. Lilienthal was aroused to a state of indignation and addressed the following letter to the Jews of the United States: "The forced abduction of the child of Mr. Mortara in Rome, Italy, by order of the Catholic clergy has created throughout the civilized world a cry of horror and indignation. Religious liberty is set at naught by the fanaticism of the Roman Inquisition. The Is- raelites throughout Europe have taken energetic meas- ures to have the decision of Rome revoked. The Central Consistory of France, the Board of Jewish Deputies in England, the Consistory of Sardinia have addressed their respective governments on behalf of down-trodden religious liberty. The same was done by the Israelites in Germany. Let us follow their ex- ample ! Call meetings in all your congregations ! Ad- dress remonstrances and petitions to our government in Washington that the president and his secretaries may throw their influence, too, in the scale of this important case. We rise not only for our cause, but for one of the highest principles of our enlightened age — 'Religious liberty and no clerical inquisition'." He took active steps in his own community in the matter. He issued a call for a meeting of the Jews of Cincinnati, and pursuant to this call a meeting of com- mittees appointed by all the congregations of the city was held in the vestry of the Broadway synagog, October 30, 1858. A resolution was adopted to the effect that a petition be drawn up which was to be 110 CHURCH AND STATE. sent to the Pope, imploring his favorable interfer- ence in behalf of the parents. This committee, consisting of Drs. Lilienthal and Wise and Mr. M. J. Mack, reported at an adjourned meeting held a few days later. The meeting resolved to request the secre- tary of state to forward this petition to the agent of the United States minister at Rome with the request to hand it to the Pope. The petition was signed by the rabbis and the officers of the congregations. Mention has been made in a previous chapter of the resolutions offered by Dr. Lilienthal at the rabbinical conference at Cleveland in 1870 adopted by that body. The fourth and fifth of these resolutions read: "Civil and religious liberty and hence the separation of church and state are the inalienable rights of men and we cherish them to be the brightest gems in the constitution of the United States." "We love and revere this country as our home and fatherland for us and our children ; and therefore consider it our paramount duty to sustain and support the govern- ment ; to favor by all means the system of free edu- cation, leaving religious instruction to the care of the different denominations." In a letter to the Jewish Times of New York® he states the reason that prompted him to offer these reso- lutions : "Rome, by her syllabus, her encyclical let- ters, her endless anathemas, and by her new doctrine of Papal Infallibility, has laid before the world her program and the religious system she intends to teach and to enforce. In September the delegates of the various Protestant churches will meet in New York to form an evangelical alliance, and to lay down the 'July 20, 1870, p. 342. Ill MAX LIUENTHAL. program of their doctrines and the system of their churcli. In the midst of this agitation it is not more than right that we also give a declaration of both our religious and political principles, and to set our religion and ourselves in the proper light before the Christian community, in order to be properly understood and appreciated." And in another letter to the same paper dated February 8, 1871, he states: "I foresaw^ the struggle between the various sects and denominations years ago. In order to set our religion in the proper light before the American people, I submitted to the conference at Cleveland a set of liberal resolutions which were adopted unanimously and copied by al- most all the papers of the country. I feel gratified that the Commissioner of Education at Washington has them inserted in his annual report, lately published (page 364). Excuse this egotistical remark; you know I am not given to indulging in such panegyrics, but I am convinced that by such declarations we can accomplish a great deal more than by wasting time and ink and paper in foul and useless recriminations. It is indeed t^^ nitTJ?^ ny."' A resolution introduced at a minister's conference held in Cincinnati in November, 1870, to petition Con- gress to insert the name of God in the constitution and to declare this a Christian nation induced this vigilant champion of American principles to preach a sermon on the subject, "God, Religion and our American Con- stitution", on December 10. Perhaps the argument against the proposition that this is a Christian country has never been more cogently put than in this sermon, so that the portion especially pertinent to the subject ''Jewish Times (Feb. 17, 1871). 112 CHURCH AND STATE. in hand may well be quoted at length. The preacher began by asking: "What do the reverend gentlemen mean and intend by inserting the name of God into our constitution? Was the Almighty Ruler of All Nations less God and Father because His holy name was not mentioned in that holy instrument? Was he less worshipped, less revered and adored by the American people, because the fathers of 1776 wisely refrained from meddling with religious matters? "Yes, what do they mean and intend by trying to declare by a new amendment to the constitution this nation to be a Christian nation? . "What kind of a Christian nation shall this people be, according to the desire of these reverend gentle- men, a Catholic or a Protestant one? Which one? These gentlemen do not come out in their true colors ; they of course mean a Protestant Christian nation. They have as yet too much genuine regard for the American spirit of religious liberty that they shall come forward and declare, we mean a Protestant