David Einhorn (Rabbi)

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David Unicorn

David (Meyer) Einhorn (born November 10, 1809 in Diespeck ; died November 2, 1879 in New York ) was an American rabbi from Germany and an important member of the Jewish reform movement .

life and work

Einhorn was a follower of Abraham Geiger and advocated the introduction of prayers in the national language and reforms in the synagogue service in Germany . From 1825 to 1827 he was a pupil of Rabbi Wolf Hamburger and Rabbi Joshua Moses Falkenau at the yeshiva in Fürth and from 1827 received private lessons in Würzburg . In 1829 he was in Fuerth ordained . In January 1832 he matriculated to study philosophy in Würzburg , from 1832 to October 1834 he studied in Munich . In February 1834 he received his doctorate in Erlangen with the work Explanation of various philosophical passages in the book "Moreh Nefuchim" I. Part des Maimonides .

The Bavarian state government did not agree to his appointment as rabbi of the community in Wellhausen near Uffenheim in 1838 because of his liberal views. From February 1842 to February 1847 he was rabbi of Hoppstädten and state rabbi in the Principality of Birkenfeld .

In 1844 Einhorn married Henriette Ochs (1817–1909). He had nine children with her.

In March 1847 he succeeded Samuel Holdheim as the regional rabbi of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (inauguration on September 4). At the same time he was a member of the Upper Council of the Israelite State Community. Here there was a conflict with the Rostock theology professor Franz Delitzsch , who accused him of heresy because of a blessing of an uncircumcised baby . The Austro-Hungarian government refused to approve an appeal to Pest in December 1851.

Einhorn emigrated to the United States. As rabbi of the radical reformist Har Sinai Association in Baltimore from September 1855 to May 1861, he quickly became a leading figure in US reformed Jewry. In 1858 he published his prayer book Olat Tamid (according to Numbers 28,3: " constant whole sacrifice "). It contained the majority of the prayers in German, dispensed with controversial passages such as the Kol Nidre and created new prayers. Over the generations, it has shaped the style of reform communities. He was also the editor of the Sinai magazine .

Because Unicorn 1861 in Baltimore, which in Maryland located on the southern , counted in a sermon openly against the slavery occurred, he was threatened by the listening crowd and had to go to Philadelphia to go. There he was rabbi of the community "Keneseth Israel" from June 1861 to July 1866. From August 31, 1866 to 1874 he was rabbi of the community "Adath Yeschurun" and from March 7, 1874 to July 12, 1879 of the community "Beth-El “In New York City . He then retired.

In 1869, Einhorn co- chaired the Philadelphia Rabbinical Assembly with Samuel Adler .

David Einhorn's daughter Johanna (1848–1932) married the well-known reform rabbi Kaufmann Kohler in 1870 .

Works (selection)

  • The behavior of the Israelite, dictated by Judaism, towards his stepfather treatment on the part of the fatherland. Sermon, delivered on November 13, 1847 in the synagogue in Schwerin. Kürschner, Schwerin 1847 ( digital copy (PDF; 99 kB) at the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute ).
  • Ner Tāmīd (constant lamp). The teaching of Judaism, presented for school and home. Philadelphia 1866.
  • Olat Tamid. Prayer book for Israelite reform churches. CW Schneidereith, Baltimore 1858, Thalmessinger & Cahn, New York 1858. (Several new editions and translations into English: digitized version of the 2nd edition, Baltimore 1862; digitized version of the Hebrew-English edition 1872).
  • Biblical reader for German lessons in isr. Religious schools along with the Hebrew prayers that occur in Reform worship services and a German declension and conjugation table. 1869, 2nd edition 1877.

Work editions

  • Kaufmann Kohler (Ed.): Dr. David Einhorn's selected sermons and speeches. E. Steiger & Co., New York 1880.
  • Kaufmann Kohler (Ed.): David Einhorn Memorial Volume. Selected Sermons and Addresses. Therein: Kaufmann Kohler: A Biographical Essay. Emil G. Hirsch: A Memorial Oration. New York 1911.

literature

  • Meyer Kayserling : The Jewish literature of Moses Mendelssohn up to the present. Publisher by M. Poppelauer, Berlin 1896, pp. 806, 826, 841, 865, 876 ( digitized in the Freimann collection ).
  • Steven M. Lowenstein: The 1840s and the Creation of the Religious Reform Movement. In: Werner E. Mosse , Arnold Paucker and Reinhard Rürup (eds.): Revolution and Evolution. 1848 in German Jewish History. Tübingen 1981, p. 276.
  • Jacob Rader Marcus (Ed.): The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography. Volume I. Brooklyn 1994, p. 131.
  • Carsten Wilke : The Talmud and the Kant. Rabbi training on the threshold of modernity. Netiva Vol. 4, Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2003, ISBN 978-3-487-11950-2 , pp. 93, 132, 186,374, 419, 433, 436, 496, 618, 626.
  • Entry UNICORN, David, Dr. In: Michael Brocke and Julius Carlebach (editors), edited by Carsten Wilke: Biographisches Handbuch der Rabbis. Part 1: The rabbis of the emancipation period in the German, Bohemian and Greater Poland countries 1781–1871. K G Saur, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-598-24871-7 , No. 352, p. 272 ​​ff.
  • Michael Buddrus , Sigrid Fritzlar: Jews in Mecklenburg. 1845-1945. Life paths and fates. A memorial book. Volume 1. Ed .: Institute for Contemporary History Munich - Berlin / State Center for Civic Education Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin 2019, ISBN 978-3-9816439-9-2 , p. 173.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Buddrus, Sigrid Fritzlar: Jews in Mecklenburg. 1845-1945. Life paths and fates. A memorial book. Volume 2. Ed .: Institute for Contemporary History Munich - Berlin / State Center for Civic Education Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin 2019, ISBN 978-3-9816439-9-2 , p. 152.
personal data
SURNAME Unicorn, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Einhorn, David Meyer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American reform rabbi of German origin
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Diespeck
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1879
Place of death new York