Cincinnati, Cradle and Capital of Reform Judaism, Hums with Religious and Civic Activity

(By Our Cincinnati Correspondent)

Cincinnati occupies a singular position in American Jewry. For almost a hundred years it has played a role of outstanding significance in American Jewish life. Its Jewish community is the oldest west of the Alleghany Mountains, having been started in 1817 by Joseph Jonas, a young Jew from England. It has been called both the cradle and capital of Reform Judaism.

Cincinnati’s Jews while contributing several times their share to the development of Judaism and Jewish institutions in the United States have also played a tremendous part in the general public life of their own city and state.

One need only enumerate the Jews holding public office at present to bring this out. Murray Seasongood is City Mayor. William J. Shroder is President of the School Board. Irwin Kohn is President of the Park Board. Alfred Bettman is President of the City Planning Commission. Sol Freiberg is a member of the Board of Health. Samuel Ach is County Treasurer of Hamilton County. The Jews of Cincinnati number only 22,000 out of a total population of 425.000.

JEWS HEAD POLITICAL PARTIES

Moreover the heads of both the Republican and the Democratic organizations of Hamilton County, of which Cincinnati is the seat, are Jews-Gilbert Bettman being head of the Republicans and Jacob Herman. leader of the Democrats.

Among the Jews who have held public office in Cincinnati in the past are Frederick S. Spiegel and Julius Fleischman. each of whom was at one time City Mayor. Alfred M. Cohen, now Grand President of the B’nai B’rith Order and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Union College, Charles Fleischman. and James Brown have represented Hamilton County in the Ohio State Senate. Joseph Jonas. Jacob Wolf. Daniel Wolf and Harry M. Hoftheimer have been members of the Ohio State House of Representatives.

It was about the middle of the nineteenth century that Cincinnati came into outstanding prominence as a Jewish center. In 1854 Isaac M. Wise became rabbi of its B’ne Yeshurun Congregation and in 1855 Max Lilenthal was appointed to the rabbinate of its B’ne Israel Congregation. The personalities of these renowned spiritual leaders brought Cincinnati to the commanding position in American Israel which it has maintained ever since. Rabbi Wise founded the Hebrew Union College, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the American Israel ite, all three of which are still located in Cincinnati and are steadily going forward from strength to greater strength.

Today Cincinnati is also the headquarters of the Conference of American Rabbis, and, being the home of Alfred M. Cohen, its Grand President, the headquarters of the Independent Order B’nai B’rith. Dr. Boris D. Bogen, who is Grand Secretary of the I. O. B. B., first came into prominence in the city as head of the Jewish Charities.

Cincinnati has a model Jewish hospital with a distinguished staff of physicians and surgeons. Many Jews are among the leaders in the medical profession in Cincinnati and their service has made possible the establishment and maintenance of this hospital.

BLAZING TRAIL OF PROGRESS IN SOCIAL SERVICE

Cincinnati’s Jewry has also blazed a trail of progress in social service. It established precedents through its organized charity enterprises, its diagnostic clinics, its homes for convalescents, for the aged and for temporary care of children, its method of combating tuberculosis and its system of dealing with transients. Notable among the pioneers in this public welfare endeavor are Max Senior, who played a leading role in the organization of the National Conference of Jewish Social Workers, and Mrs. Stella H. Freiberg, who has been an influential force in almost every important public undertaking in the Jewish community of Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati United Jewish Social Agencies, of which Dr. Samuel Rothenberg is President and Kurt Peisr is Superintendent, has a nation-wide reputation for its progressive methods and its efficiency.

Cincinnati has a very well organized system of Jewish Education. with a central building in Avondale and classes in the other Jewish districts.

Though the Queen City is universally known as the seat and center of Reform Judaism its Orthodox congregations. too, are very active, with the result that a large proportion of the Jewish children receive a traditional Jewish training both in their homes and in the Hebrew classes.

Dr. David Philipson. the dean of American Reform rabbis, is spiritual leader of the Rockdale Avenue Temple of Cincinnati, The other Reform rabbis are Rabbi James G. Heller. Rabbi Samuel Wohl and Rabbi Victor Emanuel Reichert. Rabbi Louis Feinberg is head of the powerful Conservative congregation and Rabbis Bezalel Epstein. David Finkelstein and M. M. Hochstein are the Orthodox rabbis of the city. There are thirteen Jewish houses of worship in Cincinnati.

There are of course several notable personalities connected with the Hebrew Union College and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations-scholars, savants and administrators who in addition to guiding the destinies of Reform Judaism are also leaders in the fields of general Jewish learning, Jewish history, Jewish education, Jewish music, and Jewish literature. Perhaps most unique among all this is the work being done by A. S. Oko, Librarian of the Hebrew Union College. He has brought together the greatest collection of Judaica in America and, indeed, one of the very greatest in the world. Within two years he expects to have all his material classified and on exhibition in the museum which the Hebrew Union College is soon to build.

Most of Cincinnati’s Jews are in business. They are represented in the professions, in addition to the physicians and surgeons already mentioned, by some distinguished lawyers and educators. A number of the latter are members of the faculty of the University of Cincinnati. Also they are represented in the field of journalism. Moses Straus is managing editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star. And Alfred Segal, Associate Editor of the B’nai B’rith Magazine, is the star feature writer of the Cincinnati Post.

NEW ANGLO-JEWISH WEEKLY

A few months ago Samuel M. Schmidt, a well known social worker, founded a new Anglo-Jewish weekly in Cincinnati, called “Every Friday,” which means that the city now has two Jewish weeklies-the American Israelite, though national in scope, is still very much a Cincinnati publication.

Cincinnati’s Jewry is compactly organized. Its B’nai B’rith lodge is one of the most active and most progressive in the country. Its Council of Jewish Women’s chapter is very strong. Its various Zionist groups are on the alert. There is always something doing in the Jewish community, and no matter how wide may be the gap between the extreme Orthodox element of the city and the extreme Reform group, they find it possible to work together when the common good is concerned.