Christian nation. But do not they by this assertion throw down the gauntlet to the Catholic Church, which ever increases in power, and challenge her to a deadly combat? Or do they presume to avert by such a declaration the dangers they fear from the ever-in- creasing influence of the Catholic clergy? Do they pretend to put a check on the formidable growth of that Church by adding such an amendment to the con- stitution ? "They will accomplish thereby neither the one nor the other. They will only add fuel to the threatening fire and put the denominational antagonists into a well-defined array ; they will thereby only drill and 113 MAX LIIvlENTHAL. prepare them for a contest which by such agitations will rather be accelerated than avoided. ''No, my friends, an old, true adage says : 'Let well enough alone'. Our country is in no need of a better name than free America, and our people of no better name than that of an American nation. There is glory enough in the name 'I am an American'. There is security enough against all threatening dangers in our constitution. It will protect and shield us against all temporal or spiritual intrigues and machinations. Let us not wilfully jeopardize its might and power, its wise and well-meant guarantees ; let us cling to it at any price as it reads and stands ; let us hold firmly to the entire separation of church and state and our beloved country will not only prosper and succeed as heretofore, but will always lead the van of human liberty and civilization. "Religion, or rather theology, has already brought misery enough to the human race. Let us not repeat again the terrible lessons taught by history. Let us not be ostentatious and vainglorious with our creeds and doctrines, but rather remember the words of the prophet who defines religion with true divine inspira- tion when he says : 'Man, it has been said unto thee what is good and what the Lord requires of thee; to do justice, to practice charity and to walk in humility before the Lord thy God'. May we be ever mindful of this sublime teaching, and peace and good will shall reign among men to the glory of God and the pros- perity of mankind."* These years of 1870 and 1871 were noted for the active agitation on the part of the advocates of the 'Israelite, XVII, 9 (Dec. 16, 1870). 114 CHURCH AND STATE. union of church and state, and it was during these years, as we have already seen, that Dr. Lilienthal fought these agitators all along the line. He seized all opportunities to give expression to his views and to arouse the people. In addition to the words already quoted, others of importance may be given. In his address at Cincinnati on June 5, 1871, as retiring president of the rabbinical conference, he con- cluded with these words of admonition: "Let us not forget that we are living in times in which the religious questions in general will play a most important part. We hear from old Europe that state and church are preparing themselves for a fierce and violent struggle, and the consequences thereof will finally tell even in our country. "In these threatening times let us show and prove by our discussions and the declaration of our prin- ciples that Judaism is in favor of the complete and unbiased separation of church and state and school ; that Judaism by all means of reform tries to adapt itself to the progressive spirit of the age; that it will always be found on the side of those who stand up for the unlimited enjoyment of civil and religious liberty; and that it considers and reveres as one of the boons of civilization that denominational peace, which hereto- fore characterized the unequaled growth and pros- perity of our young and God-blessed country." How passionately he felt on this subject appears in the comprehensive letter which he wrote in this same year (Feb. 17, 1871) to the Jezvish Times under the caption "Church and State". The letter, called forth by the formation in Philadelphia of a society denomi- nating themselves "The National Reformers" whose purpose was to have Christianity recognized officially 115 MAX IJLIENTIIAL. as the religion of the country and to have the consti- tution amended to this effect, is of such importance that although somewhat lengthy, it must be included here almost in its entirety. The eager combatant for the principles of American liberty reviewed the critical situation thus fully : "This new party tries to christianize our nation. The clergy who are at the bottom of the whole move- ment are no longer satisfied with the proud name of 'America and American Nation' ; no, we have to be called hereafter 'Christian Americans' and our coun- try 'Christian America' ! "Nice times these, and a glorious movement this new organization! The trouble is that one can not reason either with bigotry or fanaticism ; and that when we Jews protest against this nonsense the re- joinder is made : 'No wonder that the Jews, these old Egyptian petrified infidels, dislike this movement ; they do not believe in our Lord Jesus Christ'. That we pro- test as Americans, or as a race that more than all others has experienced the bitter consequences of a union between church and state and like to warn other people not to revive this dangerous experiment — this fact you can not demonstrate to these modern in- quisitors. For they are neuromaniacs in this regard and with such men both reason and history are played out. "But what a shame to America — no, no, I mean to say to such degenerate Americans who are bent upon degrading and disgracing their God-blessed country in the eyes of all the world ! How old, monarchical Europe must laugh in her sleeves at these proceedings in the model republic ! While inquisitorial Spain, priest-rid- den Italy, ultramontane Austria, and Hengstenberg- 116 THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS. Stahl-Prussia proclaim not only the equality of all citi- zens