Bernard Illowy
Encyclopedia
Rabbi
Dr. Bernard (Yissochar Dov) Illowy (b. 1814 in Kolin
, Bohemia
- d. June 22, 1871 in Cincinnati, Ohio
) was a rabbi and leader of Orthodox Judaism
in the United States.
in Pressburg, where he received rabbinic ordination. Subsequently, Illowy received a PhD from the University of Budapest. Illowy continued his studies at the rabbinical college in Padua
, Italy
, and then returned to Bohemia, where for a time he was engaged in teaching and tutoring secular subjects in Znaim, Moravia
. He served as a professor in a Gymnasium in Znaim as well.
About the year 1845 he married Katherine Schiff, the daughter of Wolf Schiff, a prominent merchant in Raudnitz, Bohemia
.
Known for his oratory ability, many of his English sermons and addresses were published. He was reportedly an accomplished linguist, and besides a thorough knowledge of Latin
, Greek
, and Hebrew, spoke fluent German, English, French, and Italian
.
Illowy was unable to secure a position in the rabbinate in Europe due to his opposition to the Habsburg
Empire. He was suspected of sympathizing with the local revolutionary elements during the upheavals of 1848. He therefore, emigrated to the United States where he had an easier time being hired as a rabbi. He was rabbi in New York City, Syracuse
, Philadelphia, Baltimore
, St. Louis and New Orleans, and finally Cincinnati, where he retired. Throughout his tenure in the United States, he was an ardent opponent of the spread of the Reform
movement, eloquently and to an extent, successfully challenging the movement’s religious innovations and leadership in the press in the United States and Germany.
in Germany wanted to strengthen traditional Torah
law observance in the United States. Towards that goal, he was one of the promoters of the Cleveland Conference of 1855 that was to unify the rabbis in the United States towards the goal of strengthening religious observance. When it appeared to him that the conference was going to be used as a platform to spread and strengthen Reform Judaism, which he believed would be contrary to his reasons for such a gathering, he withdrew his support for, and did not attend the conference.
Rabbi Illowy’s mastery of halacha became renowned throughout the United States, and halachic questions were addressed to him by pious Jews in America, looking for religious guidance. Some of those decisions were published in the press in New York and Philadelphia, as well as Illowy’s son’s book, Elohim.
Rabbi Illowy’s political views regarding the Civil War
were reflective of Confederate
citizens of the day, agreeing in principle to the South’s right of secession
.
Illowy’s most remarkable achievements were in New Orleans as the rabbi of the Shangarai Chasset
synagogue. As noted by Jacob Rader Marcus
and other historians, religious observance in New Orleans was weak, with high rates of intermarriage, lack of observance of kosher laws
, and a lack of observance of Torah rules – amongst the rabbinate, not to mention their congregants. Upon Illowy’s arrival to the New Orleans community, and during his term as rabbi, 1861–1865, the level of Jewish religious observance increased exponentially. Various sources detail the increased religious observance, particularly of Shabbat
and kosher laws, during the years he served the congregation.
One of Rabbi Illowy's decisions about kashruth was cited in 2008 as still affecting American Jewry today, as noted in the following excerpt: "It’s the muscovy duck
that’s highly controversial, due to its ban in America by the ascerbic Rabbi Bernard Illowy in the mid 1800’s. As such, it is still not recognized as kosher in the States today, but in Israel
, no such ban ever existed."
Rabbi Illowy is remembered as a "caustic personality, once remarking that despite the presence of more than 200 Jewish communities in America in his time, there were only four ordained rabbis in the whole country (including himself); and of those four, the other three were students of Bilaam ha-Rasha." A similar comment about the sad state of Orthodox Jewry in the United States was made by traveler Israel J. Benjamin in his writings, noting there were over 200 Orthodox congregations in the United States during his journey, but there were only three truly credible rabbis, one in New York, a second in Philadelphia and Illowy in New Orleans.
Illowy's efforts slowly bore the fruits of his labor. His son, Dr. Henry Illoway wrote that shortly after his father took the position in New Orleans, “In one congregation in which he entered upon his duties on the first day of the New Year there were but four or five members who kept a kosher house, and upon the festival of Sukkot
there was not a Sukkah
in the whole membership. A year later there were over forty Sukkot in the congregation, and almost every house strictly kosher.” Similar claims are noted in the The Occident and American Jewish Advocate
, giving credit to the synagogue’s president S. Friedlander for his support of Illowy.
Isaac Markens, in his 1909 work Abraham Lincoln and the Jews noted that Illowy gave a memorial lecture at Shangarai Chasset for assassinated President Abraham Lincoln
.
During Union occupation of New Orleans, he had a friendship with Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, Commander-in-Chief of the Department of Louisiana, as well as with many other high officials, both of the military and the civil administration, and was able to do much good for many of his congregants. Despite his charismatic leadership and immense scholarship, after the end of the Civil War, a large influx of Jews from other parts of the Confederacy – where the Reform movement had taken hold – became the majority of the membership of Shangarai Chasset. The new membership voted out the trustees who were supportive of Rabbi Illowy’s leadership, and instituted Reform practices in the synagogue. As a result, Illowy resigned his position, and moved to Cincinnati, assuming the pulpit of a newly established Orthodox congregation.
