Jewish Continuity in America: Creative Survival in a Free Society

318 Pages·1998·23.546 MB·English

by  Abraham J. Karp

JEWISH CONTINUITY IN AMERICA

JUDAIC STUDIES SERIES
Leon J. Weinberger
GENERAL EDITOR

JEWISH CONTINUITY
IN AMERICA
Creative Survival in a Free Society
ABRAHAM J. KARP
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
uapress.ua.edu
Copyright © 1998 by the University of Alabama Press
All rights reserved.
Hardcover edition published 1998.
Paperback edition published 2015.
eBook edition published 2015.
Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the
University of Alabama Press.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover photograph: Synagogue, 1938 (Pitt Street Synagogue, New York, N.Y.); photo
by Walter Rosenblum
Cover design: Lucinda Smith
∞
The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Science–Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8173-5822-8
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8173-8842-3
A previous edition of this book has been catalogued by the Library of Congress
as follows:
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Karp, Abraham J.
Jewish continuity in America : creative survival in a free society / Abraham J. Karp.
p. cm. — (Judaic studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8173-0923-3 (cloth)
1. Judaism—United States—History. 2. Judaism—History—Modern period, 1750–
3. Rabbis—United States. 4. Conservative Judaism—United States—History. I. Title.
II. Series: Judaic studies series (Unnumbered)
BM205 .K38 1998
296'.0973—ddc21
98-8951
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data available
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Quest for a Viable Identity 1
PART ONE: THE SYNAGOGUE IN AMERICA
l. The Synagogue in America: A Historical Typology 17
2. The Americanization of Congregation Beth Israel, Rochester 45
PART TWO: THE AMERICAN RABBINATE
3. Expanding the Parameters of the Rabbinate: Isaac Leeser of
Philadelphia 109
4. From Campus to Pulpit: Simon Tuska of Rochester 122
5. American Rabbis for America: Solomon Schechter
Comes to the Seminary 132
6. New York Chooses a Chief Rabbi: Jacob Joseph of Vilna 145
PART THREE: A PLURALISTIC RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY
7. The Tripartite Division: How It Came to Be 193
8. A Century of Conservative Judaism 204
Postscript: Between Fear and Faith 259
Notes 267
Glossary 291
Index 293

PREFACE
J
ewish life in North America almost came to an end before it began.
No sooner had the twenty-three Jewish refugees fleeing the Portu
guese reconquest of Recife, Brazil, set foot in New Amsterdam in late
summer 1654 than the governor of the colony, Peter Stuyvesant, asked
permission from the Dutch West India Company "to request them to
depart." Fortunately, word of his request reached leaders of the Jewish
community in Amsterdam, who immediately petitioned the company,
arguing that such a decree would be "of no advantage to the general Com
pany but rather damaging" to it, reminding the directors that "many of the
Jewish nation are principal shareholders of the Company." Just a half
year after the arrival, on April 26, 1655, the company instructed Stuy
vesant, "The people may travel and trade to and in New Netherlands and
live and remain there."l
The Jews did remain, and more came in ever-increasing numbers.
New Amsterdam became New York. In time New York became the city
with the largest Jewish population, by far, in the long history of the Jew
ish people, and the Jews of the United States became the largest Jewish
community in the world.
The incident in New Amsterdam was the first and last direct overt
threat from without to Jewish survival in America, but threats to sur
vival coming from within have been many. The ease of assimilation into
America's free and open society led W. M. Rosenblatt, a perceptive ob
server of the American scene, to conclude in 1872 that "within fifty
years ... the grandchildren, at the latest, will be indistinguishable from
the mass of humanity which surrounds them .... Of that ancient people
only the history of their peril and their suffering will remain, and the
change that came over them in an enlightened age. Two decades later,
,,2
Rabbi Jacob David Willowsky expressed it conditionally, "If we do not
bestir ourselves now, I am sore afraid that there will be no Jews left in
America in the next generation.
,,3
American Jews, like other Jews before them, have lived within a para
dox of faith and fear-the faith that they are an eternal people, and the
fear that their generation may be the last. The survival of every Jewish
community has been conditional. The studies in this volume describe