before the law, but the entire separation of church and state; while one after another adopts the broad principle of the immortal Count di Cavour, 'Chiesa libera in libera stato' — 'A free church in a free state', Americans are not ashamed of reviving the old exploded union and of recklessly throwing away the brightest gem in the American diadem, the price- less jewel of religious liberty. "At the head of the movement in the state of Ohio is the Evangelical Association of this city. About three or four years ago, several ministers traveled on one of the Ohio railroads. Seriously discussing the state of religious affairs in this country, they re- solved upon an 'aggressive policy'. Fearing the con- tinuous growth of the Catholic Church, scared by her powerful organization and concerted action, and re- viewing the numberless sects of their Protestant Church, they wished to counteract the growing influ- ence of Rome, and to thwart the schemes and plots of the Jesuits. "No course would have been more natural, in order to effect this aim, than to cling to the spirit of our constitution, to assert and to maintain at any price the separation of church and state and to oppose 'Roman Infallibility' by the repeated declaration of religious liberty. All pretensions of the Roman clergy to a division of the school fund, to donations from the public treasury for the support of sectarian institu- tions, would have been silenced by the words, 'The state has nothing to do with the church; the state ignores her altogether'. "But instead of pursuing this wise and truly Ameri- can policy they now hit upon the supreme folly of 117 MAX LIUENTHAI,. christianizing the country and the constitution. By this misstep they are working nicely into the hands of the Jesuits. It is the same mistake, only in another shape and form, which they committed when intro- ducing Catholic rites into some churches of the Epis- copalians. The Jesuits, in course of time, would have battered such a breach into our laws anyhow ; but they must feel very thankful if others spare them the trou- ble and do the odious work for them. The odium and reproach will then be cast on other shoulders than theirs. . . . "The Catholics are arraying themselves under the banner of the new-fangled 'Papal Infallibility' ; and their enormous mass meetings protesting against the abolition of the Pope's temporal power show and prove that they are well organized and at the command of their clergy. As soon as peace between France and Germany will have been declared, we shall hear of the contest to be fought in Europe between the Roman Catholic and the modern state, and in course of time we shall have our share in this, our inflammable and excitable country, too. "On the other side, as soon as the Universal Evan- gelical Association will convince its delegates from Europe and America in New York, we shall undoubt- edly hear of a kind of 'Protestant Infallibility'. Re- ligious liberty, the right of conscience, and all such other modern trash will be entirely ignored, and the clergy and their hotspurred church members will vie with each other to outdo themselves in religious zeal and bigotry. It will become fashionable to add one's mite to the general agitation and the numbers of the 'legion of religious honor' will be increased beyond calculation. It will become profitable to play the hypo- 118 THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS. crite and to don the prophet's mantle; intolerance, proselytism and all other such theological virtues will be preached from all the pulpits ; the missionaries will be in their highest glee and reap the richest harvest ; and all this will be done 'to the glory of God and uni- versal love', and for the sake of vivifying the old word 'peace and good will to all men'. You recollect how in the middle ages this noble word was translated into the sentence, 'Burn the body and save the soul'. "Still I do not like to play the part of 'Cassandra'. I have too much faith in our constitution, in the sound common sense of the American people, in their justice and pride in national liberties, that they will ever allow themselves to be ruled and governed by any class of clergy. "But vigilance is the price of liberty, and it needs concerted and courageous action to thwart all such nefarious schemes. If the right men in the right place will come out as boldly and defiantly as the clergy does ; if, disregarding the interests of parties and poli- ticians who wish to buy and secure votes at any price, they will appeal to the enlightened sense of the Amer- ican people, the timid will be encouraged, the indif- ferent will be aroused and crowds will be gathered for the support of American right and liberty."^ And in an address on the same subject delivered at Washington the following May, he adjured his hear- ers : "Let us conclude with the pertinent remark of our president, 'Let us have peace!' not only political, but also denominational peace! Let the dead past of fanaticism and bigotry bury its dead ! Let ignorance 'Jewish Times, 804-5 (Feb. 17, 1871). 