In describing the Shangarai Chasset membership’s vote to initiate changes to his synagogue, bitterly, Illowy wrote in the German paper Der Israelit, that: "The enemies of goodness and religion destroyed all... my delicate garden devastated." While Orthodox history books and articles laud Illowy’s efforts and conviction to his beliefs heroic and inspirational, some scholars suggest that an unintended consequence of Illowy's constant criticism of the community's lax religious observance created a more fertile environment for Reform to take root within his own synagogue.
Illowy died in an accident on his farm in Cincinnati. His yahrzeit, 3 Tammuz is noted in certain Orthodox
circles, by adherents that say prayers to elevate the memories of righteous individuals.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Dr. Bernard (Yissochar Dov) Illowy (b. 1814 in Kolin
Kolín
Kolín is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic some east from Prague, lying on the Elbe river.-History:Kolín was founded by king Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century, first mentioned in 1261. Later on, 1437, a castle was founded here...
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
- d. June 22, 1871 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) was a rabbi and leader of Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
in the United States.
Biography
Illowy descended from a family of religious scholars; his great-grandfather, Jacob Illowy, was the rabbi of Kolin. Illowy studied in his native city, later at the school of Rabbi Moses SoferMoses Sofer
Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, , , was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century...
in Pressburg, where he received rabbinic ordination. Subsequently, Illowy received a PhD from the University of Budapest. Illowy continued his studies at the rabbinical college in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and then returned to Bohemia, where for a time he was engaged in teaching and tutoring secular subjects in Znaim, Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. He served as a professor in a Gymnasium in Znaim as well.
About the year 1845 he married Katherine Schiff, the daughter of Wolf Schiff, a prominent merchant in Raudnitz, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
Known for his oratory ability, many of his English sermons and addresses were published. He was reportedly an accomplished linguist, and besides a thorough knowledge of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and Hebrew, spoke fluent German, English, French, and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Illowy was unable to secure a position in the rabbinate in Europe due to his opposition to the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
Empire. He was suspected of sympathizing with the local revolutionary elements during the upheavals of 1848. He therefore, emigrated to the United States where he had an easier time being hired as a rabbi. He was rabbi in New York City, Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, Philadelphia, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, St. Louis and New Orleans, and finally Cincinnati, where he retired. Throughout his tenure in the United States, he was an ardent opponent of the spread of the Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
movement, eloquently and to an extent, successfully challenging the movement’s religious innovations and leadership in the press in the United States and Germany.
Jewish Beliefs
Illowy, like Rabbi Samson Raphael HirschSamson Raphael Hirsch
Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...
in Germany wanted to strengthen traditional Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
law observance in the United States. Towards that goal, he was one of the promoters of the Cleveland Conference of 1855 that was to unify the rabbis in the United States towards the goal of strengthening religious observance. When it appeared to him that the conference was going to be used as a platform to spread and strengthen Reform Judaism, which he believed would be contrary to his reasons for such a gathering, he withdrew his support for, and did not attend the conference.
Rabbi Illowy’s mastery of halacha became renowned throughout the United States, and halachic questions were addressed to him by pious Jews in America, looking for religious guidance. Some of those decisions were published in the press in New York and Philadelphia, as well as Illowy’s son’s book, Elohim.
Rabbi Illowy’s political views regarding the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
were reflective of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
citizens of the day, agreeing in principle to the South’s right of secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
.
St. Louis
In 1854, Illowy became the first rabbi of United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, then an Orthodox congregation. That same year, he started St. Louis's first Hebrew School which was the first Jewish parochial school in the city. He resigned after one year of service due to "philosophical differences" with the congregation.New Orleans
While speaking at a National Fast Day program in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 4, 1861, Illowy said, "Who can blame our brethren of the South for seceding from a society whose government can not, or will not, protect the property rights and privileges of a great portion of the Union against the encroachments of a majority misguided by some influential, ambitious aspirants and selfish politicians who, under the color of religion and the disguise of philanthropy, have thrown the country into a general state of confusion, and millions into want and poverty?" Illowy's remarks that day led the German Jewish community of New Orleans, which had been looking for a new rabbi after the death of its last leader, to hire him as their new rabbi.Illowy’s most remarkable achievements were in New Orleans as the rabbi of the Shangarai Chasset
Shangarai Chasset
Shangarai Chasset was a nineteenth century New Orleans Orthodox synagogue. The synagogue was located on Rampart Street between St. Louis and Conti Streets ....
synagogue. As noted by Jacob Rader Marcus
Jacob Rader Marcus
Jacob Rader Marcus was a scholar of Jewish history and a Reform rabbi. Born in New Haven, Pennsylvania, United States, into a traditional Jewish family, Marcus became interested in Reform Judaism at the age of 15. At that time, he travelled to Hebrew Union College , in Cincinnati, Ohio, to begin...
and other historians, religious observance in New Orleans was weak, with high rates of intermarriage, lack of observance of kosher laws
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
, and a lack of observance of Torah rules – amongst the rabbinate, not to mention their congregants. Upon Illowy’s arrival to the New Orleans community, and during his term as rabbi, 1861–1865, the level of Jewish religious observance increased exponentially. Various sources detail the increased religious observance, particularly of Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and kosher laws, during the years he served the congregation.
