We Shall Build Anew: Stephen S. Wise, the Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Reinvention of American Liberal Judaism PDF
Preview We Shall Build Anew: Stephen S. Wise, the Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Reinvention of American Liberal Judaism
WE SHALL BUILD ANEW jews and judaism: history and culture Series Editors Mark K. Bauman Adam D. Mendelsohn Founding Editor Leon J. Weinberger Advisory Board Tobias Brinkmann Ellen Eisenberg David Feldman Kirsten Fermaglich Jeffrey S. Gurock Nahum Karlinsky Richard Menkis Riv- Ellen Prell Mark A. Raider Raanan Rein Jonathan Schorsch Stephen J. Whitfield Marcin Wodzinski WE SHALL BUILD ANEW Stephen S. Wise, the Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Reinvention of American Liberal Judaism Shirley Idelson The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487- 0380 uapress.ua.edu Copyright © 2022 by the University of Alabama Press All rights reserved. Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the University of Alabama Press. Typeface: Adobe Jenson Pro Cover image: Jewish Institute of Religion faculty and students, circa 1927; courtesy of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio, at americanjewisharchives.org Cover design: Lori Lynch Cataloging- in- Publication data is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978- 0- 8173- 2131- 4 E- ISBN: 978- 0- 8173- 9410- 3 To Alexis Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I. Call and First Steps 1. Traditions of Dissent 9 2. There Is a Need and We Shall Meet It 28 3. A Seminary without Adjectives 44 4. The First Test 55 5. In Pursuit of European Scholars 69 Part II. The Model Blossoms 6. A New Yavneh 89 7. Rabbinical Training for Our Time 108 8. The First Cadre 130 Part III. Metamorphosis 9. Early Transformation 153 10. Reform’s Volte- Face 168 11. The Legacy Crystalizes 183 Conclusion 206 Notes 213 Bibliography 241 Index 253 Photographs follow page 144. Acknowledgments While working on this book, I have lived in overlapping worlds of batei midrash, houses of study, and I am indebted to the many teachers, including my students, from whom I have been privileged to learn. At Hebrew Union College-J ewish Institute of Religion’s New York School, the Reform seminary where I received my ordination and decades later served as dean, I was privileged to belong to a community devoted to scholarship, leader- ship, and the highest ideals of Judaism. There, my colleagues and students inspired me on a daily basis while also challenging and sharpening my thinking about the significance of JIR’s history today. We were the direct descendants of Stephen S. Wise and the cadre he assembled at the institute, and while our predecessors surely could not anticipate how the school’s ethos would change over time, its flourishing was thanks to the seeds they planted in the early 1920s. My deep gratitude goes to David Ellenson, who was president of the college- institute when I began my research. Though this book ends prior to his presidency, I believe David embodied the best of the JIR vision while also making the crucial corrective of integrating a feminist outlook into his leadership. I was the beneficiary, enjoying the mentorship of this respected rabbi, scholar, and friend who recognized the importance of the JIR story and pushed me to complete the book. The American Jewish Archives (AJA), which houses the Jewish Institute of Religion collection, is devoted to ensuring a strong future for American Jewish life by raising consciousness of its past. Gary P. Zola, executive director, could not have been more generous in sharing his wisdom, time, and boundless energy. Gary pro- vided valuable insight and suggestions for the manuscript, as well as primary source material that clarified the record further. I also received ample assistance from the entire AJA team, including archivists Kevin Proffitt, Dana Herman, and Elisa Ho. HUC- JIR’s New York librarians were also extremely helpful. Yoram Bitton and Tina Weiss unearthed numerous JIR treasures, and Philip Miller recounted extensive memories of the faculty and students who worked and studied on West Sixty- Eighth Street before the school moved from its original quarters to Green- wich Village in 1979. Historian Mark Raider has continually shared his deep knowledge of Stephen S. Wise and the American Zionist movement. He helped me create an analytical
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