119 MAX LIUENTITAL. and superstition be dispelled by universal and free education ! And 'with malice to none, with charity to air, with love and justice as God understands it, let us lift higher and higher our star-spangled banner, that it may float in all its heaven-born glory bringing to man- kind as the glorious greeting of modern redemption the blessings of civil and religious liberty 1" It was during this same period that the famous case of the reading of the Bible in the public schools was tried in the courts of Ohio. The Cincinnati school board had resolved that the reading of the Bible in the public schools should be dispensed with. A citizen brought suit in the courts against the school board. The courts finally sustained the board. While the case was being tried, great excitement prevailed in the com- munity and the attention of the entire country was fastened upon the Cincinnati episode. In this city itself passion ran high. Public meetings were held by both the friends and the opponents of the school board. As may well be supposed, among the most active sup- porters of the school board was Dr. Lilienthal, for whom the question of Bible reading in the public schools was part and parcel of the larger issue of the union of church and state. Little wonder, therefore, that he took an active part in the campaign for keep- ing the public schools free from all church affiliation. He recognized that the reading of the Bible in the schools was merely the opening wedge for the Prot- estantizing of the schools. In an address delivered at Mozart Hall, March 30, 1870, during the exciting in- terim that elapsed after the superior court had decided against the school board and the case was pending in the supreme court of the state to which the school board carried it, and where the decision sustaining the 120 THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS. board in its right to suspend the reading of the Bible in the schools was ultimately rendered, the rabbi, whose word carried great weight in the community, said pointedly : "The Catholics denounce the public schools as god- less and the hotbed of every vice and apply every opprobrious epithet to them. They demand a division of the school fund. What is to be done? Sectarian- ism must be removed from the schools in order that there may be no just ground left for this demand. But look to the Protestant side. The Protestants come now and say defiantly that this is a Protestant country. When I left Europe I came to this country because I believed it to be free, the God-blessed coun- try of all the world. "On one side of this controversy are the Protestants and on the other are the Catholics. Where in heaven's name are the Americans? Of course, the answer from the Protestants will be *We Protestants are the Amer- icans, and we Americans are Protestants'. I do not propose to answer the question myself, but instead will read from a letter written by Washington in May, 1779, addressed to the United Baptist Churches of Virginia : " 'If I could have entertained the slightest appre- hension that the constitution framed in convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly in- jure the rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it, and if I could now conceive 4:hat the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to estab- lish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual 121 MAX UUENTHAL. tyranny and every species of religious persecution, for you doubtless remember tbat I have often ex- pressed my sentiments that every man conducting himself as a citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his conscience'. "So wrote Washington. Are we better than he was? Are we wiser than he was? Obstinacy is no wisdom, bigotry is no justice, fanaticism is no right- eousness, and anyone who unfolds these banners will ruin this glorious country." Some months previously, May 20, 1870, in his ser- mon at the dedication of the Temple at Vicksburg, Miss., he laid down what he considered the platform which Jews should support in this Bible-in-the-Schools controversy, as follows : "1. Bible or no Bible, our children will visit the public schools. Our Sabbath schools and synagogs give us ample room and time to impart to them the required religious instruction. "2. No division of the school fund, no matter un- der what pretext it may be demanded. "3. Not a single penny out of the public funds for the support of any sectarian institution, be it for charitable or educational purposes. "4. No union of state and church, under any shape and form whatsoever. "These principles will save the Union and restore the denominational peace we hav^ heretofore enjoyed and which we hope will be continued forevermore on the virgin soil of American happiness and liberty."^" ^'Jewish Times, 118. 213 (1870). 122 THE BIBLK IN THE SCHOOLS. And finally let attention be called to the impressive words which he spoke on this subject before the State Teachers' Association of Indiana at Muncie, August 19, 1873, when he said in his address on "Liberty and Popular Education" : "Our free schools are decried and defamed as god- less. This is the stigma with which they are branded and derided. 'Stay away from these godless institu- tions', is the warning given by a certain class of papers and reiterated and reechoed by thousands of voices. "Well, we shall take the hint. Efftcient and excel- lent as our schools are, we shall still more improve them. Instead of being godless, an assertion which we deny in toto, -sve shall make them godful, thor- oughly godful, preeminently and essentially godful. Of course, not in the sense in which our opponents and rivals understand this word. We shall not make them sectarian in order to please this or that class of pious votaries. No, we shall adhere to the funda- mental principle of our institutions, in the full separa- tion of church and state. We shall continue to use all means to have our public institutions undisturbed and not permeated by sectarian strife and bigoted narrow-mindedness. ... To this genuine Amer- ican motto 'Separation of church and state, entire and complete', to this motto, which is now going to be copied almost all over Europe, we hope to cling to the very last. Still we intend to make our schools, our free schools, godful in the noblest sense of the word. . . . How can be accomplish this noble aim and purpose? When besides carrying out the course of study prescribed and entrusted to your care, in letter and in spirit you shall imbue into the minds of the youth all the noble principles which will make them 123 MAX LIUENTHAL. moral men, good citizens and useful members of so- ciety. . . . I