One of Rabbi Illowy's decisions about kashruth was cited in 2008 as still affecting American Jewry today, as noted in the following excerpt: "It’s the muscovy duck
Muscovy Duck
The Muscovy Duck is a large duck which is native to Mexico and Central and South America. A small wild population reaches into the United States in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas...
that’s highly controversial, due to its ban in America by the ascerbic Rabbi Bernard Illowy in the mid 1800’s. As such, it is still not recognized as kosher in the States today, but in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, no such ban ever existed."
Rabbi Illowy is remembered as a "caustic personality, once remarking that despite the presence of more than 200 Jewish communities in America in his time, there were only four ordained rabbis in the whole country (including himself); and of those four, the other three were students of Bilaam ha-Rasha." A similar comment about the sad state of Orthodox Jewry in the United States was made by traveler Israel J. Benjamin in his writings, noting there were over 200 Orthodox congregations in the United States during his journey, but there were only three truly credible rabbis, one in New York, a second in Philadelphia and Illowy in New Orleans.
Illowy's efforts slowly bore the fruits of his labor. His son, Dr. Henry Illoway wrote that shortly after his father took the position in New Orleans, “In one congregation in which he entered upon his duties on the first day of the New Year there were but four or five members who kept a kosher house, and upon the festival of Sukkot
Sukkot
Sukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...
there was not a Sukkah
Sukkah
A sukkah is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes...
in the whole membership. A year later there were over forty Sukkot in the congregation, and almost every house strictly kosher.” Similar claims are noted in the The Occident and American Jewish Advocate
The Occident and American Jewish Advocate
The Occident , was the first general Jewish periodical published in the United States. ....
, giving credit to the synagogue’s president S. Friedlander for his support of Illowy.
Isaac Markens, in his 1909 work Abraham Lincoln and the Jews noted that Illowy gave a memorial lecture at Shangarai Chasset for assassinated President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
.
During Union occupation of New Orleans, he had a friendship with Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, Commander-in-Chief of the Department of Louisiana, as well as with many other high officials, both of the military and the civil administration, and was able to do much good for many of his congregants. Despite his charismatic leadership and immense scholarship, after the end of the Civil War, a large influx of Jews from other parts of the Confederacy – where the Reform movement had taken hold – became the majority of the membership of Shangarai Chasset. The new membership voted out the trustees who were supportive of Rabbi Illowy’s leadership, and instituted Reform practices in the synagogue. As a result, Illowy resigned his position, and moved to Cincinnati, assuming the pulpit of a newly established Orthodox congregation.
In describing the Shangarai Chasset membership’s vote to initiate changes to his synagogue, bitterly, Illowy wrote in the German paper Der Israelit, that: "The enemies of goodness and religion destroyed all... my delicate garden devastated." While Orthodox history books and articles laud Illowy’s efforts and conviction to his beliefs heroic and inspirational, some scholars suggest that an unintended consequence of Illowy's constant criticism of the community's lax religious observance created a more fertile environment for Reform to take root within his own synagogue.
Cincinnati
Illowy continued to express his opposition to Reform from his last pulpit in Cincinnati – ironically, the base of the Reform movement - albeit to little avail. His pleas, as eloquent as they may have been, were unable to affect the actions of the everyday lives of the growing Jewish communities throughout the United States. Congregations, requiring rabbinic guidance tended to be open to the liberal innovations of the Reform movement, and heard little opposition in the United States. Thus (whether actively in agreement with the movement’s innovations, or passively out of indifference and a desire to maintain a connection to their faith) congregational pulpits were filled by graduates of the Reform movement’s rabbinical program. Many congregations founded as Orthodox synagogues scattered through the United States joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations throughout his life and after his death.Illowy died in an accident on his farm in Cincinnati. His yahrzeit, 3 Tammuz is noted in certain Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
circles, by adherents that say prayers to elevate the memories of righteous individuals.
Sources
- Benjamin, Israel Joseph. Three Years in America, 1859-1862. (Arno Press 1975). ISBN 0405066937.http://books.google.com/books?id=xQzuGncH1TgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=israel+benjamin&hl=en&ei=ellhTOyCIYT6lwe_1bSUCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Jackson, Chuck. 'Rabbi Bernard Illowy' in Generations (Jewish Genealogical Society of St. Louis, April 2004)
- Kahn,Catherine C. and Lachoff, Irwin. The Jewish Community of New Orleans. (Arcadia Publishing 2005) ISBN 0738518352.
- Sarna, Jonathan D. American Judaism: A History. (Yale University Press 2005) ISBN 0300109768.
- Singer, Samuel. Biographical sketch noted in Jewish Observer
- Bernard Illowy at the Jewish EncyclopediaJewish EncyclopediaThe Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
. Accessed 2007-08-04. - Markens, Isaac. Lincoln and the Jews New York, 1909 http://www.archive.org/details/lincolnandthejews00markrich